Time again for our Website of the Week, when we showcase interesting and innovative online destinations.
This week we feature a site that gives young people from different countries and cultures an online place to meet, but this isn't your usual typical social networking site.
GALLEGOS: "Voices of Youth is an Internet site created by UNICEF for young people who want to know more, do more and see more about the world. It's about linking children and adolescents in different countries to explore, speak out and take action on global issues."
Maria Cristina Gallegos is coordinator for the Voices of Youth website at unicef.org/voy.
The site is full of information of interest to young people; the target age group is 10–24. Voices of Youth includes articles on subjects like the environment and poverty, and more:
"There is education, HIV/AIDS. Children's rights is also a very important topic because not everybody knows their own rights, so it's very important that they learn about their rights."
TEXT: But Voices of Youth is about more than just giving information to kids. Some 30,000 members from all over the world participate in online conversations.
GALLEGOS: "Well, the discussion forum is the heart of Voices of Youth. It's where kids can give their voice, submit their ideas, meet other people and partner so that they can do something about the issues that they're going through."
Remarkably, 60 percent of users are in developing countries, where computers and Internet service are less available. The site is in English, French and Spanish; and Arabic was added just last year. And there's no fancy animation or graphics, so it's very useable on a slow-speed connection.
UNICEF's Voices of Youth. Check it out at unicef.org/voy, or get the link from our site, voanews.com.