Taking the United Declaration from Mexico to the world

When the Street Child World Cup came to a close in Mexico City, the work moved into its next stage in the form of the #IAmSomebody Tour. We carried the demands made by young people in Mexico across North America, from Miami and Toronto to Washington, New York, and ultimately the United Nations.

The tour was built around the United Declaration, the collective statement created by the 280 young people from 20 countries who took part in the tournament. It included demands shaped through the football, arts programme, Congress sessions, and General Assembly, where young people came together over the course of the week to speak about their own lives, listen to one another and decide what they wanted the world to hear.

The Declaration is a lasting record of the demands they made for themselves and for street-connected young people around the world. It asks adults, governments and institutions to take seriously the right of every young person to learn, to have their identity recognised, to live free from violence, to be treated equally regardless of gender, and to be seen as somebody.

Because it was shaped by the young people themselves, the Declaration carries the directness and clarity of people speaking from experience. It reflects the friendships, arguments, conversations, and moments of agreement that took place in Mexico, as teams from different countries and backgrounds worked towards a shared message.

Carrying the Declaration beyond Mexico

After Mexico, eight former participants travelled across North America with the Declaration, taking it into rooms where it could be heard by people with the influence to help create change.

In each city, the Young Leaders were able to give the Declaration a life beyond the tournament by speaking about the demands it contains, the experiences behind those demands, and the work still needed to make sure street-connected young people are seen, protected and listened to.

Throughout the tour, we were lucky to be joined by partners who were willing to use their platform to give these young people's advocacy the visibility it deserves. David Beckham welcomed the Young Leaders at Inter Miami, spent time hearing their stories and helped bring the #IAmSomebody message to a wider audience, while U2's support around the tournament and the backing of partners including Bank of America and Lenovo helped Street Child United reach people who may never have encountered our work before.

As proud as we are of the tournament, it's our duty to ensure that the young people remain at the centre of the story: the attention helped open doors, but the Declaration belongs to them.

Keeping the Declaration in motion

By the time the tour reached New York, the Declaration had travelled far beyond the rooms in Mexico where it was first shaped. The same young people who had spent the tournament turning their experiences into a shared set of demands were now carrying that work into meetings, media opportunities and public platforms, asking people in positions of influence to take it seriously and respond to what they had heard.

The task now is to keep the Declaration in motion; to give Street Child United and its Young Leaders a clear reference point for the conversations that follow. In our September newsletter, we will share more about the individual asks within the Declaration, the impact of the #IAmSomebody Tour and what comes next for Street Child United.