A survey conducted by the Royal Society for Public Health asked 14-24 year olds in the UK how social media platforms impacted their health and wellbeing. The survey results found that Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all led to increased feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image, worsening self esteem and loneliness. Another study published by the Youth, Media and Wellbeing Research Lab at the Wellesley Center found that 21% of teens “felt down” about themselves after looking at social media.

Emma, a 16 year old student from Glasgow, Scotland, experienced this first hand when she witnessed friends and other young people in her community getting depressed, anxious or developing low self esteem as a result of excessive use of social media.

Growing up in America, Sualeha, Moniola, and Sora -- three high school students and young women of color -- witnessed firsthand the racial biases that exacerbate inequalities for minority groups. Brought together across different parts of the US by their shared interest in technology and software development, the team decided to tackle the Sustainable Development Goal of Peace and Equity in a competition for the Moody's Foundation Peace and Justice Challenge.

In Latin America, as in the rest of the world, child marriage disproportionately affects girls. With poverty being one of the factors that also drives child marriage in this region, girls living in poor areas are especially vulnerable to this practice. Human Rights Watch reports that Latin America is the only region with a high rate of child marriage where there has not been a significant decline in child marriage over the past 30 years. Argentina is one of a few countries that do not report data on child marriage to UNICEF. However,  according to a recent national census, Argentina has more than 340,000 adolescents aged 14 to 19 years old that are married or cohabiting, of which 230,000 are girls and adolescent women. 

Maria Sofia is a human and children rights activist from Argentina who started Ellas Deciden (They decide), an advocacy project to spread awareness about forced child marriage in the country.

Growing up in the Midlands, Jaya experienced what it was like to belong to Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) community. “Young people from BAME communities suffer the most from educational inequality and lack of social mobility, ever-widening the gap of achievement and Black, Asain and minority ethnic representation across institutions and powerful positions. Not only are people from these communities stigmatized by racial bias, but they are more likely to be from impoverished areas which also has a direct correlation to access to education and social mobility. Furthermore, young people from these communities are more likely to be victims of crime, and less likely to have access to opportunities inside and outside of school to change their reality,” Jaya notes. 

In 2020, when COVID-19 forced Kyle and his peers to isolate in their homes, he realized that despite the challenges in his own life, many people in his community were experiencing greater suffering because of their socioeconomic and/or citizenship status. Even though food banks and public schools offered free meals for kids in need, Kyle realized that something vital was being overlooked -- diapers.

Rose grew up in Ajegunle, one the slum communities in Lagos, Nigeria, where access to basic quality education is a luxury for most children. Many children are often forced to abandon their education because their parents simply cannot afford tuition and school supplies. The cost of school supplies changes from year to year, and the list has grown in size, making it harder for parents to purchase. Many families who were already struggling financially lost their income as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it impossible to afford school supplies that their children needed. With no access to resources, learning became a challenging endeavor as poverty pushed more and more children from the slum community towards illiteracy.

When Yulan moved to Kathmandu for his higher secondary education, he learned that gender based violence is not just about physical assaults but the sexual, mental and spiritual trauma faced by women. He began to understand that whatever he witnessed in his village was all part of a deeply rooted patriarchal society that simply rejected the idea of supporting the independence and agency of young women. 

Bassant and her team called on sign language professionals to deliver training to mental health workers so that they are able to help people with hearing impairments. Virtual workshops on a variety of topics ranging from identity, to domestic violence, bullying and depression and anxiety, are routinely delivered to the public or anyone who seeks more knowledge. Since its inception, Modawah has conducted over 70 workshops and provided direct, mental health support to over 120 young people. It has expanded to Jordan through a partnership with a local organization with the aim of delivering joint workshops to young people from the country.

When the Covid-19 Pandemic hit, Mukshadur moved back to his hometown in Bangladesh to stay with his family while continuing to attend his college classes remotely. Upon his return, he realized that young children in his community were deprived of the ability to continue their education remotely because of lack of access to the internet. He worried that because they’ve been isolated due to quarantine restrictions, the children would not only struggle academically, but that their mental health would also suffer.

“You are a girl, not a boy. You can’t travel alone.” “Sorry, you are a fresh graduate who doesn't have enough practical experience, so we can’t consider you for this entry level job.” “Unfortunately, we don’t provide any workshops or training in your city.” These are all sentences that were repeated endlessly to Arwa, a young woman from Upper Egypt, when she was looking to begin a career after graduating from college.