Almost 50 % of the world population are children and youth below 25 years of age. Most young people are ordinary people, doing what they have to do, trying to find a way to make a living, get an education, trying to fit in with their community, their family. Some are activists, trying to change their community for the better, some have for some reason given up and are not contributing positively to their community.

In some societies you people are "to be seen, not heard", older people are in charge and do not want young people to interfere and introduce new ways, new ideas.

This manual has been made in order to enhance young people's participation in public life. We want both boys and girls to be able to participate and contribute actively to their society. We all know that too many girls never had the opportunity to be active change makers, they have too many chores in the family and their society has accepted that the role of a girl is to be obedient, do what she is told, get married and raise a family. Young boys have other problems; their role is to provide, to take charge, to get a well paid job, to be a decision maker. These different roles cause problems for both men and women.

The world needs young people, both boys and girls, who are able and allowed to use their talents, their energy, interests and creativity to contribute to a better world. We need young people with enough self confidence and enough knowledge and skills to be able to participate actively in the development of their society. We need young people who are able to challenge old thinking and unfair roles; young people who are able to take charge and contribute to a better world for themselves, for their communities and for future generations.

This is a huge task. This manual is only a tiny drop in the ocean. But if we succeed, this manual might help young girls and young boys gain enough insight and enough skills to start working. Our aim is to help young people become active in their own communities, to become effective activists/ change makers and to help train other activists. If we want gender equality we need active young women as well as active young men. We need young people who know how to organise and mobilise, young people of both sexes who will fight discrimination and support justice and equality in practice.

We hope that this manual will be of help for you who want to participate in training young activists. We hope that you will help develop the manual, add your own exercises, your own ideas. We recommend that you after each training workshop write down your experiences, so that other trainers have the opportunity to learn from you. Good luck!