100 Million Campaign

The 100 Million Campaign is an international nongovernmental campaign focused on securing a world in which every child is free from exploitation and violence and has access to education. Its work is associated with the child-rights advocacy of Indian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi and builds on earlier international mobilization against child labour and for education rights. The campaign was inaugurated in 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, India. The launch brought together Satyarthi, President Pranab Mukherjee and approximately 6,000 young activists. Rather than operating as a conventional consumer brand or commercial organization, the 100 Million Campaign functions as a coalition and public-interest organizing platform. It seeks to connect students, youth unions, civil-society organizations, survivor advocates, parliamentarians and international institutions around child protection, education and youth participation in policy. Its historical roots reach back to the 1998 Global March Against Child Labour, in which young people participated under Satyarthi's leadership. That mobilization contributed to the international movement that preceded the International Labour Organization's Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. The campaign also draws on the Global Campaign for Education, founded in 1999. The 100 Million Campaign presents its own work as a continuation and expansion of these efforts, with a strong emphasis on youth leadership and political accountability. From 2017 onward, the campaign expanded through launches and partnerships in national and regional settings. It was welcomed at the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Dhaka, launched in Fiji, and introduced across Africa by the All-Africa Students Union in Accra in 2018. Its German activities involved the Education and Science Workers' Union, meetings with federal officials and parliamentarians, and advocacy for stronger supply-chain rules addressing child labour. These activities illustrate the campaign's approach: combining public events, youth organizing, parliamentary engagement and policy demands. The campaign's principal program areas have included ending child labour, education in emergencies and a broader Justice for Africa platform. In 2019 it announced its first formal campaign, End Child Labor, supported by testimony from young people and survivors connected with organizations in Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi. Rallies followed in several African countries and in the United States, with the campaign reporting participation by more than 70,000 young people across Africa. In response to the education disruption and humanitarian crises affecting conflict-affected communities, the 100 Million Campaign helped organize the Education Cannot Wait youth constituency in 2020. The constituency brought together 130 youth-led nongovernmental organizations from 40 conflict-affected countries and created a mechanism for youth representatives to participate in the governance and policy discussions of the Education Cannot Wait fund. Youth representatives were subsequently elected to relevant international bodies in 2021 and 2023. The Justice for Africa campaign, announced in 2022 with the All-Africa Students Union, addressed education access, African youth participation and the role of the African Union in global governance. It involved youth-led organizations and student unions from multiple African regions and North America, eventually connecting movements in 40 countries across five continents. The campaign's public positioning is grounded in the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals. Its activities have included international reports, rallies, youth caucuses and engagement with governments and multilateral institutions.

The 100 Million Campaign emerged from international youth mobilization against child labour and for education rights. A key precursor was the 1998 Global March Against Child Labour, led by Kailash Satyarthi, in which young people from different countries participated. The movement contributed to the broader international advocacy environment surrounding the International Labour Organization's Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. In 1999, the Global Campaign for Education was established, providing another important institutional and political precedent for the later campaign. The 100 Million Campaign was formally inaugurated in 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The launch involved Satyarthi, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and about 6,000 young activists. Its stated purpose was to mobilize 100 million young people and allies around three linked objectives: ending child labour, ending violence against children and ensuring universal access to education. The organization has generally operated as a movement and coalition rather than as a commercial enterprise, using youth participation, public advocacy, reports and political engagement as its principal instruments. In 2017, the campaign gained visibility in parliamentary settings when it was welcomed by Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh, at the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in Dhaka. The same year, Jiko Luveni launched the campaign in Fiji at the Government Buildings in Suva. These events reflected the campaign's strategy of establishing relationships with legislators and public institutions while retaining a youth-led identity. The movement expanded across Africa in March 2018, when the All-Africa Students Union launched it at the Accra International Conference Centre. In Germany later that year, the Education and Science Workers' Union launched the campaign nationally. Youth activists met with Gerd Müller, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, and with members of the Bundestag. German officials and parliamentarians expressed support for stronger measures related to global supply chains, human rights and child labour; Kailash Satyarthi also met Chancellor Angela Merkel during this period. In 2019, the campaign published its first report, Every Child, Every Community, timed to the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report introduced End Child Labor as the campaign's first major named campaign. It centered testimony from child-labour survivors and youth advocates gathered through partner organizations in Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi. Rallies were subsequently organized in Liberia, Chad, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Kenya, as well as in Washington, D.C. The campaign reported that more than 70,000 young people took part in protests across Africa. Education in emergencies became a central focus in 2020. The 100 Million Campaign worked to establish the Education Cannot Wait youth constituency, bringing together 130 youth-led nongovernmental organizations from 40 conflict-affected countries. The constituency was designed to give young people a democratic channel into high-level humanitarian policy and program decisions. In 2021, H.D. Wright became the first young person elected to represent the constituency on the governing body of the Education Cannot Wait fund and on its related high-level steering structure. In 2023, Hector Ulloa and Mutesi Hadijah were elected to corresponding bodies on behalf of the Global Student Forum. In 2020 the campaign also hosted a youth leadership caucus alongside the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Participants called on G20 governments to end child labour and guarantee education for children and young people most affected by poverty, conflict and exclusion. In 2022, the campaign joined a student delegation to the seventy-seventh United Nations General Assembly session in New York. The Justice for Africa campaign was announced in 2022 in cooperation with the All-Africa Students Union. It linked education access with African representation in global governance and invoked the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals. Representatives of 70 youth-led organizations and student unions from different African regions and North America took part in the initiative. Its network later extended to movements in 40 countries across five continents. The resulting report, Our Future, Our Voice, was presented in September 2022 in the context of preparations for the sixth European Union–African Union Summit and the United Nations General Assembly. The campaign has therefore developed from a child-labour movement into a broad youth advocacy platform spanning education, humanitarian response, African governance and international accountability.

• 2022

  Justice for Africa announced

  [1]100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org

  The campaign and the All-Africa Students Union launched a platform connecting education rights with African participation in global governance.

• 2020

  Education Cannot Wait youth constituency

  [1]100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org

  The campaign helped establish a youth constituency representing organizations from conflict-affected countries.

• 2019

  First report and End Child Labor campaign

  [1]100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org

  The campaign published Every Child, Every Community and announced End Child Labor.

• 2018

  Campaign launched across Africa

  [1]100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org

  The All-Africa Students Union launched the campaign in Accra, Ghana.

• 2016

  Formal inauguration in New Delhi

  [1]100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org

  The 100 Million Campaign was inaugurated at Rashtrapati Bhavan with roughly 6,000 youth activists.

• 1999

  Global Campaign for Education established

  [1]100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org

  The Global Campaign for Education was founded, creating another major advocacy precedent for the later movement.

• 1998

  Global March Against Child Labour

  [1]100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org

  Young people participated in the Global March Against Child Labour led by Kailash Satyarthi, an important precursor to the 100 Million Campaign.

A global youth-centered child-rights advocacy movement linking grassroots mobilization with parliamentary, governmental and multilateral policy engagement.

• Advocacy report · 2019

  Every Child, Every Community

  The campaign's first identified report, published in 2019 to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It presented child-labour survivor and youth-advocate testimony and introduced the End Child Labor campaign.

• Advocacy report · 2022

  Our Future, Our Voice

  A report associated with Justice for Africa that set out youth perspectives on education, African representation and the role of the African Union in global governance. It was announced in September 2022 in the run-up to major international meetings.

• 2022Justice for Africa

  Africa · North America · International

  Co-convened with the All-Africa Students Union, Justice for Africa addressed education access and called for a stronger role for the African Union in global governance. It brought together youth-led organizations and student unions from multiple African regions and North America.

  Outcome. The initiative expanded into a network spanning 40 countries across five continents and produced the report Our Future, Our Voice.

  Source
• 2020Education in Emergencies

  International · Conflict-affected countries

  This initiative sought to strengthen youth participation in international humanitarian education policy and helped form the Education Cannot Wait youth constituency, composed of youth-led organizations from conflict-affected countries.

  Outcome. The constituency created a formal democratic channel for youth representation in Education Cannot Wait governance and related high-level policy structures.

  Source
• 2019End Child Labor

  Africa · United States

  The campaign's first named initiative focused on ending child labour through survivor testimony, youth mobilization and public demonstrations. Partner organizations contributed evidence and stories from Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi. Rallies took place in several African countries and in Washington, D.C.

  Outcome. The campaign reported protests involving more than 70,000 young people across Africa.

  Source

1. 1100 Million Campaignen.wikipedia.org