UNICEF is using Snapchat to highlight children missing out on their childhood in Nigeria

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is using Snapchat for the first time to highlight the lives of 800,000 children who have been forced to flee their homes in northeast Nigeria due to conflict between Boko Haram and military forces.

The campaign is using Snapchat’s disappearing image service to share images from “leading Snapchat artists” based on drawings by children in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

The Snapchat Stories will highlight what children miss about home and what they’ve endured in the region.

UNICEF is inviting the public to send snaps to the account showing what they’d miss if they were forced from their homes.

The very first story is available right now in Snapchat if you add the username ‘UNICEF.’ It features an incredibly moving first-person accounts of what life is like for these children.

Snapchat Stories is a great medium for sharing first-person experiences like this, compared with a single image as part of a campaign on a social network.

The artists the organization has partnered with give the story context and make it much more accessible.

Snapchat is a powerful tool for UNICEF to reach younger people, who might not otherwise take the time to learn the full story. The organization, which is reliant on funding from governments and private donors, is facing a severe funding shortfall, and needs new methods to reach people.

➤ 800,000 children forced to flee violence in Nigeria and region [UNICEF]

All images via UNICEF’s Snapchat account