Office of Her Majesty, Press Department -
Amman
Monday, December 10, 2007
Queen Rania participates
in website launch to highlight voices of youth across the world
Since its launch almost two decades ago, the internet has churned out bold and
innovative creations aimed at connecting people from all over the world. The
latest creation from this highly interactive platform includes ‘Our Stories’ (www.ourstories.org),
a new website launched this weekend by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah,
UNICEF’s first Eminent Advocate for Children, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
and UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War Ishmael Beah.
The site, launched December 6, seeks to collect, preserve and share stories from
young people around the world.
“Telling a story only has real meaning when someone else is listening,” said the
Queen for the virtual launch of the initiative, “The message of this project is
that every human being has a story that deserves to be heard.”
The effort is supported by UNICEF in partnership with Google and the One Laptop
per Child project. The website launched with stories from Brazil, Ghana, Uganda,
Tanzania and Pakistan, and will soon include more stories from elsewhere around
the world, with translations of the site into eight languages.
Many of the stories focus on schooling, as young people either describe the
present or look towards their future. Supporting the new website, Ki-moon called
out to youth from all over the world to share their stories. “We are asking you,
the leaders of tomorrow, to tell us about the future you want. How can we work
together to reach the Millennium Development Goals? What can each of us do about
climate change? How can we defend and uphold all human rights for all?” he
asked.
The UNICEF Division of Communication’s Youth Team has been actively pursuing
many avenues to connect young people who have no access to the Internet with
others who do, using mobile phones, radio and other innovations under the
‘Uniwiki’ banner.
In the next phase of the ‘Our Stories’ project, the site will add the ability
for anyone to record a story – thereby growing the community of stories and
storytellers, with the goal of collecting millions of stories by 2010. UNICEF
will also add functionality for recording stories on mobile phones and land
lines, which will play a powerful role in connecting young voices worldwide.
To listen to Queen Rania’s audio message, where she encourages youth from all
over the world to share their stories, please visit:
www.ourstories.org/queenrania.html
Additional Links: UNICEF clip for Our Stories:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKKvXvEpaOI
Our Stories website:
www.ourstories.org