There are none better placed than children themselves to advocate for the right of all children to have an inclusive, equitable and quality education. This is the philosophy behind Send My Friend to School, a unique coalition which brings together young people, politicians, teachers and civil society in joint campaigning to demand education for all children across the globe.

The first Send My Friend campaign in schools took place 20 years ago in 2005, when pupils joined Nelson Mandela onstage at the historic Make Poverty History event in London’s Trafalgar Square. Since then, Send My Friend has campaigned on a specific education theme each year, such as gender equality, literacy, emergencies and removing barriers to education for persons with disabilities. Young people from thousands of schools have met their constituency MPs and young advocates have lobbied Parliament, met Ministers and hosted roundtables at the party conferences.

In March 2025, we’re launching our new ‘Invest in My Friends’ Learning’ campaign, calling on the Government to urgently accelerate their commitment towards Sustainable Development Goal 4. In addition to the school campaign, Send My Friend is publishing a policy report and lobbying decision makers to take greater action. There are only five years left until 2030, when countries are due to meet the Sustainable Development Goal targets. There is no time to waste. 

Since its launch 25 years ago, the campaign has succeeded in placing education firmly on the UK’s development agenda and helped to secure funding for the Global Partnership for Education and Education Cannot Wait. It’s often said that MPs only advocate for the issues that their communities care about, and many MPs have had their first interest in global education sparked by meeting passionate young constituents. We support young people to meet at least 100 MPs every year. Many MPs were newly elected in 2024 and are still identifying the issues they wish to champion. Young people are taking the opportunity to give them a strong nudge towards global education.

However, there’s little doubt that progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 has been faltering for some time. In addition, school pupils and their teachers everywhere have experienced the terrible impacts of Covid-19 and its aftermath. In this rapidly changing world Send My Friend has had to adapt. The most fundamental way we’ve done this is to bring young people more prominently into the high-level influencing spaces usually occupied by professional adult advocates. This has included meeting the Foreign Secretary, briefing the International Development Committee and participating in the COP climate change conference. In 2023, we launched the Young People’s Policy Report on Education in Emergencies. This is the first time, we’re aware of, that a policy report was specifically written for and launched by young people.

In recent years, the Campaign Champions programme has become an integral part of Send My Friend to School. We recruit 20 14-15 year old pupils every year who provide leadership and high-level advocacy for the campaign. Their training and the resources we produce for the 1,200 schools currently taking part in the campaign reflect the participatory and youth-led ethos we wish to embed. Send My Friend sets out to both transform global education and also be transformational for all the young people who take part in it.

This is never more true than in the Steve Sinnott Youth Ambassador programme. With the support of the Steve Sinnott Foundation and Oxfam GB we invite two young people from the Global South to visit the UK every year to lead high level advocacy and partnership campaigning. A particularly memorable highlight occurred on 20 September 2019, when Jessy and Isaac, the Young Ambassadors from Malawi, spoke to tens of thousands of young people gathered outside Parliament at the School Strike for Climate. Later this year we hope to welcome Queen and Santos, the 2025 Young Ambassadors from Uganda, to campaign in the UK. 

The lived experiences and values of young people in 2025 mean they are increasingly passionate about issues such as racial justice, gender equality, the climate crisis, safety, wellbeing and trauma. These resonate strongly with SDG4’s holistic aim of providing all children everywhere with an ‘inclusive and equitable quality education’. This is our strongest guarantee that the passion, creativity and commitment of young people and their teachers in the UK will continue to be heard in solidarity with children around the world as they call for greater investment in education during the next two years. 

To learn more and join Send My Friend to School visit www.sendmyfriend.org

BIOGRAPHY

John McLaverty is the former youth campaigner for Oxfam GB and a retired secondary school teacher and teacher educator. He is presently co-chair of Send My Friend to School and volunteers for Schools of Sanctuary.