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Meet the #Youth: Our Youth Advisory Council

Child Helpline International’s Youth Advisory Council (#Youth) has been a part of our core activities since 2014.

Cathryn Anila
Malaysia

Eke Snoeren

Georgina Reilly

Joëlle Busscher
Netherlands

Luuk Tuinier
Netherlands

Phyllis Huang
Canada

Qamil Mirza Abdullah
Malaysia

A year in review: The work of the #Youth in 2022

In 2022, the #Youth took part in several activities, ranging from governance to presentations at our International Consultation of Child Helplines.  

First and foremost, the #Youth have been involved in governance through strategy development and participating in meetings of our Supervisory Board. Throughout 2022, the co-chairs of #Youth have had reflection meetings with staff members from Child Helpline International to evaluate the #Youth Strategy 2021-2023 and plan their activities for 2022. One of the outcomes of these discussions was to revise the youth strategy during the 10th International Consultation of Child Helplines in Stockholm that you can read more about below.  

Both co-chairs of the #Youth participated in Child Helpline International’s Supervisory Board meetings  (May and December 2022). In their role as observers, they were kept informed about the overall strategy and main results of the organisation. This also helped them to reflect on their personal opinions of youth participation in a network organisation.  

Two of the #Youth, Cathryn and Luuk, were also participants and presenters at the 10th International Consultation of Child Helplines in Stockholm in September, 2022. Cathryn, was one of the speakers at the opening ceremony. You can read her speech here.

Cathryn and Luuk were also involved in

  • assessing the quality and impact of child helplines on children and their links with the other agencies and services involved in child protection;     
  • promoting the research project on peer to peer support online, led by UN SRSGVAC, and briefing the #Youth on its aims and objectives;   
  • connecting with other children and young people through peer learning and sharing;  
  • involving and channelling voices of the most vulnerable children;
  • decision making processes at Child Helpline International.

During the International Consultation in September 2022, the #Youth also co-facilitated a special workshop on the future of #Youth with our child helpline members. See pages 16 and 17 of the International Consultation Learning Report

Finally, they also attended the Regional Spaces for Child Helplines at the International Consultation, contributing their views on different regional issues facing children and child helplines, for example their views on children’s preference for text-based versus voice-based counselling.  

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