Gen Z Consumer Behaviour Programme For Unicef

INTRODUCTION

Unicef partnered with the International School of Geneva, one of the oldest international baccalaureate schools in the world and highest profile fee-paying schools in Switzerland, to find new ways of engaging with the next generation of donors by understanding how young people from high-income countries see and connect with UNICEF.

Working with UNICEF heads of innovation, global fund raising and specialist consultant on their global youth engagement strategy an innovation challenge was designed for the ‘Classroom to Boardroom’ online programme with 25 x 16 year olds.

The programme took place over 4 days and the students presented their insights and solutions to executives in Geneva and New York.

HIGHLIGHTS

Broad review undertaken

UNICEF’s executives received insights and reviews of the content of their website/school resources, social media strategy, along with an analysis of where the gaps were and how this content could be improved.

Well worked through ideas

Campaign ideas were presented with worked through and researched examples of how they could engage affluent students like themselves with the UNICEF brand.

Additional insights

In addition to providing insights on fundraising strategies for UNICEF, ideas for developing partnership strategies were also presented.

REFLECTIONS

Katarzyna Pawelczyk, Communications Specialist, Digital Youth Engagement, UNICEF New York

It is very insightful to hear the ideas and perspectives of young people in relation to the channels and platforms we use to communicate with them – for example TikTok and Instagram – as they are the primary users of these platforms. I was also very interested to hear their fresh ideas to engage influencers and to do fundraising (although this is not my area of expertise at all).

A member of UNICEF Team in Geneva

I see a lot of benefits for UNICEF after watching the presentation. Having seen that students have so many great ideas on how to engage with a younger audience and being that creative in finding new ways for UNICEF to communicate with youth, I think that we need to work even closer with young people and talk to them, ask about their needs and give them voice, so they can talk about their concerns, needs and hopes.

PARTICIPANTS

I really enjoyed the presentation. It was exhilarating. My heart was pounding but I had a super time.

The best part was at the end when I finally saw all our hard work and effort materialise. It filled me with a great sense of pride and overall the pride I got at the end of this project in both my work and time spent is something I will carry on forever.

Working as a team and tackling some of my fears of presenting in front of a large audience were the best parts.