People constantly talk about problems to do with work.

But one of the worst problems associated with work is one we hear very little about.

According to the UN, right now there are over 215 million children in work.

It’s a reality we don’t have to travel far to see, but it’s one we prefer to ignore.

How could we help these children assert their right not to work and to be heard?

We needed to get people to start talking about child labor.

We discovered that LinkedIn has no age limit for registration. In other words, any child can register as a professional without anybody realising. So, on the LinkedIn network, we created TheChildrenNotwork, a campaign to raise awareness that child labor goes unnoticed by people at large.

We created profiles of companies from all over the world, including textile, coffee, etc. Next we created tens of fictitious profiles of children who supposedly worked in those companies. Children began sending direct communications to hundreds of other network users, inviting them to enter athechildrennotwork.org, with detailed information on child labor.

The initiative soon became a topic of conversation on social networking sites, newspapers, and online magazines. Thousands of people shared the campaign on their walls, on Twitter and on blogs in different languages.

International organisations joined up, and the world’s media disseminated the news.

We managed to do a massive campaign, aimed at specific audiences, without spending money. Our only investment, was the time of the volunteers of the foundation.

We discovered that LinkedIn has no age limit for registration. In other words, any child can register as a professional without anybody realising. So, on the LinkedIn network, we created TheChildrenNotwork, a campaign to raise awareness that child labour goes unnoticed by people at large. We created profiles of companies from all over the world, including textile, coffee, toy. etc. Next we created tens of fictitious profiles of children who supposedly worked in those companies. Children began sending direct communications to hundreds of other network users, inviting them to enter athechildrennotwork.org, with detailed information on child labor.

Professionals, executives, entrepreneurs and opinion leaders from around the world were contacted in Linkedin. The initiative soon became a topic of conversation on social networking sites. Thousands of people shared the campaign on their walls, on Twitter and on blogs in different languages.

International organisations and bodies joined up, and the world’s media disseminated the news.

We managed to do a massive campaign, aimed at specific audiences, without spending money. Our only investment, was the time of the volunteers of the foundation.