Amid the noisy debates and demands of the world’s leaders, sometimes it’s hard to hear the voices of our most vulnerable.
Children are heavily impacted by global poverty but don’t always get a say about decisions that affect their lives.
When World Vision held a child journalism summit for 100 children across seven projects in India, many of the children had never had the opportunity to tell their stories before.
The children talked to each other about issues close to their hearts – family, friends, hopes for the future and obstacles in their way.
Often they realised that the other children shared their views or concerns, which helped them decide on key issues that deserved attention from the adults around them.
Then the children received training in film production to tell their stories. They developed storylines, wrote scripts, had camera lessons and shot their very own short films.
The stories were fictional, but they were inspired by the real-life experiences of the children who wrote them.
The result was pretty special. The children made 14 short films which are now being shown to journalists, politicians and not-for-profit organisations across India to help start new conversations on issues facing children. Some of the films have even been aired on India’s CNN channel.
Working together to make the films not only gave the children valuable skills, it taught them that they weren’t alone.
Take a look at two of their films: