The next generation of international development leaders is already gearing up to change the way we collaborate across borders. They are philanthroteens – young and curious, passionate about helping others and ready to talk politics.
Who are they, what do they do? Seventeen-year-old Katherine Cochran talks about her work as a teen adviser to Girl Up, a U.N. Foundation campaign that aims to encourage adolescents in the United States to help teens in developing countries.
What’s a philanthroteen, and why become one?
Philanthroteens are kids that want to be involved in nonprofit campaigns and really change the world. Philanthropists are people who want to donate and work in charity and developing nations and stuff. … Because we are teens growing up in the social media and tech world, we have a different perspective than philanthropists. So, it’s a new name for us.
Teens are on [social media] every day all day, almost, on their phone et cetera. Teens have a different way of using it … and they want to know better ways to engage through the Internet. And teens have a perfect outlook on things if you ask them how to engage. And that’s one of the really important things that Girl Up is doing right now – it has 17 advisers, and we are leading the campaign for girls by girls. … Teenagers help run the campaign.
Focusing on girls in the developing world is one of the most important things, and UNF recognizes this.
It all started in junior year with a project on poverty. … That got me interested in global poverty. I wanted to do more, because I didn’t know anything. Then, I talked to a very good family friend, and she told me about the Girl Up campaign and I wanted to do more. Then, I became a teen adviser and learned more about global poverty and the power of girls. I thought it would be awesome if my class could learn about global women’s issues. With Girl Up’s help and with my class, we started a mini campaign in New Orleans … – we called it Girlution. We created a website and started a blog, put bulletin boards stories up, we Skyped with Emily from the U.N. Foundation staff who’s been to the countries where the Girl Up campaign is working. [We] raised $2,000 in two weeks just through baked goods.
How would you explain to a politician that foreign aid is important?
The world is becoming globalized … and we have to care about these countries as well. It’s a moral and human rights issue. Shouldn’t people everywhere have these opportunities? In this economy, it’s very hard to focus on these other economies, I understand that. But, we need to. We live in this world, so we need to help them be the best they can be if we want to be the best we can be.
I worked for [Louisiana Democratic Sen.] Mary Landrieu for two weeks. … I got to attend a Women’s Leadership Summit, and that was really cool. I saw these very powerful women. But, Capitol Hill, being there at a time when it’s so divided, was interesting. Landrieu is a Democrat in a Republican state. It was so chaotic and I definitely want to work in Washington, where all the action is and all the change is happening. I feel like with all the problems, I want to change it.
You worked in Costa Rica, helping to rebuild an indigenous village destroyed by flooding. What’s your most vivid memory from that experience?
That was my second semester during sophomore year. It was life-changing. I just jumped in and took the opportunity. We went to a little indigenous village … in Talamanca. We worked there for four days and they had just been hit by a big flood … We dug drainage ditches and then we helped rebuild a little bridge, because the kids walked to school. One of them walked two hours to school. On the last day, we carried sand from the river up kind of a mountain-type thing to a clinic where they were making cement to build the new clinic.
I had never been to another country before ever. It was my first trip to another culture, I had no idea about it really. … Since then I’ve taken anthropology [classes] and loved it. There, it was just so different. There were tons of little kids and they were really cute. But you couldn’t go there and hug them because that was not a custom there. We first thought it strange, but it was the first time I really accepted another culture. … That’s what we need to do – learn more about cultures and help them and be in different cultures as well. And help these cultures in their ways as well.
Read last week’s 4 Questions for U.N. Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin.