Youth Advisory Squad (YAS)
The first-of-its-kind Children’s Leadership Accelerator, Fellowship, and Scholarship program focused on fighting the sexual exploitation of children.
A project can achieve 100% of its indicators and still fail the people it was designed for.
We celebrate numbers such as: children reached, sessions delivered, teachers trained, referrals completed, budget used, and targets achieved.
Yes, these numbers matter, but after years of managing humanitarian programmes, I increasingly find myself asking a different set of questions:
Our indicators help us measure programmes but they should never become the programmes.
Did the child actually become safer?
Did the student stay in school?
Did the caregiver feel more capable of supporting their child?
Did the referral lead to a service or did we simply record a referral?
Did communities influence what we did, or did we consult them after most decisions had already been made?
What has changed? How can we measure this change in the future to make sure it’s sustainable?
A First-of-Its-Kind Leadership Accelerator, Fellowship & Scholarship Program
A new model for investing in young people — and their leadership in the fight against child sexual exploitation.
Youth Advisory Squad (YAS): A First-of-Its-Kind Leadership Accelerator, Fellowship & Scholarship Program
The Youth Advisory Squad (YAS) is a bold new model for youth leadership, equipping Canadian children aged 14–17 to become informed, confident, and influential advocates against the sexual exploitation of children (SEC).
Fellows learn directly from leading experts in SEC, advocacy, and leadership; design and lead their own community impact projects; and gain access to mentorship, scholarships, reference letters, paid internships, and real-world platforms to influence change and help build a safer country for children.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
Many youth volunteer opportunities involve helping with tasks rather than giving young people the responsibility, resources, and support to lead something of their own.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
Many youth volunteer opportunities involve helping with tasks rather than giving young people the responsibility, resources, and support to lead something of their own.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
Young people need experience to compete for internships and early career opportunities — but often need an internship or job to gain that experience in the first place.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
Young people can have powerful ideas for change but lack the funding, mentorship, tools, networks, and access needed to bring them to life.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
University, scholarship, internship, and employment applications increasingly ask young people to demonstrate leadership, initiative, impact, and real-world experience.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
Young people who care deeply about social issues may know what they want to change without knowing how to turn that passion into a practical project, campaign, or initiative.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
Opportunities to build relationships with professionals, mentors, experts, decision-makers, and organizations can be especially difficult for young people to access.
“We WANT to be leaders in the fight against these issues happening to us, but there aren’t opportunities, and we don’t know how to start our own.”
Young people are ready to lead. But meaningful opportunities to do so can be hard to find.
Young people who care deeply about social change don’t always have opportunities to meet peers who share their interests, values, and drive to make a difference.
Enter our Youth Advisory Squad (YAS) program. Designed to help close the gap. Designed to give youth something meaningful to lead on.
YAS, a ground-breaking 10-month national leadership accelerator, fellowship and scholarship program, training passionate children aged 14–17 across Canada to become champions for children’s rights and advocates against the sexual exploitation of children, in their schools, their communities, and their country.
YAS combines in-depth education on the sexual exploitation of children, and practical support to children in the form of activism training, mentorship, networking, funding, platforms, meaningful work experience and a sense of belonging — the raw ingredients they’ve asked for to become agents of positive change.
Through YAS, children become collaborators, innovators, researchers, advocates, educators, and advisors — working alongside OneChild staff, experts, government, organizations, and companies on initiatives that have real-world impact.
The YAS Difference
Not just a leadership program. Investing in young leaders. Strengthening the fight against child sexual exploitation.
Programs are designed for young people.
Co-designed with young people, so their priorities, ideas, and experiences help shape the program.
Participate in activities planned by others.
Leadership development focuses primarily on workshops and training.
Children are mentored to identify what facet of child sexual exploitation they want to target, reflect on their talents, and map out their resources. They’re mentored to design, lead and implement their own capstone project, and monitor, evaluate, and report its impact.
Training is combined with mentorship, hands-on experience, access to experts, and opportunities to put new skills into action.
Limited opportunities to influence real issues.
Children conduct academic research, consult for tech companies on child safety, share their views in the development of national strategies and legislation on child sexual exploitation, speak to the media about pending legislation, provide training to professionals and parents and more!
Meet other participants during sessions.
Children join a supportive community of passionate young people from across Canada, engage in team building and fun activities, and build lifelong friendships with like-minded youth.
May receive a participation certificate.
Children don’t just graduate with a Certificate of Completion — they also receive a personalized letter of reference, and visibility for their leadership and achievements that can be used for post-secondary entrance, scholarships and awards.
No financial recognition.
Children earn a $500 scholarship upon successfully completing the program and their capstone project.
Few opportunities after the program ends.
Children gain priority access to paid summer internships, honorariums for special projects, conference speaking opportunities, youth advisory roles, and future OneChild leadership opportunities.
Basic program materials.
Children receive exclusive OneChild swag and resources as part of their YAS experience.
Success is measured by participation.
Success is demonstrated through projects led, skills developed, opportunities accessed, relationships built, and change created.
What do YAS members learn?
YAS members explore the following curriculum in an age-appropriate way.
Throughout the program, children learn from a range of experts including diverse survivor leaders, parents of victims, trauma professionals, anti-trafficking investigators and law enforcement, researchers, government officials, justice professionals, corporate representatives, youth activists and more! They benefit from working directly with them, youth mentors, and each other throughout the program and as alumni.
YAS members & alumni in action
YAS members and alumni don’t just learn about leadership — they put it into practice. Depending on their interests and opportunities, they:
Co-design and shape OneChild programs, projects, events, trainings and resources
Review and help develop educational presentations and workshop resources for children
Collaborate on academic research
Participate in consultations
Help shape solutions to prevent the sexual exploitation of children
Advise on advocacy campaigns and organizational priorities
Meet and engage with government officials and other decision-makers
Contribute to policy discussions
Work alongside governments, intergovernmental organizations, schools, researchers, and community partners
Support national initiatives, including Project W.H.Y.
Speak at conferences, panels, schools, and public events
Engage with the media
Design and lead youth-led awareness and advocacy campaigns
Mentor and support other young people
Help mobilize their schools and communities around issues affecting children
Identify issues they care about and develop their own solutions
Design and lead independent capstone projects
Develop and pitch new ideas to OneChild
Turn ideas into practical projects, campaigns, resources, and initiatives
Help create safer schools, communities, and online spaces for children
Who’s eligible
Children aged 14–17 in Canada
No experience necessary.
Just a passion for fighting for social justice, and we bring the rest!
A steady internet connection
What’s expected?
Attendance and active participation in bi-weekly, 2-hour virtual workshops from September to June
Attendance at in-person events when possible
Design and lead a project to raise awareness, advocate for child-safe policies and programs, and/or fundraise, in their schools, communities, or online
Submission of photos and video of the project
Submission of a final report, stating the impact of the project
Survey participation to help us measure the impact of the project and make improvements
Share perspectives, insights and ideas and contribute to decision-making on OneChild’s and external organizations’ programs, policies, events, and campaigns when solicited
What’s involved?
Taking a multimodal approach, the program is designed to be accessible and beneficial for children from diverse backgrounds.
Participants attend bi-weekly, virtual workshops and in-person events hosted by experts, aimed at increasing their understanding of issues such as sex trafficking, sextortion, child sexual abuse images, etc. This culminates in a capstone project that they design and lead in their schools and communities to raise awareness, advocate for child protections, and/or fundraise to support survivors.
Participants are also invited to participate in additional opportunities such as consultations with governments, corporations such as Meta and the United Nations; lead and design national awareness campaigns aimed at children; serve as panelists at trainings for professionals in the sector; and even speak to the media!
We aim to make this program as trauma-informed as possible. We support children with trainings that emphasize creating safe spaces, supporting those with lived experience, and self-care. They also have access to trauma counsellors and mental health experts throughout the duration of the program.
YAS members in action
Darius
One of the youngest panelists at a professional development training hosted by the Government of Canada, Darius speaks about the importance of including children’s voices in the fight against online child sexual exploitation.
Bibek
Bibek helped develop a resource on sex trafficking and sextortion, viewed by tens of thousands of children for National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
Lola
Lola spoke with the CBC to provide a youth perspective on the rise of sexual exploitation happening on Kik.
Charlton
Charlton hosted a panel at Youth Day, exploring how sexual exploitation affects boys.
Alisha
Alisha represented the voices of youth before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography.
Lithika
STORY COMING SOON
Zeinab
STORY COMING SOON
Claire
STORY COMING SOON
Irene
STORY COMING SOON
Ohana
STORY COMING SOON
In my view, YAS represents a model which could be replicated in other countries with similar successful outcomes. It presents a creative solution to a pervasive global problem and is likely to have much resonance the world over.
Getting into the nitty gritty of how this model works and what its impact has been will hopefully inspire other such initiatives.
Do you know a child aged 14 to 17 who would be interested in learning about the sexual exploitation of children and taking action?
Encourage them to apply to join our Youth Advisory Squad when applications open. In the meantime, sign up for a reminder!
Sponsor a Young Person to Join YAS!
Help a young person access training, mentorship, a scholarship and real-world platforms to lead change.
DONATE →Book EmpowerVention
Looking to educate children, parents, or school staff about sexual exploitation? EmpowerVention is a transformative school-based program by OneChild offering highly acclaimed presentations, workshops, and customizable trainings for various audiences.
BOOK NOW →Child Survivor Empowerment
We don’t just help children heal, we empower them to take flight.
LEARN MORE →Youth Emerging Leader Award
and Runner-Up, Youth Environment Award — Oakville Youth Awards
A little late posting this 😅, but I'm incredibly grateful to share that I received the Youth Emerging Leader Award and was recognized as the Runner-Up for the Youth Environment Award at the Oakville Youth Awards.
I'm truly honoured to be recognized for work that I'm passionate about. Over the past few years, I've had the opportunity to represent student voices through the HDSB Student Senate, participate in environmental conferences and sustainability initiatives, serve as a Youth Library Leader with Oakville Public Library, advocate for youth online safety and digital well-being, and work with organizations that empower young people to make a difference. Each of these experiences has strengthened my passion for leadership, service, and creating positive change in our community.
It was inspiring to celebrate alongside so many young people who are making a difference in Oakville. Seeing everyone's passion and dedication was a reminder of how much youth can accomplish when we're given opportunities to lead.
Thank you to my parents, teachers, friends, and everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the way. Your support has meant so much, and I'm excited to continue learning, growing, and giving back to the community.
Looking forward to what's next! 🌱