Around the world, children and young people are enjoying unprecedented opportunities to connect with each other and share experiences and information. Innovative projects, some initiated or implemented by young people themselves, are helping to turn these connections into change. Young people are using the Internet and mobile technologies to track issues they are concerned about and speak directly to decision makers. Children living and working on the streets are finding resources to help themselves plan for the future.

Meanwhile, adults are beginning to realize that it’s important to listen to children. Designers of technologies recognize that children’s input is critical to making products that speak to what children actually need and want – and that draw on children’s imagination and creativity to expand the realm of the possible. Humanitarian initiatives, though slower on the uptake, are also starting to consult children to make complex and intimidating bureaucratic processes respond better to their needs. Asking children what they want and need simply leads to better results.