Free the Children

Why the Topic Free the Children and Why Choose Free the Children Organization

Free the Children is one of the organizations that have educational campaigns and programs that have the potential to make youths become engaged on social issues. This engagement enables one to adequately appreciate the world we live in and is also an initial step in the move to make positive transformations. More in particular is to understand some of the issues that attract poverty and promoting child education in developing economies around the world. Thus, I chose to work with this organization because it works closely with schools and also families in already developed countries to empower youths to act as agents of global change. The We Day is one of the programs developed by the organization in order to realize this objective. This organization, established by Craig Kielburger in the year 1995, teamed up with 11 youthful friends to fight against child labor. During this time, Kielburger was only 12years old (Free The Children, 2015b).

According to statistics, child labor is an extensive social issue present across the globe today. That is, for every seven children, one is undergoing this issue which keeps him or her from school which is the only chance he or she has to overcome the poverty situation he or she was born into. Child labor is also a dangerous activity for children and records show that many lose their lives from road accidents, rape, drug abuse and other forms of harm that disturbs them emotionally and mentally. Generally, child labor is described as: (a) any work that is done by children who are below 18years (b) intensive long hours of work that take place on a regular basis (c) employer abuse and harassment (d) denial of right to education. More in particular, children are put on the street to sell things, pornography, prostitution, or employed as domestic workers in people’s houses and such environments leave children vulnerable to ill treatments. That is, in terms of the number of hours they spend working, how they perform or being trapped in a slavery circumstance. Essentially, these different situations of child labor are illegal and in fact are situations which an adult cannot work in. According to the international human right laws, all children have the right to be free from work and get access to good education and moreover, to live healthy lifestyles. However, many of these children have fallen victims of child labor and have no means by themselves to free themselves from it. Thus, global movements to fight against child labor are significantly important and these movements become much stronger when other children take up the initiative to speak for their peers (Free The Children, 2015c).

Personal Experience within the Free the Child Organization

While within the Free the Child Organization, people share a similar goal which shifts efforts from an individual to a shared community focus. Charity operations geared for a global social change are evolutional in ways that support youths in capitalizing on their potentials as they develop to become active and productive citizens. At Free the Children, the company has made huge investments in youthful leaders which draws in more energy and makes work become exciting while all efforts are drawn in transforming the world and making it a better place to live in by all. Thus, working in this organization is mutually educative and more so, beneficial. To the organization, the efforts to fight for children’s rights are found to increase on workers’ engagement and which improves their retention. In addition, the firm is also able to enhance its brand and strengthen its business reputation both locally and internationally. As a student, participating in these campaign efforts enables one understand what corporate social responsibility is all about and how firms establish a connection between its goods and services with their social responsibilities. This in the process enhances one’s career profile and develops public recognition within the community as an individual with a positive social mission and hence can influence other to bring about the desired change. This outcome is achieved by training and enlightenment one gets from providing long term or sustainable kinds of support rather than short term kinds of handouts people give to vulnerable communities. Thus, the campaign programs run in the organization are quite unique and numerous resources are available to support initiatives like fundraising, creating awareness, among many more. The efforts of the Free The Children Organization are also heavily supported by unique private and public firms which include humanitarian ones. These companies are those that are founded by thinkers who are straight forward and committed to creating an impact not only locally but also globally. Hence, Free The Children works in partnership with other organization s that share the same mission and values and more in particular demonstrate their commitment to support social responsibilities with the firm. It is also found out that Free The Children endeavors to work closely with other firms that have the ability to help the youth in capitalizing their potentials towards the move of transforming or improving social lives of people around the globe. Basically, these organizations work as partners in terms of supporting each other financially, providing mentorship, and acting as advisories, friends and also cheerleaders. Therefore, these partners have included schools and other educational partners as well as the media firms. Therefore, all these efforts make work become evolutional in terms of realizing desired changes in an easier way, exciting for the workers and all other participants, and more encouraging to all participants in reference to the goals realized so far. These goals are in terms of creating better social values and improving lives of families. This is in addition to the entertainment provided. Hence, educational partners and schools are found to provide better vehicles to deliver the desired objectives of eliminating child labor around the globe (We Day, 2015).

The Kinds of Campaign(s) I Participated in

Free The Children Organization is a firm that has numerous kinds of campaign for one to freely choose from. These campaigns are mostly for finding ways to raise funds which include: (a) making and selling handmade products where people in the society especially mothers are trained on how to make and sell such products. This is in order to enable her earn some income and have enough also to educate her children (b) to raise funds that are to establish sustainable income generating projects in vulnerable communities in order to create job opportunities to parents and others. I got involved in the second project where I joined others in raising funds by organizing events that would attract the public to make their contributions. Such involved walking and running events where participants are required to buy outfits at higher costs than usual, in order to make more money. Also, I joined others in baking and selling out baked products in local food outlets in order to raise more funds (Free The Children, 2015a).

Insights, Awareness and Knowledge Gained from this Experience

As mentioned earlier, this experience made me become aware of how companies work hard in realizing their goals which also includes their social responsibilities and more so at the global level. This experience generally educated that social problems are complex and to resolve them, it needs people who are caring to come together and share their resources in solving the issues. This initiative is strongly demonstrated by the Free The Children Organization which invests a lot in finding suitable firms with good reputation and also those that have a common vision and mission in regards to social responsibility, to partner with. And this initiative is always open to add to the number of participants which is hopped to make work easier or transform the world in simpler ways. Another insight gained is that no matter what kind of business operation one engages in, innovation is and will remain as a key factor to attract success. Evaluating the functions and operations of the Free The Children Organization, their evolutions are being realized mostly from the kind of contributions that each partner makes and are implemented following sustainable approaches. That is, use of educational inputs to deliver long term income generating activities and creating awareness in the community all of which support child education (RBC,1995-2015).

Will the Interest of Working Closely with the Free The Children Organization still remain or will Fade Away?

Reviewing the findings discussed earlier on in this study, it is evident that the interest of continuing to work with the organization will remain. This is because, all parties enjoy mutual benefits. As a student, engaging in social responsibilities is found to be a positive direction towards: (i) enhancing career profiling (ii) understanding social issues that affect the world and (iii) how social issues are resolved in a professional and cost effective manner. These solutions have been seen to be evolutional and hence there is a lot to learn. As matter of fact also, having a social recognition as a person who has a positive contribution to the society or in other words, the empowerment one gains as a social worker which gives one the ability to influence the society today, makes one become more marketable in the labor market. Thus, the interest of working closely with the Free The Children Organization will still continue because if it fades away, there are a lot of valuable professional tools to lose. And they include: how to solve problems, networking, understanding the social mandate of organizations, how companies partner, and many more. That is, Free The Children Organization provides students with valuable exposures that have huge impacts in their professional lives and students should embrace them wholly or take advantage of them (RBC, 1995-2015).

How the Experience with Working with the Free The Children Company Influence My Career or Employment Directions

Just as Law Teacher (2003) explains, engaging in social responsibility projects that are established by companies, enables one understand how firms in the corporate world function together in their initiative to observe the laws. For instance, firms are mandated by the government to engage in social responsibility initiatives and more so, the good reputation it earns them has a positive impact in their business. That is, customers trust their operations more. These social responsibilities mainly come from the needs of solving social issues existing in the world around us. Thus, as a young person, participating in such activities prepares one adequately in becoming a better productive citizen in future. As said earlier on in this essay, Free The Children Organization is mostly concerned about eliminating child labor and promoting child education at the global level. Child labor has been appreciated as a social issue that has disturbed the normal human development in our society today and it’s slowly creating future developmental issues especially for the developing countries. Not only does child labor deny children their rights to education but they are abused mentally, morally and physically as well. These forms of abuse have a great negative impact in their future lives and which builds strong foundations of poverty in their lives. Bearing in mind that there are millions of these children engaged in child labor, the extent of poverty being cultivated across the world remains unspeakable and unbearable. Hence, child labor must be stopped at whatever costs. This effort is enormous and thus has a lot of learning and experience to gain and especially, having the opportunity to be exposed to the functions of other larger international bodies like Save the Children U.K., International Monetary Fund, World Vision and many more. Such exposure will enable me make wiser choices in terms of which courses to take and in reference to the kind of problems affecting our society today. Moreover, the fact that Free The Children Organization welcomes any ideas to solve these problems, the more I become motivated to work harder in my social career life. This is by knowing that there are firms ready to sponsor any initiative that I will have in mind.

References

Free The Children (2015). Campaigns. Retrieved< http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/campaigns/>.

Free The Children (2015). We Create Change. Retrieved< http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/campaigns/we-create-change/>.

Free The Children (2015). Brick by Brick: Build a School. Retrieved< http://www.freethechildren.com/get-involved/toolkits/brick-by-brick/>.

Law Teacher (2003). Preserving the Youth of our Children. Retrieved< http://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/civil-law/preserving-youth-of-our-children.php>.

RBC (1995-2015). RBC & Free The Children. Retrieved< http://www.rbc.com/freethechildren/>.

We Day (2015). Campaigns. Retrieved< http://www.weday.com/we-school/campaigns/>.