Last year, the Send my Friend to School campaign asked people to make paper 'buddies'. Each buddy represented a child who was missing out on an education. The buddies were sent to the world's most influential people to remind them that every child should have the chance to go to school.

A lot of progress has been made but more needs to be done to ensure that every child gets the education they need. One big problem is that there just aren't enough teachers to go round. Find out how you can help to make a teacher!

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UNICEF C8 Children's Forum

"We are the world's children… We are children whose voices are not being heard: it is time we are taken into account.”
- Children's Forum - at the UN Special Session on Children

The leaders of the world’s eight richest countries, called the G8, met in Edinburgh on 6-8 July 2005. They discussed all sorts of issues that affect the lives of poor people around the world - issues that ultimately affect us all.

Just before the G8 met, Unicef hosted the C8 - a young person’s version of this G8 meeting. Young campaigners from eight of the world's poorest countries - Bhutan, Cambodia, Moldova, Yemen, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Bolivia and Lesotho joined young people from G8 countries Russia, France, Italy, Germany and the UK to talk about changes they would like to see the G8 make.

What ideas did the C8 come up with? (external link)

What did the G8 promise to do about world poverty? (external link)

If you would like to know more about how to get involved, try these links:

Get Active with Unicef (external link)

Make Poverty History

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Speak out about why Oxfam's work with poor people around the world is important

You and your friends are powerful! You care about things that happen in the world, and you have family and friends who listen to what you think.

If you think the amount of pocket money you get is unfair, I bet you tell your friends about it (and maybe even the person who decides how much pocket money you get)… They might sympathise, lend you a little extra money now and then, or maybe you can persuade a parent to give you a bigger allowance!

Speaking out and explaining why you want to change something is the first step to making it happen. If other people agree with you, you are more powerful than if you are on your own. If you care about an issue, talk to your friends and find out if they care too. If you need to, you can use information on Cool Planet to try and persuade them why they should care. And if you can’t convince your friends – speak out anyway!

Stand up for what you believe in. It’s the first step to changing the world.

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Buy fair trade

You have probably heard of Fair Trade. Fair Trade is when people who grow and produce food (for example coffee and chocolate) and other products (e.g. clothing) are paid a fair price for their work. This helps make sure they have enough money to look after themselves and their families, and also makes sure that they work in safe conditions.

Choose fair trade products if you see them on sale. Look out for the ‘fairtrade mark.’

Find out more about Fair Trade on Cool Planet

Join Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign

Make sure your school canteen sells Fair Trade products, or why not become a Fair Trade school! Check whether your school library has a copy of the Fair Trade School Handbook. If not, get your teacher to order one here. This has all the information you need to make your school Fair Trade.

Or, check out the Fairtrade Foundation website where you can download posters and other materials to help publicise Fair Trade.

If you have your own website, download a banner to show your support for making trade fair.

Check out these delicious recipes!

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Learn more about what Oxfam wants to change

You can’t help change the world unless you understand a bit about the world!

Cool Planet contains lots of colourful stories about young people all around the world, and Oxfam’s work in different countries.

Why not explore how children live around the world

Learn about the different countries Oxfam works in

Find out more about Oxfam

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Support Oxfam's campaigns

The world is a complicated place – but Oxfam has chosen three issues that we think are very important if we’re to put an end to poverty and unnecessary suffering.

Find out more about Oxfam’s campaigns and how you can get involved.

	Make Poverty History– find out why you we’re asking people to work for change in trade, aid and debt relief this year
	Control Arms – learn why changes to the arms trade can change millions of lives
	Make Trade Fair – global trading rules are unfair and make people poor – learn more here

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Bring and buy at your local Oxfam shop

If you live in Great Britain, take your old clothes and books to an Oxfam shop, and get everyone in your family to do the same. Buy things from Oxfam shops. Collect stamps, foreign coins and used phone-cards, and take them into your Oxfam shop.

Many Oxfam shops have recently been given a makeover and have a cool new look. If you haven’t visited yours recently, why not give it a go?

Many of them sell Fair Trade gifts and of course, they still sell second hand goods!

Find out which is your nearest Oxfam shop by using the shop locator on the main Oxfam GB site.

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Recycle your mobile phone

Bring Bring! Take your old mobile phone and accessories into any Oxfam shop (please remove SIM cards first). Get your friends to take theirs in too. Each phone recycled makes money for Oxfam.

Or why not organise a collection of mobiles in your school?

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Raise money for Oxfam

There are lots of different ways you can raise money for Oxfam, or any other cause you believe in. Get together with your friends and think about fun ways to raise cash!

It could be a sponsored skip, walk, run, lie-down, hop, swim, jump, or whistle…sit in cold gravy for an hour, learn the alphabet backwards, see how long you can keep silent for, make and sell cakes, sweets or friendship bracelets…arrange a disco at your school, persuade teachers to let you have a no-uniform day, charge schoolmates to watch your sports team play against the teachers!

You can probably come up with much better ideas for raising money. Get some more ideas and information about what to do once you have the cash.

Oxfam Unwrapped
Alternatively, you and your mates could get together and choose to buy a gift for a community in a developing country, using Oxfam’s new gift catalogue, Oxfam Unwrapped. Unwrapped allows you to buy cheap or expensive gifts (if you worked together as a school you could afford a massive water tank to provide clean water for thousands of people!). Visit the Oxfam Unwrapped website and find out more.

We have also prepared stories about some of the gifts that people buy through the Oxfam Unwrapped catalogue. Find out more about how Oxfam uses the money it gets from people. Click here.

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Tell your teacher

We at Oxfam think that you ought to have the chance to learn about global issues at school. That’s why Cool Planet has a special section for teachers, containing lots of free teaching ideas and lesson plans about topics like peace and conflict, environmental issues, clean water, and Fair Trade.

Why not tell your teacher you want to learn more about important global issues, and suggest they have a look on Cool Planet for Teachers to get ideas and support. The web site address is www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet

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Be a global citizen!

Being a global citizen doesn’t just mean learning more about the world we live in – but that’s a good place to start! Find out more about other countries and what life is like there. Think about the ways people in other countries are the same as you, and ways in which their lives are different from yours.

It’s always worth remembering that different people have very different lives even in your own street! Around the world there are so many interesting things to discover about people and their lives.

Also remember that people in poorer countries don’t just sit around waiting for people like you to help them. They work hard to get themselves out of poverty. Oxfam always works closely with people living in poverty because we know they have the best solutions to their local problems – it’s just that they may need more money, fairer treatment at work, schools for their children, training and tools, or other support from organisations like Oxfam to help them. Often, what also needs to change are the rules that decide how countries deal with each other.

Being a global citizen is about how you choose to live your life. Do you stand up for people living in poverty? Do you care about whether your actions make life better or worse for other people? Do you think about the products you buy and whether the people who produced them are getting a fair deal? Do you want to get involved, in even the smallest way, in making the world a better place?

We hope the answer is a big YES! And we hope the information on Cool Planet will help you find out more about the world you live in, and how you can change it for the better.

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