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From Student Leaders to Young Changemakers: Digital Advocacy in Action
How can students use their voices, creativity and digital skills to make their school a better place?
That was the challenge at the heart of our Young Changemakers: Digital Advocacy Challenge, a two-day programme delivered by Make The Change for Primary 5 student leaders at Lakeside Primary School.
Rather than simply teaching students how to create a poster or edit a video, the programme challenged them to think differently about what it means to be a student leader.
Over two mornings, students became community detectives, campaign creators, and young advocates, identifying meaningful issues, understanding the people affected, and turning their ideas into digital campaigns designed to inspire positive action.
And judging by what students told us afterward, the experience made an impact.
⭐ 4.56 / 5 average student rating
❤️ 96.3% rated the programme 4 or 5 stars
🙌 100% would recommend it to their classmates
From Student Leader to Changemaker
We began with a simple idea:
A leader doesn't just notice what could be better. A changemaker does something about it.
Students explored advocacy through a four-step journey:
SEE IT → CARE → SPEAK UP → TAKE ACTION
They learned that advocacy is not simply about having an opinion. It involves recognising an issue, understanding why it matters to others, communicating a clear message and encouraging positive action.
Working within themes relevant to their school community, students explored areas including anti-bullying, cyber wellness, inclusivity, sustainability and school values.
The goal was not to give students the answers. Instead, we gave them the tools to investigate, question and develop their own perspectives.
Becoming Community Detectives
One highlight of Day 1 was the Community Detective Challenge.
Working in teams, students looked at their school through a different lens. They observed their surroundings, considered what was working well, and identified opportunities where student action could make a difference.
But noticing something was only the beginning.
Students learned to ask:
Who is affected?
Does this happen more than once?
Would improving it make our school community better?
This helped students distinguish between a personal preference and an issue that could genuinely benefit their community.
Learning to Walk in Someone Else's Shoes
Changemaking begins with empathy.
Before deciding what their campaign should say, students considered how different people might experience the same school environment.
Using an empathy mapping activity, they explored:
SEE → FEEL → THINK → NEED
Students learned that an effective campaign should not begin only with what we want to say. It should begin by understanding the people we hope to reach.
From there, teams developed their advocacy challenge, identified their target audience and crafted a clear campaign message and call to action.
From Ideas to Digital Campaigns
Day 2 was all about turning those ideas into something real.
Students became Campaign Creators, using the thinking and planning from Day 1 to develop their own digital advocacy materials.
Using Canva, students designed campaign posters and explored how visual communication can help an important message stand out.
Their challenge was simple:
STOP → UNDERSTAND → ACT
Could their poster make someone stop?
Could someone quickly understand the message?
Would they know what action to take?
Students then moved from visual communication into digital storytelling.
Teams planned short advocacy videos using a simple four-part structure:
1. The Problem2. Why It Matters3. The Solution4. The Message
They storyboarded their ideas, assigned roles, filmed their stories and used CapCut to bring their campaigns together.
The objective was never to create the most complicated video or use the most effects. It was to learn how to use digital tools with purpose.
What Did the Students Learn?
After the programme, we asked students to tell us three things they had learned.
Their responses showed that the experience went beyond learning how to use Canva or edit a video.
59% of respondents mentioned digital creation skills, including Canva, CapCut, poster design, video creation, editing, and storyboarding.
48% mentioned learning related to changemaking and advocacy, including planning campaigns and taking positive action.
Another 48% described learning connected to positive and safe behaviours, including inclusion, kindness, empathy, anti-bullying, cyber safety and sustainability.
Students also mentioned planning, observation, brainstorming, teamwork and even developing the confidence to work with classmates they did not previously know well.
One student reflected:
“I learned how to be a changemaker, how to plan a campaign, and how to make a poster.”
Another shared:
“I learned to work with people I am not really familiar with, create a poster on Canva, and make new friends.”
And one student's takeaway captured the purpose of the programme particularly simply:
“We must include everyone. Stay safe online.”
Finding Their Voice
Creating a campaign is one thing. Encouraging others to care about it is another.
Students therefore also developed their presentation and communication skills before taking part in the Young Changemakers Showcase.
Teams presented the challenge they had explored, explained why it mattered, shared their campaign and encouraged their audience to take positive action.
It was rewarding to see students move from investigating an issue on the first morning to standing in front of their peers and advocating for something they believed could improve their school community.
More Than Digital Skills
The student feedback reinforced something that is central to how we design programmes at Make The Change.
Digital skills are most powerful when students understand why they are using them.
Canva and CapCut were tools.
The bigger learning journey was about:
🔎 Observation and critical thinking❤️ Empathy and perspective-taking🤝 Collaboration and teamwork💡 Creative problem-solving📣 Advocacy and communication🎨 Visual communication🎬 Digital storytelling🎤 Public speaking
The programme concluded by bringing students back to the same idea with which we began:
SEE IT → CARE → SPEAK UP → TAKE ACTION
Each student made a Changemaker Action Pledge, identifying something they could personally do to contribute positively to their school community.
Bring Young Changemakers to Your School
The Young Changemakers: Digital Advocacy Challenge can be adapted for Primary and Secondary school students, student leaders, Peer Support Leaders, CCA leaders and other youth leadership groups.
Schools can customise the programme around themes that matter to their community, including:
Cyber wellness and responsible digital citizenship
Inclusivity and belonging
Anti-bullying and positive relationships
Sustainability and environmental responsibility
School values and culture
Student wellbeing
Community issues and social impact
Depending on the school's objectives, age group, and available time, students can develop advocacy campaigns through Canva, CapCut, digital storytelling, posters, short-form video, and presentations.
At Make The Change, we believe young people should not only learn how to use digital tools.
They should learn how to use them to make a difference.
If your school is looking for a hands-on programme combining student leadership, advocacy, empathy, digital literacy, creativity and communication, we'd love to explore how the Young Changemakers programme can be adapted for your students.
