Ultravirgo

A voice for the 43%

Did you know that 43% of the world is under age 25? Almost half! And that number is over 50% in developing countries. This number represents a half of the world that has long clamored to have its voice heard - and has found technology and social media to be the platforms that finally give them the influence they have long demanded. Just look to Egypt and the Arab Spring for potent examples of the power that youth wield today.

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So, when the United Nations began planning the Global Youth Forum - happening in Bali next week (the first major UN Forum designed specifically for youth input on the development agenda) - they came to us to help create a program that uses technology to expand the sphere of participation beyond walls of the Forum itself. We created an online platform that allows youth to sign up as virtual delegates to participate from anywhere in the world (another first for the UN). The online discussion and recommendations will be collected from social media and the delegate platform, fed into the live discussion at the Forum in Bali, and integrated into the official ICPD Beyond 2014 recommendations to be presented by the Secretary General to the UN General Assembly.

Click on any image for a larger view

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For the branding, we created a flexible system centered on empty speech bubbles that begged to be filled in. To keep the focus on individual statements, these are used in a variety of ways to prompt input - event posters with blank bubbles and markers, badges to promote individual issues, social media badges to share delegate status, and downloadable photo templates and video scripts that prompt sharing of visionary viewpoints.

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A microsite features active youth leaders and a simple sign-up process to make it easy to become an official delegate. Thousands of delegates have signed up representing over 120 countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe - even Antarctica.

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We conceived and launched an online platform that fosters real-time communication among youth leaders from around the world - to watch live video streams from the Forum in Bali, schedule Meetups to gather input from their community, contribute official recommendations on five key issues, vote on others' recommendations, and connect to and learn from other leaders who are passionate about the same issues.

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Downloadable logos with graphic guidelines and poster templates make it easy for delegates to create branded materials for their own local events.guidelines.jpg


Fun fact: many of the layouts are designed on a grid with 43% white space.
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If you or or anyone you know is between the ages of 14 and 25, it's not too late to sign up as a virtual delegate and join this unprecendented opportunity to contribute to the UN development agenda for the next 20 years. Keep an eye on the Twitter hashtag #icpdyouth to see how youth are taking control of their own future. 

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