2REST Advocacy Tool 4: Capacitating young people living in street situations to defend their rights

Summary

Empowering street youth enables them to actively participate in decision-making processes, ensuring that they are not placed in situations where choices are made on their behalf, these being choices that may not adequately address their needs.

This can be achieved through several key strategies:

1. Providing education on their rights: equipping street youth with the necessary knowledge to understand and assert their legal and social entitlements.

2. Delivering advocacy training: and offering essential resources and platforms that enable street youth to effectively champion their own causes and influence policy.

3. Strengthening youth-led advocacy: fostering confidence and autonomy so that street young people can articulate their needs, represent their communities, and drive meaningful change.

This approach ensures that street youth are actively involved in shaping decisions that impact their lives, rather than being passive recipients of externally imposed solutions.