My name is John. Issues around sexual reproductive health and development are really important to me. I work in Laikipia in Kenya where I help young people participate in government processes on policy and allocating budgets.

My name is Mercy. I love working for women and children, and supporting communities to come up with their own plans and implement them. I work with an NGO in Ghana. I see people struggling with basic health issues. I try to help them.

I am Zobair. I wanted to work as a volunteer! Instead, I'm working for a CSO in Bangladesh. I work with the marginalised, the poorest of the poor. We mobilise communities. With them, we lobby and advocate on the right to water and sanitation, health and nutrition.

I come from an informal settlement. Most of the issues we deal with affect young people. We need to help them solve situations around water in a sustainable way. If they have access to water, they have access to health. We teach them how to champion different issues and engage with policy makers. We help them to understand that the power of the state belongs to the people and that everyone, irrespective of their socio-economic status, will have access to basic services.

When I look back at how we started, it feels good. The steps we took in confronting local government yielded something great. The most impressive moment was when people realised “the assembly is there for us.” We now know how to approach them and get our issues solved. My wish for the future? To see a lot of young people and community members talking about water themselves. A society where getting clean water and sanitation is based on human rights, not on policies. Where everybody can get up and say, "I am okay with the water I have."

In a lot of areas in Bangladesh, water quality isn’t good. This has a severe impact, particularly on women and children. Women have to walk miles to fetch water. We talked to the community about their human rights and helped them work out what they needed. Now, they’re able to ask government service providers to find ways to reach the marginalised and the poorest of the poor.