World Social Justice Day is celebrated each year on 20th February, raising awareness of how social justice reduces poverty, strengthens equality, and makes societies better.
Our world is facing many issues and injustices that prevent people from flourishing, including poverty, homelessness, race inequality, gender inequality and unfair access to healthcare, education and jobs.
Social justice seeks to bring fairness and works towards a world where all people have access to equal opportunities and the resources necessary to thrive.
Thinking about injustice in our world can feel overwhelming, so how can we get involved and play our part?
Hope
Hold on to hope for a better world. Listen to your heart, what do you hope for? What do you care about? Where do you feel compassion? What motivates you to take action? Focus your actions on one issue of injustice to start with.
Remember ‘small steps make big changes’. This theme is explored in the KS1 Young Leaders Award and encourages pupils that every small action counts!
Be inspired by the many examples of young people who have tackled injustice and brought about positive change in the world. Take a look at some of our other blogs or stories from young leaders in schools.
Investigate
Research and find out about social injustice. What are the root causes of the issues? Who is impacted and how? Why should we be concerned? Gather the opinions and experiences of others. Who else shares your passion?
Who do you know or see who makes a difference already? Look for charities or community organisations that are already tackling social injustices and think about who has the power to change things. Are there campaigns you could support or ways to bring social injustice to the attention of decision-makers? Could you write letters or sign petitions?
Join in
Take some action! Take practical action, volunteer, use your consumer power, raise awareness or support a charity.
How could you join in with what others are already doing to help? Could you partner with your local church or a charity to make a difference?
KS2, KS3 and KS4 pupils taking part in the Young Leaders Award explore how they can ‘be the change they want to see’, to use their voices and actions to start to change the problems they see around them.
World Social Justice Day is a helpful reminder to us all to look out for ways we can bring justice and hope to others and work towards a fair and inclusive world together.
At the core of the Archbishops’ Young Leaders’ Award is a vision to inspire young people to recognise that they have the power and potential to shape a better world.
AYLA and Community Schools - An interview with Acomb Primary School
Archbishops' Young Leaders Award is now available for all Welsh schools
