On July 26th, 2023, the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) hosted its first-ever QCT Youth Assembly (YGA) with the theme “Collaborating for Change.” The virtual event brought together QCT Network members from various regions of the Commonwealth who were committed to inspiring, engaging, connecting, and collaborating to make a positive impact.

During the assembly, the QCT Network team led attendees through various aspects of the QCT Network hub, with keynote speaker Helen Baxter, QCT’s Director of Operations and Finance, encouraging members to use the platform to collaborate and create a greater impact. 

Representatives from different chapters shared successful collaborations and experiences, while thematic breakout rooms tackled challenges faced by members and encouraged the exploration of potential pathways for enhanced connections and engagement. 

Participants actively engaged in the proceedings, offering feedback that resulted in the change of the event’s name from QCT Youth General Assembly to QCT Youth Assembly, reflecting the focus of building a cohesive movement driven by the passion and vision of QCT’s young leaders for a better future.

The event concluded with a question and answer session, and the announcement of the date for the next QCT Youth Assembly will be shared on the QCT Network hub to keep members informed about future opportunities to further their impactful initiatives. The inaugural QCT Youth General Assembly served as a dynamic platform that showcased the power of collaboration and reinforced the commitment of QCT and its network members to effect positive change within the Commonwealth and beyond. 

The QCT Youth Assembly will be held quarterly to continue building a movement for a better future led by QCT’s young leaders.

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Through our signature Youth Ventures Programme (YVP), we provide youth-led organisations with flexible funding, practical tools and support, and a vibrant network to help them transform their communities. Our support is tailored towards helping the organisations become stronger, leading to greater impact for their communities. This support is across the areas of agriculture & food, education & employability, environment, health, and inclusion. 

Since launching the YVP in 2020, we have so far supported 25 youth-led organisations with flexible funding and tailored support for 2+ years. This has helped the organisations become more sustainable and resilient, enabling them to provide lasting solutions and impact to local problems in their communities. 

We are delighted to announce the enrolment of the following four youth organisations into the YVP in 2023.  

Grow your Reader Foundation who are improving access to quality of education for underserved children in Bangladesh. 

Native Discovery who are enhancing the livelihoods of indigenous Orang Asli communities displaced from their ancestral land. 

Vceela who are empowering artisans across Pakistan by connecting them to local and international markets. 

Wreetu Health and Wellbeing Foundation who are providing access to menstrual health education and affordable period products for girls and women in Bangladesh. 

Through the YVP, QCT will provide flexible funding of up to £20,000 per year for two years as well as practical tools and support to ensure long-term success and impact. In addition, the young leaders will be connected to a global network of like-minded social entrepreneurs to share learnings and ideas for sustained positive social impact. 

Click here to read more about the organisations we support.  

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These country chapters are a unique opportunity to identify, encourage and connect unseen and unheard young leaders for collective action and change in their communities. 

The launch was held at the Oasis Mathare‘s centre in Nairobi Kenya and was hosted by Douglas Mwangi, who is the founder of Oasis Mathare and the chair of QCT Network’s country chapter in Kenya. Douglas introduced the chapter as a great opportunity for the young leaders present to share about their initiatives, learn and collaborate with one another.

“The QCT country chapter is a great opportunity for us to share, learn and collaborate. This is also a great opportunity for us as young leaders in Kenya to learn and collaborate with others in the Commonwealth that the QCT Network gives us access to. I encourage to continue being actively involved in our activities.” Douglas Mwangi, chair of the Kenyan country chapter. 

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The Trinbagonian chapter is currently being chaired by Benedict Bryan and co-Chaired by Kurba Maria Quetelle. Speaking during this launch, Benedict Bryan said,

“We believe this chapter will enable on the ground support to young leaders in Trinbago and provide greater opportunities for peer learning and collaboration across organisations, in-country and across the region.”  

Benedict Bryan, chair of the Trinbago country chapter speaking during this launch

“QCT Network members are helping to transform their communities across the Commonwealth, and the Year of Youth is an excellent reminder of the change that young people can make for the benefit of society, and the need for us all to support them.”

Chris Kelly, Chief Executive of QCT

On behalf of QCT, Benedict Bryan joined in celebrating 2023 as the Commonwealth year of the youth and expressed QCT’s pledge to remain devoted to supporting the work of young leaders across the Commonwealth. QCT further extended congratulations to Trinbago on a successful bid to host the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games.  

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The launch event was attended by Andrew Dalgleish, the Acting British High Commissioner as a Chief Guest, who praised QCT for its efforts in supporting young people across the Commonwealth. He also highlighted the importance of collaboration and partnership in achieving meaningful change between QCT and the British High Commission Pakistan.

“QCT Network members are helping to transform their communities across the Commonwealth. The launch of this country chapter in Pakistan is an excellent reminder of the change that young people can make for the benefit of society, and the need for us all to support them.”

Chris Kelly, Chief Executive of QCT

“I am delighted to be here in Pakistan for the launch of one of the first QCT Network Country Chapters. I hope it provides many opportunities for young leaders to collaborate and further QCT’s vision of communities transformed by young leaders.”

Helen Baxter, Head of Operations and Finance, speaking at the event

“QCT is proud to launch its Pakistan Chapter, and we are excited to work with exceptional leaders who are committed to making a positive impact in their communities. We believe that by collaborating with these leaders, we can build a brighter future for young people in Pakistan and across the Commonwealth via collaborations and increased engagements.”

Mujtaba Zaidi, the founding chair of QCT Pakistan Chapter

QCT also used the occasion to introduce its Co-Chair, Syed Kashf Ahmed, an exceptional young leader, and also introduced 12 others tremendous QCT young leaders from Pakistan, who shared their stories of how they are making a difference in their communities. 

The launch of the QCT Pakistan Chapter comes at a time when there is a growing need to support young people in Pakistan, who face numerous challenges, including poverty, lack of education, and limited access to opportunities. By working with exceptional leaders who are making a positive impact in their communities, the QCT hopes to empower young people to realise their potential and make a difference in their own lives and the lives of those around them.

For more information on QCT Network’s Pakistan Chapter, please contact: Mujtaba Zaidi on connect@QCT.org.uk

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In an effort to build on our mission of re-energising the QCT Network through structured thematic focuses, the Network Team has invited 10 QCT Thematic Leads, who are doing exceptional work on Education and Employability, Environment, Health, Food and Agriculture and Inclusion.

We believe in the power of our mission-aligned global network of young leaders, and actively seek their support in shaping our work through efficient feedback loops and inclusive strategies for tangible impact. These young leaders engage our network through events, talks, and workshops and promote cross-country, and cross-regional collaborations across the Commonwealth for collective action.

We’re inspired by their commitment to QCT’s values, mission and vision and look forward to amplifying our impact through their engagements during their tenure.

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We are Chhavi Khandelwal, Manasi Mehan and Aayush Bansal, and together we founded Saturday Art Class. This initiative is a school-based intervention which leverages domestic and international art to address the void of social and emotional learning that exists in India’s government and affordable private schools.

It’s been an overwhelming journey for us to say the least. We started Saturday Art Class as a project in Manasi’s Teach for India Grade 3 classroom in 2017 with the belief that every child, no matter their background, deserves a holistic education with equal opportunities and space for expression. Today we have cumulatively worked with over 5500 children across 15 partner institutions with the help of 1200 mentors (our volunteers).

We have always believed that an idea is as big as the people it can engage, and at Saturday Art Class we have been able to engage a wide community of like-minded individuals, irrespective of age and professional backgrounds, who aim to deliver a sustainable impact by showing their support and volunteering in our classrooms as Mentors and Coaches.

We realised that our idea was relatable to the youth and we felt the need to mobilise them in solving the problem of education inequality and inequity at the grassroot level of our country. We ensured that our programme is scalable and accessible to working professionals and college students. These coaches and mentors have now become the vehicles of conducting our programme in schools, essentially working for change. To have a network of individuals not only believe but also work towards carrying out our vision, makes us proud to be a part of a generation that is committed to social good. In addition, seeing impact stories of children in the programme, observing the positive changes in them through our intervention validates its need more each year, gives us the encouragement we need to move forward.

At Saturday Art Class our vision is to have a world where all children can thrive and not just survive; they have a voice which they are confident and fearless to express and are empathetic responsible citizens of the country, who have the tools to face the future.

In order to enable our vision, our mission is to develop Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in children from low income communities, through art, by complementing the formal education system. Over the next 5 years we want to impact 12,000 children from low-income communities not just in Mumbai but also branch out to other metropolitans in India by leveraging the immense support we have received from within the community, our students, their parents and schools, institutions and the youth.

To conclude, we would like to say that it’s education that takes us into the future, and creativity and free expression is as important as literacy. The children of today will become the youth of tomorrow and it is our task to educate them not only to pass examinations but also to face the future sustainably.

Learn more about each of us by visiting our blog posts below, checking our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages or our website.

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Search for Thamana
Child Awareness Project began life as ‘Search for Thamana’, a Facebook campaign to find a 5-year-old girl, who was kidnapped from a beach in Chennai, India. Initially, the police and media paid little attention to her case, but the power of social media pushed this story from the columns of tabloids to major daily headlines.

A first it all felt helpless – I had started a Facebook page but only had 6 likes, and I could see that the media were already losing interest. When I called a prominent news channels to drive more coverage, all they said was that they didn’t cover missing kids. I called a national children’s helpline but they stated that they could only help if a child in need called them directly. Thamana was a pre-schooler. There was no way she’d know their number, let alone have access to a phone! In short, the response was very discouraging.

However, as a student journalist for the student edition of a leading daily at the time, I called a news correspondent there. She listened patiently to the story, called the editor and by the next day there was an article in the paper. This one break led to a cascade of events.

A radio jockey saw the story and held a segment about missing children on her show. Eventually, the news channels that had earlier refused to telecast her disappearance, reported it as breaking news. The likes on Facebook soared to hundreds within minutes. Even the Commissioner of Police became fully involved in the case. Facebook and Twitter became my key source of contact with the public. People were sharing Thamana’s photo on their page and changing their profile pictures to the missing poster. Towards the end of the week, Thamana’s photo was displayed on cinema screens and the entire nation seemed to know about the little girl named Thamana who was missing.

Happily, Thamana was located 8 days later as a result of the attention this campaign got. However, I knew that Thamana was just one of many missing children who were neglected by the media but very rarely found. So, following the success of Search for Thamana, I started thinking about how I could create a platform that would help to trace and find other missing children. The Indian government had a similar idea though and launched their own. In 2016, I renamed & officially registered the initiative as the Child Awareness Project (CAP), an organisation which works to build awareness of children’s rights issues and abuses, and encourages young people to take positive social action in their communities.

Advocacy on the ground and online
Alongside social media, where our posts reach on average 10-15,000 impressions a month, CAP’s main initiative is the Campus Ambassador Program, where we recruit students across India to conduct various pre-designed workshops in their local schools. Our aim is to have between 5-10 Campus Ambassadors coming on board each year, and between them each CA will reach between 30-50 young people.

We encourage advocacy for children’s rights both online and on the ground, centring our efforts each year around a particular campaign. Our first major campaign as CAP, tackled the issue of Child Abduction & Trafficking (https://childawarepro.wordpress.com/portfolio/lostnotforgotten/). As part of this campaign we recently started a petition to implement an Alert Broadcasting System in India to help trace missing children (https://www.change.org/p/maneka-gandhi-alertindia-implement-child-abduction-alert-broadcasting-system-in-india), which recognises that the first 24 hours of a child’s disappearance are the most important. Acknowledging the importance of a swift response and immediate media coverage formed the basis of ‘AMBER Alert’, the Child Abduction Alert system in USA, and we believe that a similar system in India could be ground-breaking in helping to protect our children from harm.

We have also had the pleasure to work with a number of different partners, including the UN Online Volunteers where we helped to publish an Online Safety Manual. We hope to collaborate on further research-based projects and publications through these types of connections. We also work specifically with certain institutions for our independent projects, such as our Soft Skills project. We are proud to say that through these initiatives and partnerships, we are able to increase the impact CAP has not only on the young people we have a direct relationship with, but also those who are engaging on social media and online.

Building a Team
Although CAP is now a reputable organisation in its own right, getting it to this place has not always been as easy as putting out a few Facebook posts and calling local journalists! Only a few months after Thamana had been found, I came across another article about a missing child and I attempted to run a similar campaign. It received a watered-down response. This made me realise that initiatives need to be creative to be able to break through and get the attention that these children deserve. I wasn’t able to do this on my own, so I built a core team of young volunteers, all who have a passion for children’s rights, who help me to plan and design the necessary interventions and keep the overall project running smoothly.

Initially, I started recruiting by posting about it on Facebook. Eventually, word started spreading through professional and personal networks of mine as well as through connections of previous interns or Campus Ambassadors. I also updated our website and we now welcome applications to join the CAP team via http://thecapro.org/careers. As it stands currently, our team comprises young people (some of whom have been a part of CAP since it was registered in 2016) from all over the world. We have a text group where we discuss issues and conduct monthly Skype meetings. In order to efficiently run an online team, we ensure that all messages are answered within 24 hours and the team is informed in advance, whenever possible, about periods of absence. Communication is key! Work hours are discussed at the time of appointment and we are flexible and open to changes as needed. On average, our team members work between 2-10 hours/week on the project.
Together, we have found a way of working that enables us to address important key issues in new and innovative ways while keeping an open and transparent discourse with each other

Learn, Adapt, Learn
I understand that, however frustrating it feels at the time, failure always teaches more than success. It teaches you to adapt and find solutions quickly and from there you learn what to do and not do in the future. For example, I found that managing people, particularly when some of the team are based remotely, was a definite learning curve! We often found ourselves left out to dry when volunteers who initially showed interest, backed out or stopped responding without prior notice. Instead of just accepting this as the norm, we created a mentorship program for all new team members to better identify their interests and abilities. This helped ensure dedication to the task at hand and by having mentors within the core team, we were able provide timely feedback which resulted in greater accountability for one’s work. Once these processes were in place, we saw our retention rate grow almost immediately.

From a more practical standpoint, I did not comprehend the extent of paperwork, registrations, regulations and tasks that all build up, especially when first starting out. With so much going on, it is easy for things to slip or to get deprioritised. One good example is minute-taking in meetings. At the time I considered it pointless paperwork so decided to stop, but, as our team is placed globally, I quickly saw that this was a mistake. We soon lost track of things discussed and people it was discussed with. We had no central record of what had been agreed or what the next steps were. It was a nightmare! As a result, we now religiously document every meeting and have reaped the benefits since. I would like to credit our Campaign & Advocacy strategist for her conscientious efforts in getting us organised!

Finally, in the start-up world it is all too easy to keep going and keep going without actually taking pause to breathe and reassess where you are. To help even out the pace and to better manage the team’s workload, we now run pilots for all our major programs before full-scale implementation to help us get a better understanding of the resource and team requirements before launching on a bigger scale. We then conduct surveys to monitor on the ground responses and use the feedback to modify our projects before scaling up.

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Jonathan Andrews is a disability advocate, qualified solicitor and co-Founder of the Commonwealth Children and Youth Disability Network (CCYDN). In this blog article, he shares some of his personal experiences of being on the autistic spectrum and outlines steps that can be taken to create a more inclusive world.

When I was identified as being on the autistic spectrum as a nine-year-old child, I was very quickly assured by my parents that this wasn’t a weakness, or something to be ashamed of. It meant I faced challenges in certain areas – including social interaction with those I wasn’t familiar with, and sensory differences – but it also brought about certain strengths too, such as having a very strong focus on areas of interest (often leading to me developing great knowledge in these areas) and a different way of viewing the world.

Looking back now, it’s clear being autistic hasn’t stopped me from achieving many ambitions: I attended a top university and have become a qualified solicitor. Indeed, it has rather helped in certain endeavours; my knowledge of autism has undoubtedly assisted with my years-long campaigning on opportunities for people with disabilities in the UK and pan-Commonwealth, for which I was honoured to be recognised as the UK’s fourth most influential disabled person by the Shaw Trust in 2020.

However, from my experience it is also clear that a lack of understanding around disability remains in many parts of society – and this, as opposed to the disability itself, is usually the greatest barrier.

At least 10% of the world’s population are living with a disability. With the Commonwealth’s population reaching 2.4 billion, this would indicate that at least 240 million Commonwealth citizens have disabilities. These are individuals who face significant barriers, but also have so much untapped potential. It’s therefore vital that steps are taken to tackle the lack of understanding, awareness, and opportunities for young people with disabilities across the globe in order to build a more inclusive world where nobody is left behind.

Far too often, businesses can be unaware of the advantages of hiring people with disabilities, and wrongly assume that we won’t have the skills to contribute. More widely, too, a lack of awareness and acceptance of disabilities in society remains incredibly high. This appears in many forms throughout the Commonwealth; from the overt (like a belief that autism is a mental health issue which should be ‘cured’, or evidence of possession or witchcraft and not a natural form of neurodivergence) to the more subtle (such as an assumption that people on the autistic spectrum do not want or need to socialise – true for some, but for many, it is more true that they socialise in their own way, and being misinterpreted by others then forms a barrier).

It’s for these reasons that, following the first-ever Commonwealth youth disability roundtable at the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting 2018, I worked with fellow young Commonwealth changemakers to found the Commonwealth Children and Youth Disability Network (CCYDN) in 2019. Our overarching goal is to ensure children and young people with disabilities have the same access to legal rights, and the same societal, economic and political opportunities as their peers living without disabilities. Despite being less than two years old, CCYDN already has hundreds of members, with committee representatives from each Commonwealth region, and is growing each year.

Our network has allowed us to advocate on a pan-Commonwealth level as to the barriers young people with disabilities face and how best to tackle these. We have also successfully campaigned for the continued legal protection of people with disabilities in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. My fellow co-chair, Parmi Dheensa, and I signed an open letter to NHS England, along with many other key leaders in the UK disability sector, successfully calling for any action taken in response to COVID-19 to not infringe upon the hard-fought rights of disabled people. We also argued for the restoration of rights which had already been affected by the pandemic – such as obligations in relation to education, health and care plans for young people with special educational needs – to be restored as soon as possible. Our efforts helped ensure this was achieved by September 2020.

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The problem – millions miss out on education
Two-thirds of primary schools in developing countries have no adequate sanitation, creating a major barrier to attendance. Children often have to search for miles for a safe place to defecate or urinate, with most of them using fields and ditches. Girls are particularly vulnerable as they’re at risk of sexual harassment and rape, and they often avoid school altogether when they have their period due to this lack of basic amenities. And with no hand-washing facilities, absenteeism due to diarrhoea-related illness is huge.

The solution-basic sanitation for schools
Hope for Children Cameroon promotes hygiene and safe sanitation practices in schools by constructing toilets and wash facilities. This allows children to stay in school and learn in an environment that is not only free from disease, but also ensures their safety and well-being. They hope to end the practice of open defecation and minimise the number of school days children lose to sickness by teaching the importance of hand-washing, and ultimately create schools where children – especially girls – feel safe and secure.

The impact – hope for thousands of children
Hope for Children Cameroon has built latrines in seven primary schools in rural communities, which are currently serving close to 1,300 pupils and teachers. School absenteeism has dropped by 27% and sickness among the pupils has reduced significantly. Enrolment rates in the schools have gone up, and girls now feel safe in school and their dignity has been restored. Teachers and pupils also no longer lose hours of their day searching for a safe place to go to the toilet, and can remain in school to complete homework and prepare lessons.

How did it all start?
While in high school, my twin brother and I would see many children who were not in school and learning. Some looked desolate. We decided to support them and saved every penny we had as pocket money to provide school materials: $50. In 2011, when Hope for Children Cameroon became official, we expanded to other communities, but this meant more money was needed. Luckily for us, a couple of friends started supporting our work financially and materially.

In 2014, I resigned from my job as a scientist in the USA to devote my time and energy to the organisation. And in 2015, we organised our very first fundraiser – the auction raised funds for the completion of a new school, tuition assistance and school supplies. Today our team has grown to eight Cameroonians – all young professionals in the USA and Canada, and three members in Cameroon who oversee the day-to-day running of our projects and programmes.

What’s been your greatest achievement?
During all these years, I never expected any form of recognition or support and I never knew this work would inspire many others out there. However, the day I received that call from Buckingham Palace in 2014 congratulating me as one of the recipients of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award, I froze for a minute. Never in my wildest of dreams did I ever imagine receiving recognition from the Queen – not just the award but also the opportunity to meet her in person and shake her hand. Untill this day, it is still like a dream.

The Queen’s recognition was a reminder to me that everything we’re doing really matters, and the people we are reaching out to and serving matter. It’s a reminder that the world depends on the work of young people who continue to demonstrate courage and leadership in bringing change in their communities.

What was your greatest challenge?
The biggest challenge has been assessing risk. Since 2016, there has been a political upheaval in Cameroon, which has led to the closure of schools for over 17 months now. It has greatly affected our work, since most schools are not open – we don’t even know where these children are, or how to track them. This has created a huge generational gap and I worry each day about the future of these children.

We are working on a risk assessment plan so as to be better prepared. This taught me that crisis can strike at any time, and also to diversify our work in education – not just focusing on schools, but teaching life skills that children can use to create jobs for themselves and employ others.

What’s next for your project?
We’re currently empowering young mothers aged 10 to 19, through community support groups that give them a place to share concerns and experiences, and allow us to offer resources on parenting, existing health services, information on self-care and how to cope with the psychological effects of unwanted pregnancies.

Through health promotion activities and community partnerships, we hope to reduce teenage pregnancy in the Tinifoinbi community and its environs by 50%, and directly impact another 3,000 individuals associated with pregnant and parenting teens by 2020.

By 2025, Hope for Children Cameroon’s broader vision is to build the first Early Childhood Development Community Hub – a place for learning, playing, proper nutrition, cognitive development and child protection. It will also have an onsite community health centre, a school for girls, a library, an art exhibition space, a centre for vocational and skills training, adult education, a community market, a community garden, a poultry farm and other cultural programmes, as well as lifelong learning and community engagement services.

What top three things helped your venture succeed?
Funding. It was hard to get funding, as small funding organisations would ask us to present years of financial statements, and require that we have existed for at least five years, etc. We went through very competitive screening phases and never succeeded because we could not meet all the basic requirements. But we kept applying until we finally received funding from The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust– a huge relief for our organisation.

Partnerships. Partners brought us different insights, and through their networks we were able to connect to potential sponsors and mentorship opportunities. My advice is to engage partners who are mutually beneficial – this instils trust.

A good website. People are very visual, and websites are a good way for others to understand your model and the work you do. It also helps build trust among potential donors.

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