Organization

KidsRights gives them a platform to share their ideals with an international audience. The embodiment of this platform, the International Children’s Peace Prize, was awarded for the first time in 2005. Since then the prize is annually awarded to a courageous child who has made an exceptional difference for the rights of the child by a Nobel Peace Laureate.

In the meantime KidsRights has become an international renowned children’s rights organization and an authority on child participation. Marc Dullaert: “The winners of the Children’s Peace Prize show that children are so much more than passive recipients of aid, they can bring actual change. Children are changemakers and move the world!”

The board of the KidsRights Foundation ensures that the purpose of the foundation will be pursued as far as possible and that the funds are managed properly. The board, who acts on a voluntary basis, consists of a special group of people who are actively involved through their compassion for KidsRights.
The board of KidsRights consists of seven members:

• Marc Dullaert (chairman)
• Alexander Spoor (secretary)
• Koos van der Wal (treasurer)
• Marianne Kleppe
• Fleur Smeets – Tonies
• Giuseppe Flores d’Arcais

The KidsRights team, located in Amsterdam, consists of:

• Rob Peelen – Director
  rob@kidsrights.org
• Janne Calis – State of Youth NL Programme Coordinator
  janne@kidsrights.org
• Liv Verstegen – State of Youth NL Programme Officer
  liv@kidsrights.org
• Avinash Reddy – KidsRights Index and International Children’s Peace Prize Programme Manager
  avinash@kidsrights.org
• Martina Garcia Miñaur Parreño – International Children’s Peace Prize Programme Officer
  martina@kidsrights.org
• Yuri von Raesfeld – Donor Administration & Office Management
  info@kidsrights.org
• Alyan Khan – Digital Media Officer
  alyan@kidsrights.org
• Marcos de Barros – State of Youth International Programme Manager
  marcos@kidsrights.org
• Grace O’Halloran – State of Youth International Programme Officer
  grace@kidsrights.org
• Diamond Mesele – Intern State of Youth NL
• Financial Administration
  finance@kidsrights.org

At KidsRights we walk the talk! That’s why our Youth Board is a fundamental part of our organisation. These amazing young activists, from all over the world, oversee that a diverse youth’s point of view is represented in everything we do.

The Youth Board consists of seven members:

• Alya Sabira (21, State of Youth @ Speak out Youth Indonesia, Indonesia)
  Climate Warrior II: From Gender Equality to Climate Justice, funded by the State of Youth Fund Catcher Program, the first youth-led project in Indonesia linking climate and gender equality. It empowered two schools, engaged hundreds through webinars, produced one module and one factsheet, and supported two student-led climate initiatives.
• Alwande Moyo (19, State of Youth @ Bulawayo, Zimbabwe)
  His Chapter initiated a partnership between Amnesty International Zimbabwe and Justice Desk Africa to run a High School Civic and Human Rights Awareness Campaign. Running since May 2024 and currently ongoing, it has reached more than 400 students, empowering youth to be effective change-makers.
• Hope Gondwe (24, State of Youth @ University of Malawi, Malawi)
  His Chapter received funding from the EU for the Clean Community Bins Project in Zomba, Malawi. This initiative installs categorised litter bins, raises awareness about plastic pollution, and engages young people in clean up activities. Alongside this, his Chapter has organised tree-planting exercises, community dialogues, and awareness campaigns to promote sustainable waste management and environmental conservation.
• Mary Makuei (23, State of Youth @ Kakuma, Kenya)
  Her Chapter organise gender equality training workshops and awareness-raising sessions in the Kakuma Refugee Camp educating youth about gender stereotypes, and how to overcome them.
• Raffaello Banin (16, State of Youth @ Oakland, USA)
  His Chapter led a fundraiser for a youth homeless centre in Oakland, supporting them with essential supplies. Partnering with the University of Calitfornia, they organised lectures on cutting-edge topics across various fields at the centre, and they are currently developing a program to teach computing fundamentals to these youth.
• Shreya Ghosh (22, State of Youth @ Northern Bangladesh, Bangladesh)
  Her Chapter organises workshops on mental health and gender equality. They have engaged with over 500 youth to challenge taboos and promote open discussion on these issues.
• Tarun Bhuyan (17, State of Youth @ Bhubaneswar, India)
  His Chapter focuses on climate change, they organised an Open Dialogue on Climate Change conference partnering with the Open Dialogues International Foundation, which is affiliated with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They also presented their project, ‘ Eco-Investment in Arid India’  at COP.