Young Team Behind the ‘yut rise up’ Online Campaign

Sandra Kalpong says the ‘yut rise up’ campaign gives youth advisors the chance to be creative and share positive messages about GBV prevention with young Vanuatu audiences. Credit: yutriseup/Savvy Vanuatu

Friday, 10 October Port Vila, Vanuatu – Youth-led campaign – ‘yut rise up’ is changing Vanuatu’s social media landscape with fresh local content developed by youth, for youth, aged 10-19 with key messages of healthy relationships, conflict resolution and respect.

Launched last year, the ‘yut rise up’ online campaign is led entirely by youth advisors with a mission to empower youth through thought-provoking content that challenges harmful norms and beliefs that cause Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Vanuatu.

As part of an ongoing youth campaign advisory group, the ‘yut rise up’ team collaborates weekly to create online content that resonates with their peers. The campaign’s social media reach has been extraordinary; reaching more viewers than the number of people on social media in the country, with the campaign viewed by at least 300,000 people on Facebook alone.

---

Youth advisors and content creators

Unlike traditional communication campaigns, this online campaign is actively being shaped by a team of 26 young people aged 12-23 who come from diverse educational backgrounds and communities in Port Vila, including Anambaru, Beverly Hills, Erakor, Freswota, Ifira, Manples, Mele, Seaside, Tebakor and Teouma. 

They are working as ‘yut rise up’ advisors, event ambassadors, and content creators to ensure thenational campaign, which launched online in August 2024, is relatable and feels genuine for teenagers in Vanuatu.  

Initially the teenagers helped to set the campaign’s direction and name— ‘yut rise up’—and informed the design of the campaign’s popular branding and promotional products.

The campaign forms part of the wider ‘yut rise up’ project, which also includes six-week workshops for adolescent boys, girls, and their parents delivered by Youth Challenge Vanuatu. Many of today’s content contributors are graduates of the ‘yut rise up’ workshops, bringing their learnings and perspectives directly into the campaign’s content and activities.

“I am learning a lot from the ‘yut rise up’ group, like how to engage with people from different backgrounds when conducting video interviews. It was my first experience to participate in theparade for 16 Days Activism in 2024,” said Esther Atuary, a 19-year-old from Freswota community.

---

New perspectives encourage positive mindsets

“The social media campaign’s goal is simple but vital,” said Polly Banks, Save the Children Vanuatu’s Country Director.

“It’s allowing young people in Vanuatu to speak directly to each other, to collaborate and share ideas and perspectives on what makes healthy relationships, what it means to show respect for each other and their visions for healthy families and communities.”

The ‘yut rise up’ campaign explores contemporary topics about relationships, decision making and communication at a time when young people are critically thinking about their self-identity and futures.

Topics the young content makers are covering include gender equality, emotional and physical wellbeing, and safe and consensual relationships.

“The ‘yut rise up’ campaign has opened my eyes to how social media shapes us – and how we can flip it to spread something positive about preventing GBV,” said Frederick Lango, an 18-year-old from Teouma.

‘yut rise up’ content creation workshops

Part of the ‘yut rise up’ agenda is to organize content creation workshops with the advisory group, where young minds meet up and share ideas on how to create positive content to feed into the ‘yutrise up’ platforms – Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

The workshops are held under the guidance of ‘yut rise up’s campaign coordinator, Jaimeen Kenni with support from ‘yut rise up’s youth administrator, Sandra Kalopong, a 20-year-old from Erakor Village.

“The workshops give us an opportunity to be creative and use our talents to create positive content with key messages for young audiences in Vanuatu,” said Sandra.

In May, the advisory group participated in a youth content creation workshop where they learnt how to script videos, explore different camera angles, brainstorm new content streams, and take part in filming.

Later this year in August, the team gathered again to plan new content streams, generate new ideas, and teamed up to work together on different filming projects around Port Vila.

“Young people learn so much from each other during our meetings by exchanging thoughts and ideas and understanding the assignments given to them, to go out to communities and collect content and impact stories,” said Frederick.

Online sensation

Since its launch online in August 2024, ‘yut rise up’ now has 17,000 followers on Facebook, 28,500 likes on TikTok, and numbers are growing on Instagram and YouTube.

After a strong presence in 2024’s Fest’Napuan music festival—where 16 ‘yut rise up’ ambassadors engaged with festival-goers and recorded 250 short interviews for the two-year online campaign—the initiative saw its social media following surge, with more than 450% growth on TikTok and nearly 700% on Facebook.

Two of the videos went viral, attracting 52.4K and 98.9K views, including one that asked attendees the simple but powerful question: Whose job do you think it is to cook?

The festival was a milestone for ‘yut rise up’ providing a wealth of content that continues to drive regular posts across all platforms and keeping the campaign’s message alive well beyond theevent.

The campaign has high-level support from Vanuatu celebrities and influencers too.

Vanuatu football legend Brian Kaltak, Vanuatu Women’s Cricket captain Selena Solman, singers Metoxide, Shazza, and Jesta from Sele Stringband, and Wan Smolbag actors including Titus Joseph—have all shown their support for the campaign aimed at ending GBV in a generation.

Sparking conversations

‘yut rise up’ is also sparking conversations online. A Facebook reel exploring the question of healthy relationship is the campaign’s most-watched video since its launch, with over 198, 358 views.

While many agreed that cooking should be a shared task and is a life skill, some comments reflected limiting ideas about roles in the home, underscoring the relevance of ‘yut rise up’ in challenging these perspectives.

With content like this, ‘yut rise up’ demonstrates that Vanuatu’s youth are actively shaping important conversations about respect, relationships, and gender norms.

Sandra summed it up: “We’re not here to preach about preventing gender-based violence; we want to share real stories and ideas that make people stop and think about making healthy choices in their own lives—because that’s how real change happens.”

As the campaign grows, these young advisors and content creators are helping to build a foundation for positive change across Vanuatu.

‘yut rise up’ community events

Currently, the young creators are looking forward to the upcoming launch of Wan Smolbag’s newest film under the ‘yut rise up’ project—an event that is generating anticipation and excitement within the group.

‘Wan Haos blong Lav’ is a musical film with key messages that elevates the ‘yut rise up’ principles of healthy relationship, gender norms and respect.

Following the film’s VIP premiere in mid-October, the youth advisory group will be showcasing the new Wan Smolbag feature and their ‘yut rise up’ social media content at community screenings in the Port Vila area.

Ending Gender-Based Violence

The ‘yut rise up’ program is implemented by Save the Children Vanuatu, in partnership with Youth Challenge Vanuatu and Wan Smolbag, under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice and Community Services through the Department of Women’s Affairs. The program is under the VAN: COVID-19 Response for Affected Poor and Vulnerable Groups Project, funded by the Asian Development Bank.

“A new dawn has broken for young people, families, communities and Vanuatu. Through theactive engagement of youths–for  youths–for the ‘yut rise up’ campaign’s vision, design, content, messages for the campaign through partners is commended,” said Rothina Ilo Noka, Director of the Department of Women’s Affairs.

“The Department of Women’s Affairs is encouraged by the breakthroughs the ‘yut rise up’ campaign is making for youths aged 10 to 19 years, which is in line with the first strategic area of the National Gender Equality Policy 2020 – 2030.”

“As women and girls in Vanuatu, we dream of a safer, peaceful, loving, united and powerful families, communities and Vanuatu where respect, peace and love for each other is central in our lives. Happy families exist day by day honouring and serving God in line with His purpose for each and living free of Gender-Based Violence,” concluded Director Noka.

More information can be found on the ‘yut rise up’ website at www.yutriseup.com

About ‘yut rise up’

‘yut rise up’ is a campaign focused on empowering young people in Vanuatu aged 10+ years to reject Gender-Based Violence (GBV) by promoting respect, equality, and positive personal change.

Follow us online

Stay updated on the ‘yut rise up’ campaign by following us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and our campaign website at www.yutriseup.com