About Us

Speech by Wang Yuan at ECOSOC

31st January, 2018

Dear excellencies, friends and colleagues,

In my role as UNICEF Special Advocate for Education, I've seen for myself how education is a key factor in building happy, confident and resilient children. I visited two child-friendly schools in Sanjiang County last year where school has become a fun experience where children are encouraged to work together to create solutions to problems and to learn important life skills which will set them up for success in the future.

However not all children can access this type of education and it saddens me that there is still this massive inequality in the world today.

That is why I am committed to my role as UNICEF Special Advocate for Education and plan to work with them this year to call attention to the importance of universal quality education for every child.

1.     I plan to join another mission with UNICEF to meet children attending schools in some of the poorest areas where there is a need to develop a more child friendly approach to learning. I will also take part in the development of a video production to promote the Child Friendly Schools initiative. I aim to raise awareness of the very real need to invest in improving the quality of education in China and to leverage more support for this.

2.     This year I am going to support UNICEF to bring the SDGs to life for children and young people in China through the creative use of multi-media. This will empower young people to better understand what the SDGs are and why they are so important for their future and for the future of the world.

3.     As a young artist and a student, I am lucky to have a large following on Chinese social media, in fact I have over 35 million followers. I see it as my duty to use this following for good. I will participate in discussions on topics such as #Youth2030 and #ChildFriendlySchools on social media channels. I hope that my posts can reach millions of people to draw attention and inspire progress towards universal access to quality education and the achievement of the SDGs.

4.     Finally, I will also play a leading role in my own social good project which is providing direct assistance to improve the wellbeing of vulnerable children and the elderly.

So I hope that, with my voice and action, I can motivate more youth to contribute their talent and creativity in making a difference in their communities and lend their support to the achievement of SDGs.

Thank you all for listening!