G8 Summit: Children leading by example
Schools competition winners to meet Blair at Gleneagles

‘J8 – Change the World’  ran a competition this year for schools to take part in the J8 Summit to be held in the days preceding the real G8 Summit in Scotland. Children carried out their own research, discussed and then presented their ideas and views on Africa and climate change.

The 8 winning schools from around the country attended the 3-day J8 Summit in Edinburgh to discuss and debate the real G8 agenda, just as world leaders did at the actual summit at Gleneagles. The schools developed a joint Communiqué, agreed to by all participating schools, which they presented to Tony Blair and the leaders of the other G8 countries on the first day of the G8 Summit.

They (the children, not the world leaders) also found time for a Highland Games, a ceilidh and a BBQ. They (the world leaders, not the children) did manage to agree a final Communiqué, but if they didn’t at least they knew there was one already prepared!

C8

UNICEF created the C8 - a children and young person's version of the G8 summit. The C8 was held in Dunblane from 3-5 July, and brought together young people from 8 of the world's poorest countries with young people from the G8 countries, to debate, discuss and firmly place their issues on the agenda of the G8 leaders.