Time does go quickly! I can’t quite believe that it has been one year since I first started the IPF. For those of you who have joined us recently, the original IPF would be almost unrecognisable to you!
If I’m being entirely honest, I never set the IPF up to be ‘anything’. 12 months ago today I was extremely ill. I had to drop out of my MA programme, and was lying in bed going (very) stir crazy. Writing for UK-based political blogs, I realised that there wasn’t an accessible blog for young people around the world who shared my interests (my interests at time being those of a major IR nerd). The IPF started with a few of my friends (thanks to Hasan, Eli, Victor and Kurt for the first contributions!) sharing their thoughts on political issues. I never expected the IPF to move beyond my friends. As the months went on and our community grew, I realised that there is a real need and desire for an international platform for young people by young people to talk about the politics, human rights, green etc issues that are important to them. I have been involved in projects that are for young people that are nothing more than an exercise in making corporations and large organisations look good. Something needed to change.
Around the word, young people have been at the forefront of fighting for change: demanding a position, demanding freedom of speech, demanding that their voices be heard. Unfortunately, as revolutions die down and regimes change, youth voices are often ignored, or used as ‘tokens’. At the IPF, we want to put young people at the centre of international debate and discussion. Our world, our politics, is blighted by partisanship, fear, and heated rhetoric on all sides. It is through rational discourse, and learning more about each other that we can achieve progress. Our fast growth, and the incredible response we’ve had from around the world has shown that there is a need for a non-partisan platform to bring people together to tell these stories, with no other agenda than to live in a more engaged and more informed world.
In the last year we have been featured in the Huffington Post, the Guardian and on Al Jazeera. We have been supported by the British Council’s Global Changemakers, and I went to India to meet Sir Richard Branson as a result of the success of the website. As we look towards to our second year, we look forward to a number of exciting changes for the IPF, and opportunities for our community. Although I can’t go into specific details at this moment (don’t worry – there’ll be lots of big news soon), there are two main aspects of how we will be positioning ourselves. Firstly, we want to tell the stories that don’t get mainstream media attention, and we want to encourage the development of critical, inquisitive journalism, thereby disrupting the traditional media cycle. We will continue growing, providing a platform to young people from all walks of life, from all over the world, to share their views, and their experiences. After all, digital technology gives everyone the opportunity to get involved. We hope to create international hubs, bringing together some of the best minds from all countries to create cutting edge content, not just through writing, but through film and photography. The next few months will be transformative for us, and we will be working hard to create a platform that our community can be proud of.
I want to say a special thank you to my family, Tiffany Brittingham, Rebecca Collier, Lucy Dove, Tom Dunbar, Tessa Evans, Charlotte Goodhart, Nick Millet, Ayat Mneina, Quinn Palmer, Richard Scott-Jones and Jessica Trevis for their wonderful support. Thank you to our 160 contributors from 35 countries, thank you to our readers and our growing community.
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