This toolkit provides information for Save the Children staff and any participating member of the public on how to organize, coordinate, and participate in the 2015 Race for Survival. The Race for Survival is part of the EVERY ONE Campaign to end preventable child deaths.
Save the Children is hosting its biggest mobilisation throughout 2015 – the Race for Survival Relay! Children in over 60 countries will race through the year in different events applying pressure to decision makers nationally, building powerful momentum leading up to the UN General Assembly in September. They will together demand urgent action to end preventable deaths by 2030.
Planning Your Race
The Race for Survival is all about children and young people and they should be involved in your planning as early as possible.
- Get together a group of children and young people: Organise a meeting at a local school, community centre or a sports club.
- Decide on the aim of your Race together: What is it YOU want to race for? What do you demand? Access to clean water and sanitation? Removing a discriminatory law or policy? How about organising a school project to investigate what the most important issues for children in your community are?
- Set out your key demands: Think about specific policy changes or legislation that could lead to change for children in your community.
- Decide on the format for your Race: What is the distance you want to run? You can link the distance to your key demands. For example, run 10 meters for each day left for your government to achieve MDG4 or you can run 5km as the average distance a child needs to walk to get access to clean water.
- Plan your Race: Checklist for planning a successful Race:
- Decide on a day with significant national relevance or impact between March and September, for example during an election.
- Find a large open space or running track. Plan your venue with enough time to get permission to use it.
- Consider the weather conditions in your country. The running track needs to be usable despite rainy weather and children need to be protected from the sun when they are not running.
- At all times they need to make sure to keep the children and young people they are contact with safe and to protect them from harm.
- Provide consent forms for parents to sign
- Banners or flyers with advocacy messages
- Snacks and drinks
- First aid kit
- If possible, internet access to share your stories and results live
- Share your plan with your local community: Other local groups, such as schools, businesses and faith groups may be interested to join or support you in organising and promoting your Race.
- Share your stories: To raise awareness of the toughest issues children face across the world, they want to share stories of hope and action from participating children with the public and decision makers on social media platforms. Before, during and after the Race gather photographs and stories while sticking to Save the Children’s child safeguarding guidelines.
You can download this toolkit for free here.
