Broadcaster and activist Carrie Grant MBE has partnered with international children’s charity World Vision on a new podcast series, where she hears from children who are making big changes in their global communities by campaigning to stop harmful practices like child labour, child marriage and FGM. The young people are also championing education and delivering innovative ways to protect the environment and tackle the hunger crisis.
The Raising Changemakers podcast puts a spotlight on important issues that affect many children and families in the most vulnerable countries. The eight-part series launches with two episodes from 6 March across all major podcast platforms including Apple and Spotify.
Photo Credit: 2023 World Vision – Carrie Grant meets with Tenema, 17, in Sierra Leone to talk about her anti-FGM campaigning.
During every episode Carrie speaks with children from Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and the UK who share how they are campaigning to transform their futures. Carrie will also speak to wider guests who support raising young people’s voices including one of the UK’s youngest members of Parliament, Mhairi Black MP, Kids Against Plastic founder Amy Meek, and climate change activist and former Love Island contestant, Brett Staniland, who learnt about the links between child labour and fast fashion on a recent visit to Ghana.
The first episode discusses child labour, with Carrie speaking with Haja and Siatta in Sierra Leone. The two youth campaigners are working hard to raise awareness about the value of education and stopping child sandmining* and timber logging in their communities, which results in sickness and missing out on valuable schooling.
Haja told Carrie: “I am campaigning on child rights. We are telling the chiefs, pastors, imams, parents, and teachers how they should treat their children, and which kind of work they should (and should not) give them. It is your right to be educated, and it is your responsibility to take your studies seriously, and by that, if you are educated, you remove your parents from that poverty.”
Siatta added: “I am happy because I stand in front of people and talk to them about child rights and how to protect their children. And they’re listening because they want their children’s future to be bright, because we are the future leaders for tomorrow. If I continue doing this sandmining sometimes [it] gives me a headache, and that means I won’t be able to go to school – maybe even for months. We have done many things to change the situation, so they can help make the bylaws. We are not supposed to [do] it [the sandmining] – that is child labour.”
Carrie Grant MBE said: “Children and young people play an important role in making real changes in our communities and their voices must be heard. World Vision UK are helping equip young people globally to stand up in front of their peers, communities, and governments to share their personal stories and advocate for change. Some of the issues we discuss on the podcast are historic, complex practices like FGM, and are extremely difficult for young people to speak about to parents, faith leaders, and their community.
“The young people who spoke to me about child labour understand that when their peers are out of school and made to work, it’s because their family need those wages to feed themselves. But they are also saying ‘enough is enough – if we are denied an education, this cycle of poverty will continue.’ I feel like the world is in safe hands if young people are leading the charge for change and I hope everyone listens to the podcast to learn more about their incredible stories.
“I always encourage my own children to speak up for things they believe in and I’m excited that the World Vision Changemakers podcast is giving a platform to young people making a positive impact across the world,” Carrie added.
Carrie has a special relationship with Sierra Leone, and met with young activists for the podcast, during a recent visit to a World Vision project.
Commenting on Sierra Leone, Carrie Grant MBE said: “Sierra Leone holds a special place in my heart. It’s not only a beautiful country, but it feels like a second home to me, as it welcomed my father in the early nineties and welcomed me back as I spoke with dynamic young people campaigning for change. Their optimism and passion was truly inspirational.
“World Vision are committed to supporting vulnerable children and seeing the work being done in Sierra Leone was a truly special experience.”
World Vision UK is a faith-based charity that helps all children of any background. Carrie’s father first visited Sierra Leone in 1992 and become a missionary, settling in the capital Freetown. He opened 12 Bible colleges across the country, which were still running when he died of malaria in 1996. Carrie is currently training to become a minister and has been an ambassador for World Vision for over 10 years. She was awarded an MBE in 2020 “for services to music, to media and to charity”.
World Vision is committed to building a world where every child can thrive and works in almost 100 countries. The charity has helped change the lives of over 200 million children in the past five years alone.
- World Vision
