Raising Changemakers podcast

Our brand new Raising Changemakers podcast puts a spotlight on the issues affecting many children and families in the most vulnerable places around the world - including child labour, child marriage and FGM.

The 8-part series, hosted by broadcaster and activist Carrie Grant MBE, launches with two episodes from 06 March.

In each episode, Carrie speaks with children from Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and the UK who share how they are making changes to better their future.

Carrie also speaks to wider guests who support raising young people's voices. This includes one of the UK’s youngest members of Parliament, Mhairi Black MP, Kids Against Plastic founder Amy Meek, and climate change activist and former Love Island contestant, Brett Staniland, who discovered the links between child labour and fast fashion on a recent visit to Ghana.

Listen today on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts - or stream below.

Episodes

Episode 1: Child labour

Carrie speaks with Haja and Siatta, teenage campaigners working to raise awareness about the value of education and stopping child labour in their communities, as well as sustainability content creator Brett Staniland who explains the dangerous link between child labour and fast fashion.

Abubakar sits talking to Carrie on a bench

Episode 2: Climate change

Dr Caroline Hickman explains how climate anxiety has spurred young people around the world into taking action against climate change, and Carrie meets youth campaigner Abubakar who is regreening his community.

Jospehine, sits on a chair holding a guitar, smiling to camera

Episode 3: Child rights

Carrie talks to Josephine and William, young activists in Sierra Leone, who are championing child rights in their communities. She also hears from Teleri Jardine from World Vision and Alex Conte, Executive Director of Child Rights Connect, on improvements over recent years and where there's still work to be done.

Episode 4: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

More than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM. Carrie meets Tenema, 20, who is campaigning to stop FGM across Sierra Leone, and Purity Soinato Oiyie who was forced to leave Kenya aged 10 to escape FGM, and now revisits her home community speaking about the dangers of this ancient cultural practice.

A group of young boys sit beneath a tree, eating from a bowl of food.

Episode 5: Hunger

Conflict and climate change means that millions of children are facing the worst hunger crisis in 50 years. Carrie discusses World Vision’s ambitious ENOUGH campaign which aims to end child hunger, and speaks to 16-year-old Lukman in Bangladesh who talks about how being hungry impacts every area of a child’s life.

A young boy and girl from Bangladesh stand on road, smiling to camera, while holding school books

Episode 6: Education

In this episode, Carrie Grant discusses the challenges and barriers to education with Teleri Jardine from World Vision and Alicia Mills from the Girls’ Education Challenge. She also hears from one of the young changemakers making a difference in her community - 19-year-old Monika from Bangladesh, who is campaigning to prevent child marriages.

Job, then 16, an aspiring journalist in Uganda, holds standing a microphone.

Episode 7: Refugees

Carrie talks to David Munkley from World Vision about the day-to-day challenges faced by those who have been forced to flee their homes. We also hear from Job, 18, who lives in the Bidi Bidi settlement in Uganda. He explains why projects that amplify the voices of young refugees, such as mobile journalism, are so popular with the young people living there.

Teenage 'changemakers' from around the world stand outside the gates of Downing Street

Episode 8: Youth activism

In the final episode, Carrie speaks to World Vison CEO, Fola Komolafe, about the importance of putting children’s voices at the heart of their work. She also finds out about ways that young people in the UK are making a difference through campaigning.

Carrie Grant and World Vision

Broadcaster and activist Carrie Grant MBE has been an ambassador for World Vision for over 10 years, sponsoring children and hosting Girls Night Out, a travelling concert where she visited churches around the country to share the impact of Child Sponsorship.

She has joined us on visits to India and Sierra Leone, sharing her special relationship with Sierra Leone. She explains that her father first visited the country in 1992 and become a missionary, relocating to the capital Freetown. He opened 12 Bible colleges across the country, which were still running when he died of malaria in 1996.

“Sierra Leone holds a special place in my heart. It’s not only a beautiful country, but it feels like a second home to me, as it welcomed my father in the early nineties and welcomed me back as I spoke with the wonderful young people campaigning for change."

Now she's hearing from children who are making big changes in their global communities in the Raising Changemakers Podcast. Carrie will also share tips on how young people in the UK can campaign for change too.

Listen today on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.