By Catherine Peter and Brett Lashley

VOF World (Voices of the Future World) has engaged the power of social media through multiple points to create and highlight positive impact in the world. Co-founder James Alcime from Haiti has put together a team from all over the world. Most of them have never met, but they are all mobilised for a common cause: the ability to share and highlight the work and achievements of young people through the internet.

With over 25 official representatives who report about global issues and post about live events such as the recent Arab revolutions, they all use this media platform to provide reports from all over the world. They propose that young people do not need to be “experts” to bring change, but just be themselves and use the power of internet for social change.

VOF World is a project designed to communicate the rights of young people around the world through social media and expose the oft ignored needs and wants of young people everywhere. VOF World is a media platform and portal with the aim of engaging young people in generating ideas and solutions around current and future issues like climate change, urban planning, quality of life, global business, and health.

VOF World provides a news portal to all those issues covered, as well as allowing youth a platform to spread and develop their own opinions. The project is co-founded by a young Haitian leader, James Alcime, and a Haitian specialist in multimedia Stephane Lacroix, but is led by the network of 50 young leaders along with a team of senior advisers. VOF seeks to engage world leaders in hearing the voices of the younger generations, based on various UN commitments to youth engagement. The movement proposes a green world, peace, freedom, social justice, democracy, gender equality and respect and care of life and nature.

As an Ambassador for One Young World, James used the One Young World network of shared accountability driven by social media, with over 15,000 fans on Facebook, to reach out to VOF World representatives and engage others to join forces in putting the power of media to work.

To celebrate its first 100 days of activity, VOF World has recently launched a video documentary introducing the global team who share their thoughts on leadership, their contributions, and the media’s role in their communities and countries. The goal is to inspire young leaders to let them know that we can use the power of social media to change the world whatever our role and regardless of where we are in the world. Anyone can participate: the organisation partners with grassroots media and citizen journalism projects to showcase what young people are doing for their communities and their countries.

The next major project to be launched by VOF World is VOF TV ,and VOF community , which will give youth from the far reaches of our planet an opportunity to share with a vast audience their impacts and insights. VOF World is a great opportunity to showcase the efforts of those who are not always recognized for innovation and drive in reporting as a tool to empower communities. For example, in particularly marginalized communities such as the townships Alexandra of Gauteng, and Khayelitsha of the Western Cape, South Africa, there are project like ‘Siyakhona’ which empower young people to in turn empower their communities through providing basic media equipment and training, enabling the reporting of issues close to the heart of the community.

As VOF World continues to grow, its members hope to utilize their collective knowledge, ideas and experiences to become a global source of innovation and inspiration for impacting social change. Thanks to the power of the Internet and the VOF platform, young people do not need to be physically present in a given location to impact positive change. By highlighting the great work and impacts of young people in any given community, youth in communities around the world can learn from the shared experiences and adapt those experiences to address needs in their own communities.

Related links

VOF World Video documentary

One Young World Talking about VOF World C0-Founder James Alcime

World pulse talking about VOF World

VOF World Facebook Fan page

About Catherine Peter

Catherine Peter is co-founder of a campaign of The Missing Millennium Development Goal, youth representative for South Africa for United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, after completing a BA Honours in International Relations and Spanish and beginning her career in youth development with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award International Association, chaired by HRH Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex. Working as a funding, partnerships and events coordinator with this youth development programme present in 132 countries, Catherine delivered large-scale and exclusive events and projects in several countries working with young people, NGOs, royalty and dignitaries, as well as raising substantial funds for work with marginalised youth in several developing countries. Catherine is the representative of VOF World in South Africa.

About Brett Lashley

Brett Lashley is the Program Manager for the Caribbean at the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), a non-profit organization that works in cooperation with the Organization of American States (OAS) to advance youth entrepreneurship in the Americas as a means to reduce poverty and unemployment. A native of Nassau, Bahamas, he holds a BA in International Relations from Boston University. At YABT, Brett is responsible for the development and implementation of the organization’s programs and activities in 14 Caribbean Member States while also providing support to initiatives throughout the hemisphere and beyond. Since joining the YABT team in 2008, he has collaborated with various governments, NGOs and private sector partners in an effort to improve the level and consistency of support services available to young entrepreneurs.