UK Prince William Meets Save the Children Staff and Youth Representatives in Beijing

“The Prince is so nice and humorous!” Dongdong said. 

 On the morning of March 2, 2015, Prince William met with Save the Children representatives at the Beijing Shijia Hutong Museum where representatives from three NGOs in China shared experiences with the Prince.

Dongdong, 23 years old, and Xiaoxue, 17 years old, are both youth representatives of Save the Children’s Beijing migrant youth vocational education project. Dongdong says, “I’ve attended Save the Children’s vocational skills training for migrant youth since 2013 and it has helped me a lot.” After attending the training, Dongdong continued on to become a peer educator, passing on the skills he learned from the training to other peers.

When asked by the Prince about the situation for migrant children living in cities, Dongbo Liu, Senior Education Officer said, “Migrant children face enormous challenges. China is experiencing rapid urbanization and many teenagers are moving from the countryside to big cities. However, migrant children lack the resources and networks needed for them to be able to succeed in these cities. Save the Children’s migrant youth projects aim to help migrant youth by creating a support network and providing them with vocational skills and life skills so they can succeed and reach their full potential.” 

Since 2014, Xiaoxue has participated in Save the Children’s vocational skills training in Beijing. As a migrant child from Anhui Province, Xiaoxue lacks the Beijing registration permit necessary to receive proper high school and college education. During the meeting with Prince William, Xiaoxue recalls, “The Prince asked me about my achievements. I told him my greatest achievement was learning useful occupational skills and having a clearer vision for my future.”    

Save the Children Beijing Manager, Zhaorui Meng said, “Meeting Prince William must be one of the most exciting experiences for Dongdong and Xiaoxue. Save the Children hopes that all migrant children, in China and around the world, can obtain the skills they need to succeed in life!”

In 2014, Save the Children helped 7,363 migrant children in the urban areas of China through its vocational education work.