Global Impact Report
2023
We are bringing to you a magazine-style report highlighting the most interesting and important findings from working with young people who are campaigning at scale.
Want to read about all the campaigns we’ve supported in more detail? Go to the change section of our website and get inspired by the power of young people!
Enjoy!
P.S. If the page starts acting weird, just reload the webpage and it will take you to your current spot without the errors.
IN 2023,
WE ACTIVATED
31 CAMPAIGNS,
FROM
13 COUNTRIES
ACROSS
3 CONTINENTS!
"Uy, 'Wag Ma-Awkward!”
#ToxinFreeKhaja
Anti-Plastic Day
Back to school
Beera Muvumu, Yogera!
Break your limits! Life gets better together!
Bumi Suaka
DoKo Ahbiyan
End Child Marriage
End teenage pregnancy and child marriage
Kenali Kom Tubuh!
Let’s Save Us, Say No to Drugs.
Menos contaminación, más seguridad
My Body! My Rights! (Dare to say NO)
May liwanag kapag may PaLIWANAG
Parque sano, comunidad sana
Plastic Free Janakpur
Power of the Youth for Positive Change
Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Reduce Street Pollution
Reduce Village Pollution
Safe Back to School
Save Our Wetlands
SRHR 4 All
Start with Yourself
Stop Drug Abuse
The Color+ Connection
The Vital Role of Arts in Child Development
Transforma tu mundo
438
SHIFTERS
From 31 youth groups
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bolivia, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malawi, Nepal, Philippines, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia
13 COUNTRIES
4 COUNTRIES INTO THEIR 3RD YEAR
Bolivia, Malawi, Nepal and Vietnam
CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENT
36.4%
ACCESS TO EDUCATION
18.2%
HEALTH
18.2%
PROTECTION
18.2%
EQUALITY & INCLUSION
9.1%
LATIN AMERICA HAS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PARTNERSHIPS FORMED
with an average of 7.6 partnerships per campaign
OLD ISSUES.
NEW APPROACHES.
The fact that certain societal and environmental issues persist stubbornly only goes to show how difficult they are to eliminate. Nevertheless, young people bring fresh, innovative and effective approaches and workarounds.
EDUTAINMENT WORKS IN DEALING WITH SENSITIVE ISSUES
One of the toughest challenges in running inspiring and engaging campaigns, especially when dealing with issues of violence against women and children is that there is a level of ‘seriousness’ expected.
However, this does not mean that the campaigns necessarily have to be glum and heavy. West Sumba’s (Indonesia) shifters shows us how.
SIX GENERATIONS
A jingle, a beloved children’s game and a comic strip.
Six Generations is a group of 6 girls from West Sumba (Indonesia), campaigning to protect their peers against potential sexual violence. Realising that they first had to pierce through the taboo surrounding the issue, they composed a jingle with their campaign’s namesake: Kenali Kom Tubuh! (trans. “Know your body!”)
“Know your Body”
Let’s learn to take care of yourself
Recognise dangerous situations
Recognise unsafe touch
Protect all parts of your body
Dare to say no!
Then report.
Dare to say no!
Then report.
When unsafe,
seek protection,
avoid the situation,
report to trustworthy people and institutions
Not only was this jingle played at four activation events reaching 597 people, but was even used by an entirely different campaign on preventing violence against middle-school children.
“The Shift jingle was really an ear worm, easy listening and informative regarding the prevention of sexual violence around them. Many participants were able to memorise the jingle after the campaign.”
Juris, 31 years old school teacher at SMP Kristen Wanokaka
Customising their campaign for a traditional village
As Six Generations expanded their campaign to a traditional village, they changed their tactic and used a comic about Lani who mobilises her village to protect young girls against predators.
Six Generations also gamified young children’s knowledge on sexual and reproductive health by re-purposing the beloved ‘snake and ladder’ game; participants had to correctly answer questions to get to the end of the game and become the winner.
It is not only the youth Shifters that recognise the value of employing an edutainment approach to deal with serious issues.
FOR OUR FUTURE
A group of girls from Doan Thi Diem Primary School in Ha Noi, Vietnam, who want to educate other peers at their school on protecting themselves from harm and violence. For their campaign, ‘My Body! My Rights! (Dare to say NO), they created a video to raise awareness among other children about body protection.
Additionally, they also performed various play-acting scenarios at various events there they demonstrated wanted and unwanted touch. Realising that protection from harm and violence also requires commitment and action from adults, the child shifters made teachers, parents and other older students sign pledge to respect body boundaries.
500 ENGAGED THROUGH IN-PERSON ACTIVITES
500,000 PARENTS, TEACHERS & STUDENTS REACHED ONLINE
10+ NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND FEATURES IN MEDIA
“I am very proud of my friends and me. It is unbelievable that we can run a big meaningful process like this. We have room to make our own decisions.”
Ngoc Diep, grade 4, Doan Thi Diem Primary School
CYCLING CAN SAVE NEPAL'S WETLANDS AND PREVENT TEEN PREGNANCIES IN BOLIVIA
When SENSE Nepal realised that Lalitpur’s wetlands were facing critical threats from concretisation, pollution and human-induced degradation, they set out to launch an awareness-raising campaign. However, they faced a challenge: most people were unaware of what a ‘wetland’ was.
Switch on sound to listen
SENSE
While holding a workshop to talk about an issue that no one knew or even cared about would most likely have failed, through cycling the participants took an active interest in learning and most importantly, had fun doing it. Who says environmental change has to be serious and boring all the time? At the end of the treasure hunt, participants understood the detrimental effects of wetland pollution, invasive species and degradation of wetland habitat into concrete landscapes.
119 CYCLISTS EDUCATED ON WETLAND CONSERVATION
That is when SENSE Shifters got creative. Using the Greeway Nepal app, they masterminded a treasure hunt with a 7 km loop, covering 7 different wetlands. The goal was for cyclists to go from one wetland to the next, collecting points based on clues via information centres and QR codes strategically placed along the entire route. The information centres also served the dual purpose of educating passers-by about wetlands and the importance of preserving them.
Switch on sound to listen to their beautiful poetry about nature
PLAT PREV &
PANDA SCOUT
They were faced with two challenges when they joined forces and set out to tackle the high rates of teenage pregnancy in Bolivia:
🤔
How do you de-stigmatise the issue?
How do you get other adolescents invested in learning and accessing the health facilities in Cochabamba?
Their answer:
Hover on photo for translation
In partnership with the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents of Cochabamba, the Shifters organised a 10K Bicycle Rally for the adolescents. The participating cyclists had to travel through the different health facilities providing comprehensive care for adolescents and students and make it to the finish line. The finalists would then be quizzed on their knowledge of the facilities and also on topics such as prevention of pregnancy, HIV and sexual violence.
The event also helped forge partnerships with the Municipal Secretary of Human Development, UNFPA, KOICA, and local cooperation agencies such as Marie Stopes, CIES, CEMSE and IpDH.
150 ADOLESCENT CYCLISTS EDUCATED ON HEALTH FACILITIES AND SRHR
500 PARENTS, TEACHERS AND YOUNG PEOPLE INFORMED ABOUT UNPLANNED PREGNANCIES, HIV AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
AS A RESULT OF THEIR CAMPAIGN AT THE END OF 2023, THE DEPARTMENT OF COCHABAMBA APPROVED THE DEPARTMENTAL LAW FOR THE PREVENTION OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY.
Source: UNFPA
THINK OF PARTNERSHIPS AS A CURRENCY
One of the greatest challenges that young changemakers face in bringing their creative ideas to life is funding (particularly if they are informal). The support structures in place are often procedurally bloated, risk-averse and ultimately child-unfriendly.
Nevertheless, Shifters around the world invite us to broaden our thinking, as partnerships can become the currency that ‘buys’ the resources needed to activate their campaigns, much like actual funds.
NTCHEU SHIFTERS & NENO SHIFTERS
In 2022, Ntcheu Shifters and Neno Shifters from Malawi experienced concrete results at the end of their campaign:
NTCHEU DISTRICT
73%
INCREASE IN SCHOOL-GOING CHILDREN
DONDA VILLAGE IN NENO DISTRICT
8 CHILD MARRIAGE INCIDENCE IN 2022
1 CHILD MARRIAGE INCIDENCE IN 2023
Because of their success and demonstrated ability to execute effective campaigns as a group, both groups are now viewed as capable partners by the localisation project and allocated $10,000 each in 2024. This fund will enable them to formalise and over time, build the systems needed to be able to fund them directly.
“We want to roll out the back-to-school campaign in all villages under Traditional Authority Kwataine through collaboration with other youth groups and other organizations.”
Shifter from Ntcheu
“The group has plans to register as a local non-governmental organization so that we can secure funding to scale up our programming in the whole Ntcheu District”
Shifter from Ntcheu
PETAUKE SHIFTERS
When Petauke Shifters from Zambia set out to end teenage pregnancy and child marriage in their district, they wondered how best to target their campaign so that it would maximise impact. While they could have conducted a survey to investigate which areas had higher cases of teenage pregnancies and child marriages, this would have incurred time and costs - two resources that a young campaigning group can’t afford to waste.
Instead, Petauke Shifters dedicated their scarce resources to establishing a partnership with the Ministry of Health (MoH) which had the expertise and data resources. Using the monthly adolescent health performance tracking tool, MoH and the shifters were able to identify 16 hotspot sites; of which the shifters covered 14 through their campaign.
1268
1221
ADOLESCENTS REACHED
Petauke’s total population: 294,000
Hot spots: 14 sites
1171
876
PARENTS REACHED
Switch on sound to listen
VAST
When VAST Shifters staged a 3-day takeover of Bhutan’s busiest street, it attracted a lot of attention: children wanted to come and paint, young adults who were part of various dance, music and rap groups wanted to show their talent, parents were curious to observe and absorb the youthful energy. Nearby businesses reported generating higher income due to the foot traffic.
Seeing the impact of this youth-led campaign on the vibrancy and mood of the capital city, the Mayor pledged his support and signed an MoU with VAST Shifters in 2023. In 2024, the space to conduct such a takeover (which was otherwise rented) would now be provided for free. Strategic partnerships not only waives cost but also contribute towards the sustainability of the campaigns.
“Through these vibrant activities, we observed a notable positive impact on the community's wellbeing. Participants, including both children and adults, exhibited heightened enthusiasm and expressed a sense of joy and fulfilment during the festival. The interactive sessions, coupled with artistic engagement, served as an effective medium for stress reduction and emotional expression.”
Karzin, VAST Shifter, Bhutan
ALASHMONIN SHIFTERS
We asked them:
WHAT IS THE BEST SUCCESS STORY ABOUT YOUR CAMPAIGN?
“During the campaign period, many people and entities joined together to support (us) including policemen, as the police station is located on the bank of the canal. Policemen provided (us) with electricity and wires, and protected us girls from harassment… especially during the implementation of activities at late hours”
Alashmonin Shifters is a group of 6 girls and a boy who want to reduce pollution in their community’s main canal. This problem was identified via a survey which asked the community’s opinion on the most significant issue of the day.
Through the 2-month campaign activation period, shifters’ enthusiasm and energy sparked a momentum in the community and even the City Council, that donated building material to construct garbage container along the canal’s banks, trees for planting and even mobilised necessary equipment and workers from the Local Unit to clean the canal.
This enabled the Shifters not only to hugely cut their costs, but also free their time to focus on getting to the root of the pollution issue, i.e. community-level advocacy.
Hover on photo to view a cleaner city!
“I was fascinated by the scene I saw at the entrance to the village and the change that happened in it, and I wished to participate with you in every activity you carried out."
A Resident Village girl from Alashmonin
LENEGE SHIFTERS
Lenege (‘For Tomorrow’) Shifters, a group of nine young people from Sekota district of Ethiopia came together to campaign on drug addiction and its impact on gender-based violence in 2023. While they conducted a series of activation events such as launching workshops, music concert and a road race that saw participation from thousands of community members, their partnership and involvement of religious figures throughout their campaign ensured continued impact.
Long after their campaign, religious leaders actively addressed the Shifter’s issue by incorporating campaign messages in live church services across Sekota communities.
13 YOUTH COMMITTED TO RECEIVE COUNSELING SERVICES AS A RESULT OF LENEGE SHIFTERS
10,600 COMMUNITY MEMBERS (PARENTS, YOUTHS, CHILDREN) ENGAGED DIRECTLY IN PERSON
LILONGWE SHIFTERS
Since 2022 Llilongwe Shifters have been on a herculean mission to erase plastic pollution from one of the largest markets in their capital city, Chinsapo market. This year they have focused on expanding their partnerships at the district and even national level.
THEIR EFFORTS HAVE PAID OFF!
Llilongwe Shifters were invited to be part of the national deliberations on framing the position paper, ensuring youth voice inclusion at COP28.
A spin-off annual conference, ‘My City, My Responsibility’ was hosted by the Llilongwe district council, inspired by the Shifters campaign, ‘My Waste, My Responsibility’.
Data and the analysis generated from the Shifters’ 2022 drone mapping exercise led to the City Council initiating a cleanup campaign around Chinsapo Secondary School, a site identified as being Cholera-prone.
The Ministry of Water and Sanitation has requested the Shifters to be a part of their upcoming agenda to work with young people in tackling waste management.
MAKE INFLUENCERS YOUR BEST FRIEND
Okay, we admit it. Campaigning for social and environmental change, especially as a young person, takes considerable effort and innovation to reach thousands. But it doesn’t have to be.
Take Indonesia’s Six Generations Shifters who are a group of 6 girls campaigning to prevent sexual violence against women and children in West Sumba. Through their campaign activities, they were able to reach 597 people in person and 113 people through their social media handles.
HOWEVER, THROUGH THEIR COLLABORATION WITH A BELOVED INDONESIAN ACTOR, THEIR CAMPAIGN REACHED
835,000
UNIQUE
AUDIENCES!
CYAN
Likewise, the Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) Shifters enlisted the partnership of a TikTok influencer (@mathildaairlinesofficial, 1.2 million followers) to amplify their campaign. While CYAN Shifters’ educational video on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights reached 2,000+ followers, their partnership with the influencer generated a whopping 96,600 views.
ALMOST 50 TIMES MORE!
Reaching new media’s hidden audiences
It is not simply just the quantity of followers that influencers bring to the campaign table but also the quality; while Shifters are encouraged to identify and focus their efforts on a specific ‘target audience’, influencers take their campaign messages to audiences that would otherwise never have seen the Shifters’ campaigns.
BARISHAL SHIFTERS
When Bangladesh’s Barishal Shifters partnered with Thoughts of Shams, their campaign message to break barriers for girls’ higher education manifested into a humorous exchange between a lazy daughter whose highest ambition in life is to marry, and a mother who believes that she should pursue higher education. The feature on Thoughts of Shams gained 586,000 views on her channel.
13,768
SHIFTERS’ ONLINE CAMPAIGN REACH
Similarly when Bhutan’s VAST shifters activated their campaign, taking over the capital city’s busiest street to promote arts in young people’s development, it mushroomed an entire ecosystem of influencers and content creators. They vlogged about it on their channels, unintendedly amplifying the shifters’ campaigns to their followers and supporters.
30,802
CONTENT CREATOR’S COMBINED REACH
BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO THE AGE-OLD PLASTIC PROBLEM
When most parts of the world are faced with an issue as ubiquitous and daunting as single-use plastic pollution, it can seem as if every innovative approach to solve it has been tried and tested. But young people continue to prove us wrong.
PANCHAKOSHI JWALA YUWA PRATISHTHAN
Tackling single-use plastic in Nepal with indigenous expertise
Panchakoshi Jwala Yuwa Pratishthan (PJYA) realised that in tackling the issue of plastic pollution in Dailekh, they could simultaneously empower indigenous knowledge and products. The result was Doko Manchey, a mascot made entirely out of bamboo, a natural resource indigenous to Dailekh.
PJYA Shifters then focused their campaign at 3 levels: At the municipality level, they used Doko Manchey to activate large-scale advocacy. At the school level, they coordinated and formed strategic partnerships that enabled them to establish green zones in four community schools. Their efforts culminated in a city-level cultural festival where they advocated against plastic use and in its place, promoted locally-made eco-friendly products and tools.
Switch on sound to listen
AS A RESULT OF PJYA’S CAMPAIGN, NARAYAN MUNICIPALITY DRAFTED AN ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AND WASTE MANAGEMENT POLICY.
“IF I WERE TRASH, WILL YOU STILL PICK ME UP?”
CALI SHIFTERS
These were the words that were printed inside what looked like real money bills by Cali Shifters in Colombia. The shifters then ‘littered’ these creative bills in public places with heavy foot traffic so that people would pick it up. Upon unfolding the bills and being hit with confusion, a shifter would approach the person and then invite them to their booths where they would speak to them about the relationship between waste and violence.
The Cali Shifters believe that there is a link between waste in their communities and violence. Eliminating one will help alleviate the other and ultimately enable young people to reclaim spaces to exercise their right to play and movement.
with English subtitles
ARAUCA SHIFTERS
Tackling plastic pollution in Colombia with comic books
For Shifters in Arauca, Colombia, plastic pollution in their lagoon equates to a monster whom they call ‘Tormento’. Tormento isn’t simply drawn out of unfounded imagination but from their lived realities: they are migrants in Arauca. So what is simply an issue of plastic pollution for most young people becomes an issue that has the power to uproot their lives - the plastic pollution could cause the lagoon to overflow and flood their homes and force them to migrate, yet again.
In a show of resilience and hope, Shifters in Arauca invented ‘Transformundo’, a hero capable of defeating Tormento. Fueled by Transformundo’s energy the Shifters launched their ‘waste for tote’ campaign where community members could claim a tote bag for bringing in waste from the lagoon to create a community where young people and their families can thrive.
DON’T GENERALISE.
BE SPECIFIC.
While there is often a tendency to assume that transformations in important issues of gender, environment and even empowerment look more or less the same across different contexts, Shifters around the world continue to show us, just how untrue that assumption is.
GENDER TRANSFORMATION IS HIGHLY CONTEXT-SPECIFIC
In Malawi and Bangladesh, gender transformative action means ensuring that girls are not rushed into their reproductive roles.
Switch on sound to listen
Switch on sound to listen
NENO SHIFTERS
With the vision to ‘End Child Marriages’, Neno Shifters zoomed in on their village, Donda. They very quickly realised that prevailing cultural practices and norms were fueling child marriages that are usually informal in nature. But how do you tackle something as invisible and vague as social norms? Answer: By forming strong partnerships with the custodians of customary laws i.e. Traditional Leaders. The leaders amplified Neno Shifters’ messages to residents of Donda village.
Another pull factor for child marriage was also due to lack of adequate school supplies. To mitigate this, Shifters acquired and distributed school uniforms to 22 vulnerable children whose parents might otherwise not be able to send them to school. This was complemented by a longer-term vision to teach them how to fish, disseminating information on various income-generating activities that can help parents support their children’s education.
Neno Shifters also worked with officials from the Education Ministry, police units, social welfare office and community child protection structures to facilitate reintegration and rehabilitation for children and parents after child marriages were nullified.
3,890 COMMUNITY MEMBERS REACHED
2 MEDIA
PICK-UPS (COMMUNITY RADIO)
INCIDENCE OF CHILD MARRIAGES FELL FROM
10 IN 2021, TO 8 IN 2022.
AS OF 2023, IT’S DOWN TO 1.
BARISHAL SHIFTERS
Barishal Shifters launched their campaign in rural Bakerganj to tackle inequality in girls’ access to higher education. Using a variety of engagement tools and approaches at their disposal, such as quiz competitions, interactive games with prizes, information stalls on championing girls’ education, speeches by community leaders and life story sharing, the Shifters reached parents and community leaders of 8 villages. Their message: ‘provide equal opportunities for girls to pursue higher education’.
The Shifters did not stop there. They plastered pickup vans with their campaign messages and assets, loaded loudspeakers and took their campaign on the road, travelling through high-traffic areas. Using their campaign theme song to draw attention, the Shifters amplified their messages (quite literally) to the Bakerganj public. They also launched a series of 8 campaigns in schools, tailoring their messages and adopting an edutainment approach to engage students.
6,500
PEOPLE REACHED IN PERSON
723,000 PEOPLE REACHED ONLINE
586,000+ VIEWS FROM A FEATURE ON A LOCAL INFLUENCER’S CHANNEL
“When every woman in the country is educated in higher education, their opinion will also be given importance.”
Monisha, 19, Shifter
“I have also heard negative comments from our neighbours. They slandered me along with my daughter. What is the benefit of doing all this unnecessarily? But I realized that my daughter was benefiting from this campaign. She learned a lot of new things. This knowledge will be useful in her life.”
Tonu, 35, Mother of a Shifter
“I also learned something new from Didi (my sister). I am eager to participate in the fun activities that Didi engaged in and learned from the Shift campaign. I aspire to be a Shifter like Didi.”
Moumita, 14, Younger sister to a Shifter
LETTING GO OF POWER
Some of our Fun Adults experience a degree of shock when we start Day 1 of our Shift training with the following phrase, “Shift is young people’s campaign, not yours”. It is a simple statement but an important one because it reflects a set of values that sit at the core of Shift:
We respect young people’s lived experiences and believe that this can form the basis for identifying issues that are most relevant to their lives.
We acknowledge young people’s agency and capacity to learn, unlearn and relearn.
We value young people’s innate sense of creativity, out-of-the-box thinking and energy to formulate effective solutions.
We believe that while young people should be in the driving seat and empowered to make decisions, adults play an indispensable role in supporting and guiding them.
…AND WE HAVE BEEN SEEING BELIEVERS EVER SINCE!
“Shift is a completely new approach compared to our traditional method (one-way instruction). I witnessed how satisfied the students were when they could actively select their topics and activities for the campaign. I was inspired by their creativity, breakthroughs, and energy.”
Le Nghia
Fun Adult, National Youth Union Vietnam
“The best success story of our journey as adults supporting the campaign is the transformative impact we've witnessed in the youth and the empowering platform we've created for them to drive change.
Seeing the remarkable growth in their confidence, learning, and realization of their ability to effect positive societal change has been truly inspiring. We provided the necessary resources, mentorship, and encouragement, allowing them to blossom into change-makers.”
Kanica Fardosh
Fun Adult, Bangladesh
“The youth Shifters have taken the role to sensitize the community, raise awareness on the need to end child marriage and keep girls in school. As a fun adult, my role has been simply giving technical guidance and support on stakeholder engagement. These Shifters have shown us that it’s easy to work with young people, we have seen them taking the leading role in addressing the challenges their fellow youths are facing today”.
Msonono
Fun Adult and Neno District Youth Officer, Malawi
“I felt like they taught me more than I guided them. I was barely a week old at work when the co-creation workshop took place…Yet, CYAN (Shifters) didn't make me feel futile in the conversations and brainstorming at all. One thing I've always kept in mind is that no one can find the best solutions to these issues better than the ones who are currently experiencing them. The youth are very powerful, and with the right amount of guidance and mentoring, they will succeed”
Irish Van Fidel
Fun Adult, Philippines
“Shift listens to and respects the ideas of the youth group. This will make them more confident in themselves and want to contribute their ideas to community activities. Every young person wants to be recognized, especially in today's society. Shift provides them with listening, recognition, and opportunities to try out their ideas in practice.”
Thu Ha
Fun Adult, Lao Cai, Vietnam
FUN ADULTS ALSO OFTEN UNDERGO A TRANSFORMATIVE SHIFT THROUGH THE PROCESS AND EMERGE AS BETTER PARTNERS OF YOUNG PEOPLE.
“I learned to let go my assumptions, be patient, flexible, open to diverse and new ideas, critical in interactive discussions but don’t forget to have fun stirring the minds of young people.
As Fun Adult, we need to help them visualize the brighter future they want to see. As Fun Adults we need to wear different hats, sometimes a sister, facilitator, mentor, cheerer, teacher, and friend. Being a fun adult helps me make the discussions and processes lighter and more fun by using Shift principles and tools.
Most importantly the training helps me realise the importance of shifting the power to the youth in addressing issues confronting them.
Sheridan Elizalde
Fun Adult, Philippines
“As the fun adult for Six Generations, I learned a lot about how young people's ideas could be very varied. They had their own unique way of thinking. As a Fun Adult, I needed to keep curious, asking many prompt questions to explore every idea that they had. Facilitating them meant I had to stand in the same spot as them, using my empathy to understand them.”
Afifah
Fun adult, West Sumba, Indonesia
“I was very proud to see the changes in the young people throughout the 3.5 months of the campaign…With the achievement of the Shifter, they helped me gain more confidence, as well as pride. I am excited to continue working with Shift to promote gender equality and LGBTI+ inclusion next year.”
Quynh An
Fun Adult, Rainbow Voice Project Officer, Vietnam
“We didn't just stand on the sidelines; we actively engaged in meaningful dialogue, creating an environment where every voice was heard. This inclusive approach fostered a sense of ownership among the youth, instilling in them the belief that they could indeed shape their community's future. Observing their passion translate into action, and witnessing the positive changes unfold, is a powerful confirmation of the impact of providing the right support and platform for the next generation.”
Kanica Fardosh
Fun Adult, Bangladesh
FUN ADULTS ALSO BEGIN TRUSTING THE CAPACITY AND AGENCY OF YOUTH PEOPLE TO DELIVER IMPACT
“Shift project has proved that the youth can show their prowess to transform their communities… Working with the Shifters has enabled me to understand that peer-to-peer engagement is the best approach to resolving issues that affect them. As a Fun Adult, I have enjoyed the full involvement in the Back-to-school campaign, the coordination among stakeholders at the district and community level.”
Stella Mpaso
Ntcheu Ward Councillor, Malawi
“I was mostly moved by the Shifters’ efforts to inspire learners to work hard in school through the Role Modelling activity they conducted at our school. This has had a great impact on learners’ attendance as well as mindset…The Shifters have also set a higher benchmark for other school-based committees like Mother Group in using creative ways of following up with children who are out of school.”
Enock Saulos
Fun Adult, Ntcheu, Malawi
“Our success lies not only in the campaign's tangible outcomes but in the intangible growth and empowerment of the youth. We've sown the seeds for a legacy of positive change, and the journey has been as rewarding as the impact itself. It's a story of collaboration, mentorship, and empowerment that extends far beyond the confines of the campaign, leaving a lasting mark on the community and the young leaders who will continue to shape its future.”
Kanica Fardosh
Fun Adult, Bangladesh
SRHR, THE MOST POPULAR ISSUE WORLDWIDE
6 out of 31 campaigns worldwide seek to raise awareness and mitigate issues of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). In Latin America and Africa, SRHR issues manifest as issues of teenage pregnancy.
INFORMATION
PROVIDERS
Information Providers, a group of 33 Shifters from Wakiso District of Uganda felt that teenage pregnancy was the biggest issue affecting young people. Following this, they went on a fact-finding mission, visiting the health facilities in Wakiso to test their assumptions, where they discovered:
1,015 teenage pregnancies between January and July 2023 and on average, over 80% of cases emerged from the Namayumba sub-county.
More importantly, through a baseline data collection exercise, they found two factors that were crucial for curbing teenage pregnancy: partnerships with local authorities; and educating boys and girls. Following this, Information Providers organised community drives sensitising young people about SRHR services, organised community dialogues and met with leaders in Wakiso District. They even got featured on live talk show on Central Broadcasting Service (CBS) that has the biggest listenership in Uganda.
Switch on sound to listen
881 COMMUNITY MEMBERS, YOUNG PEOPLE & LEADERS REACHED IN PERSON
8 PARTNERSHIPS FORMED WITH STAKEHOLDERS IN HEALTH AND THE GOVERNMENT
“The world never gives us what we deserve but what we bargain for. The skills and knowledge I acquired from the Shift campaign have enabled me to overcome stage fright and speak to audiences with confidence.”
Agnes Namboga, 22, Information Providers, Shifter
Switch on sound to listen
Switch on sound to listen
AT THE END OF THEIR CAMPAIGN, DATA FROM THE DISTRICT HEALTH CENTRES SHOW A 20% REDUCTION IN TEENAGE PREGNANCY CASES.
Switch on sound to listen
Deeply alarmed by the precarity of adolescents, particularly girls, Petauke Shifters partnered with the Ministry of Health to identify hot spots for teenage pregnancy and child marriages. 14 hotspots were identified for their campaign where they then activated their campaign.
PETAUKE SHIFTERS
Switch on sound to listen
14
HOTSPOTS OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY AND CHILD MARRIAGE REACHED
6,583 PEOPLE REACHED IN PERSON
30
DECISION MAKERS FROM THE VILLAGE, HEALTH AND YOUTH CENTRES ENGAGED
Switch on sound to listen
Switch on sound to listen
In 2022, the Shifter groups from Bolivia launched two campaigns mostly targeting community members of Cochabamba on Prevention of intra-family sexual violence (Plat Prev) and HIV prevention (Scout Panda). This year, the two groups reflected on the root causes of their issues and discovered an overarching issue:
ON AVERAGE, 104 TEENAGERS IN BOLIVIA BECOME PREGNANT EVERY DAY, MOSTLY AS A RESULT OF INTRA-FAMILY SEXUAL VIOLENCE.
That’s why in 2023, Plat Prev and Scout Panda joined forces to tackle ‘Teenage Pregnancy’ with a twist: while they focused on grassroots advocacy in 2022, this year they took their advocacy to the municipal, departmental and national level, targeting decision and policy actors.
Through activities like teenage pregnancy and health fairs, foam parties, Teen Summit and Forums, the Shifters were able to engage important decision-makers such as the Deputy Mayor of Valle Hermoso, Departmental Government, Presidency of the Senate of Bolivia, Director of Gender from Cochabamba Municipal Government, and Minister of Health and Sports.
10,490
PEOPLE REACHED IN PERSON
5 KEY DECISION-MAKERS FROM THE MUNICIPAL, DEPARTMENTAL AND NATIONAL LEVEL ENGAGED
“(Our campaign) made it possible for authorities from different levels of the state to start talking about the problem of teenage pregnancy. Thus, at the end of the 2023 administration, the Department of Cochabamba approved the departmental law for the prevention of teenage pregnancy.”
Shifters from Panda Scout and Plat Prev
In Asia, SRHR manifest as issues of awareness and access, with most campaigns focusing on school students.
YPEER
Imagine this. 1,000+ children and 100+ adults in 3 remote districts of Bhutan at the edge of their seats, listening to 12 young Shifters talking about SRHR. Don’t believe us? Here are the messages that the Shifters received from young people in other parts of the country.
“When I saw them conducting their advocacy, I was amazed at the way they were able to connect with the students! The students were completely into it…so hungry for information.”
Karma Doma
National Director of Save the Children Bhutan during Shift Bhutan’s Final Learning Session
Switch on sound to listen
Y-PEER describes themselves as a network of peer educators championing SRHR (including HIV/AIDS), physical and mental health, gender-based violence and civic engagement; issues that young people in Bhutan confront daily without adequate support in mitigating them. Y-PEER Shifters not only fill this gap but do this effectively:
“We equip an edutainment approach which is mixing education with entertainment, and we adopt a very informal setting in training so that young people feel comfortable to share”
Gyanzo
Y-PEER Shifter
Bhutan
Y-PEER’s efforts received recognition from the national newspaper that has coverage to all 20 districts of the country.
CYAN
‘Uy! ‘Wag ma-awkward’ (Hey, don’t be awkward) was launched as an initiative of Philippines’ Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) Shifters to nurture open and honest conversations around SRHR. CYAN began with an FGD with 140 young adolescents to understand how they perceived SRHR issues. Informed by this exercise, CYAN shifters then adopted a training of trainer methodology, recruiting and building the capacity of ates and kuyas (big brothers and sisters) to facilitate high-energy gamified workshops for adolescents in Quezon city.
Topics such as puberty, consent and sex education were covered using a ‘cheat sheet’ to ensure accuracy in points covered.
205
ADOLESCENTS REACHED IN PERSON
1,293,000
PEOPLE REACHED THROUGH THEIR ONLINE CAMPAIGN
“We were able to navigate through these sensitive yet pressing topics and issues…making it enjoyable and informational at the same time.”
CYAN Shifters
“Don’t feed them (adolescents) something you know they won’t eat. You have to look at the right mix and taste of your audience so that they absorb what you give them.”
Denzel Nery
Creative Director
ADVOCATES FOR HEALTHY ADOLESCENTS
While CYAN conducted their campaign in Quezon city, another shifter group in Philippines, Advocates for Healthy Adolescent (AHA) were gathering the buy-in of officials from the Department of Health, Youth Affairs, City Mayors Office and schools in General Santos City. Their plan? To launch their campaign in 3 schools of Barangay Calumpang by setting up attractive booths with games and challenges on SRHR issues. This then served as a launching pad to initiate conversations around SRHR and encourage students to access information and services from the Rural Health Units nearby.
Switch on sound to listen
CHOP! CHOP! CLIMATE CHANGE
13 out of 31 campaigns feature under the Climate Change and Environment theme. However, this theme also has the highest diversity in sub-issues, meaning that young people see climate change not as one big issue but rather as bite-sized problems specific to their contexts.
IN NEPAL AND VIETNAM, PLASTIC POLLUTION DOMINATES AS THE ISSUE OF CHOICE.
2 out of 4 groups in Nepal (Kayapalat and Panchakoshi Jwala) and G-Hope in Vietnam chose to focus on mitigating the issue of single-use plastics. As a result of Kayapalat’s campaign, the sub-metropolitan city has agreed to set up a recycling plan through a Public-Private Partnership. A showroom in Janakpur even replaced their plastic packaging with cloth bags. Likewise, as a result of G-Hope’s campaign where they marked an ‘Anti-plastic Day’, the school management board switched out all plastic for glass ones for school events.
"I feel happy to replace plastics with cloth bags and so are my customers as they get to reuse the cloth bags unlike the plastic ones."
Janakpur Outlet Manager
Goldstar
70,316
PEOPLE REACHED THROUGH THE 2 CAMPAIGNS
(KAYAPALAT AND PANCHAKOSHI JWALA)
26
MEDIA PICK-UPS COLLECTIVELY
“Anti-Plastic Campaign is my child. My friends and I promise that we will do our best to keep it alive and inspire.”
Chau Linh
G-Hope team leader,
Phan Dinh Phung High School (Grade 11)
500,000
PEOPLE REACHED THROUGH THE CAMPAIGN
10+
MEDIA PICK-UPS
MALAWI, EGYPT AND COLOMBIA CHOSE TO FOCUS ON GENERAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
“What you do is significant. Involve me with you in everything and I will help you with everything I can."
Mayor, Monshaat Al-Maghalqa
“I was also able to leave a mark and change people’s minds; people who were difficult to change or even change the habits that they were raised with. I learned things for the first time and I also learned how to share creative ideas in the video and activities we conducted. I learned how to find many solutions for any problem I face."
Mayar Hussein, 20 years old, Shifter
“They were able to organize large events for the children and teach them through games and theatre. They were able to gain community and villagers' trust which made the villagers themselves start to present other issues that they needed their help with."
Sherif Ezzat, Livelihood Coordinator at PNGO
“My participation in the campaign gave me the opportunity to get to know people I never imagined I would know. Surprisingly, I found myself participating with them and expressing my opinion. Not only that, but I went out to the street and changed things I didn’t like."
Al-Zahraa Saber, 18 years old, Shifter
Free-standing issues under climate change: Food security and green public spaces
ROTARACT CLUB OF KATHMANDU
Shifters from Rotaract Club of Kathmandu were worried most about food security - in particular toxins in their food. However, they wanted to move away from generics and focus instead on concrete and measurable impact: First they installed two models of aquaponics in two different government schools in Kathmandu to de-mystify urban agriculture.
They also organised ‘Healthy Meal Campaigns’ in 16 schools where they educated children and youths about climate change and food security focusing mostly on concrete steps that can be taken to make their mid-day meals more healthy and nutritious.
15,000
CHILDREN & YOUTHS REACHED
9 MEDIA PICK-UPS
42 PARTNERSHIPS ESTABLISHED
22,000
PEOPLE REACHED ONLINE
BOGOTA SHIFTERS
For Bogota Shifters in Colombia, the lack of green spaces and parks in their neighbourhoods doesn’t just mean that children can’t play outside their homes. It also means that they are exposed to harassment in the streets and violence at home from their caregivers. The Shifters also see the lack of green spaces as contributing to the high levels of air pollution in their communities.
LAST WORDS
LEARN - UNLEARN - RELEARN
That’s the mantra we believe in and practice at Shift. That is why, in 2023 we got the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit from the Asia Regional Office to assess the impact and potential of Shift to secure long-term positive change.
HIGH PRIORITY
Strengthen collaboration between us and country offices
Extend M&E to outcomes and impact
Strengthen Shifters’ organisational capacity
Extend lifetime into multi-year approach
LOW PRIORITY
Extend support to young groups
Responding to the recommendations and findings of the research, we are unlearning a few things and re-learning how Shift should progress in the coming years:
BRING THE FOCUS ON STRENGTHENING THE MOVEMENT ITSELF
We have been able to support young people activate awesome campaigns on issues most important to them since Shift’s earliest beginnings. Now, we are realising that if we want to get serious about sustainability, ownership and long-term impact, we need to also ensure that we equip young people with the tools to gauge their own movement’s health and take the necessary actions to become influential movements. This way, their lifecycle would be extended beyond Shift.
One product we are excited to bring to help do this in a concrete and fun way is a gamified self-assessment tool which Shifters and fun adults can use to track the group’s strengths and progress - without making this exercise a boring checklist requirement only useful for donors.
LEVERAGE ON THE ACCELERATION YEAR TO HELP CONSOLIDATE AND ULTIMATELY SUSTAIN YOUTH AND CHILD-LED GROUPS
The acceleration year provides shifters with the knowledge, skills and opportunities to run innovative and impactful campaigns. Now, we need to build on this momentum to offer Shifters a pipeline to apply for a carrot fund - a small but meaningful incentive to continue campaigning into year two. We also need to focus on upskilling young change-makers to carry out effective advocacy with decision-makers and establish strategic partnerships. Ultimately, we recognise the need to address factors such as funding, strategies and governance to ensure the youth and child-led groups become self-sustaining.
FIRST YEAR
ACCELERATION
Original acceleration year
SECOND YEAR
CONSOLIDATION
Carrot Fund
Advocacy
Partnership
THIRD YEAR
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable funding
Governance
Strategy for future
If you’ve made it this far in our 2023 Impact Report, you’re probably blown away by the activities of our Shifters. We hope you’re also asking yourself, what’s next and how can I get involved?
Shift is movement that believes in giving young people opportunity. Our dream is to have Shift in every country possible, driven by a localised team of highly skilled and passionate Fun Adult mentors. More countries, more campaigns, more impact. As we grow, we will continue to learn and - and we will take those learnings as a network to become the best partner we can be for young people. A better world starts with an investment in those who are set to inherit the world.
If you are a leader who shares this vision, get in touch with us and together we can help you make a Shift.
If you’re inspired and want to share this report with your networks, please do so. Email, Linkedin - or shout out your window.
We appreciate you sharing our story.
Special thanks to our Fun Adults who helped us make this report happen.
Join our newsletter.