Empowering Youth

We believe in the power of youth to change their lives, communities and our world, and that every young person should be provided with the necessary skills, opportunities, and confidence to do so.

Young people have been at the forefront of major movements for social change throughout history — just as they are today. We need their courage, leadership and creativity more than ever. That’s why we’ve launched a new pillar of Red Nose Day grantmaking focused on empowering youth.

Empowerment is about having the knowledge, confidence, means and ability to do things or make decisions for oneself. It’s about being stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights. And there are currently 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10-24 globally — representing the largest generation of youth in history.

Equipped with leadership and professional development opportunities to reach their potential, young people can forge their own successful paths and be a driving force to create lasting change in their communities and countries. Empowered youth are the next generation of leaders, change-makers, and advocates.

Red Nose Day’s investments in empowerment programs focus on communities who are most impacted by poverty, helping to develop local capacity and fostering sustainable change to help break the cycle of systemic poverty and change the story for good.

Take a deeper look at the issues we address:

Creating economic opportunities and pathways for young people is important in addressing the increasing wealth disparities and various obstacles facing young people entering the workforce. Globally, more than 67 million youth who want or are available to work are unemployed, and 145 million young workers live in poverty. People who are unemployed as young adults often earn lower wages for many years due to forgone work experience and missed opportunities to develop skills.

Providing young people with the skills needed for rewarding jobs and pathways into the workforce is a powerful way to help change their circumstances in the short and long term.

When young people have the opportunity to create businesses and generate income for themselves in a legal and safe way, they also stimulate their local economies by creating jobs and building stronger communities and cultural identities.

Red Nose Day supports programs that address job creation, job training and community investments for teens and young adults, and equip young people with the skills to design, launch and sustain businesses and social enterprises to generate income and drive social change.

There is a significant global history and proven track record that supporting the power of youth leads to lasting social change.

Leadership programs channel youth energy in a positive way by helping them develop and strengthen leadership skills, learn how to solve community problems they know best, and become civically engaged -- uplifting critical perspectives from their communities, helping to forge innovative solutions to pressing challenges, and putting them in the driver’s seat to create a lasting impact. Youth who participate in leadership development programs become role models for their peers and younger generations. The programs we support help young leaders advance sustainable, lasting social change using innovative strategies combining civic and peer engagement, grantmaking, and advocacy.

Red Nose Day support programs provide youth with the skills and opportunities to help them become the next generation of leaders, advocates and change makers.