On Friday 14th July 2023, Campaign Champions Sophie (15) and Sadie (15) from Commonweal School in South Swindon, organised a conference in their school, where they invited a local primary school, students from their own school as well as their local MP Robert Buckland and Labour candidate and journalists from BBC Radio Wiltshire.

Hear Sophie and Sadie on BBC Radio Wiltshire here!

At the conference, we heard from Sophie and Sadie about the importance of global education. Sophie emphasised Britain’s role in Global Education, and the devastating impacts of the reduction in the ODA budget from 0.7% to 0.5% on global education, and the absolute necessity of investing in children’s education in emergencies, and resilient education systems.

“everyone deserves to unleash the potential that they have inside them, and with proper education, people can do that” Sophie, Campaign Champion 2023

Sadie talked about the importance of education to unleash potential, and why we need to think about education as a long term issue that needs good, solid solutions. We also heard from Year 8 student Uzwa, who at 12 years old had to leave Afghanistan with her family, starting at her new school the year later. She spoke about the importance of education and particularly of the bravery of women and girls in Afghanistan.

Sophie and Sadie then took students and politicians through some of the activities from the Send My Friend to School Let My Friends Learn campaign pack, leading students to think critically about what is meant by an emergency through the opinion line activity, and leading a Q&A session with Robert Buckland MP.

Sophie and Sadie’s efforts to raise awareness of a global issue at a local level, are demonstrative of the power of youth voice, and why we need grassroots activism in the fight for global education. 

Download the campaign pack here.