UN SDG Action Campaign

“我的世界”调查| 数据告诉你大家到底关心什么! Youthink China Survey Data Shows What People Really Care About

By Evonne Tang, Youthink Center
(English Translation by Alice Chen, UN Millennium Campaign)

Initiated by the United Nations, the “MY World” survey has been going on for over a month’s time in China through the outreach of Youthink Center and many other partners. So far, we have not only assembled a large team of volunteers, but also encouraged more regions in China to participate, improving the “MY World” survey’s overall participation.

Volunteers come from all over the world, including the 27 provinces and four municipalities, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, and the U.S. and the U.K., most of which are volunteers from Beijing.

: This map of China shows the top 10 regions/areas with the largest number of volunteers collecting the survey — This map of China shows the top 10 regions/areas with the largest number of MY World volunteers collecting the survey

“My World” survey data is also very interesting. Look at the overall survey ranking: Globally, “MY World” has over 7.26 million responses; Mexico so far has the greatest number of responses, totaling more than 1.58 million votes (1.5% of the total population).

China (as of March 20) has a voter turnout of nearly 80,000 people, putting China at the 8^th spot in terms of country votes. However, because of China’s huge population base, this figure could become even greater. Through our efforts, if we can get more people to participate in activities, China will become a force to be reckoned with in the MY World survey.

Country rankings based on number of MY World votes

Looking at the global data, the highest priority is “A better education.” However, the top Chinese vote is for “Better roads and traffic.” (Perhaps this is because of the hordes of people who are squeezed tightly on the subway, or because the roads are often blocked, so this vote might reflect voters in China are not very satisfied with the current state of traffic and transportation, which can improve). Continue reading ““我的世界”调查| 数据告诉你大家到底关心什么! Youthink China Survey Data Shows What People Really Care About”

Volunteers in China Collect Over 70,000 Votes in 2 Weeks!

By Evonne Tang from Youthink Center

The Chinese youth-led organization YouThink has taken on an amazing initiative to collect MY World votes and their results have been astounding: in 2 weeks more than 3,000 volunteers in China have collected over 70,000 votes—with more offline votes yet to be counted! One volunteer, Cheng Yachan, was able to collect an astounding 1,739 votes—the highest number of votes collected by an individual!

These votes have been collected not only from mainland of China, but also from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The top three provinces with the greatest number of volunteers were Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai. Additionally, Chinese students who are studying abroad, in countries like the United States, Britain, and France also have helped to collect survey results.

Reaching Everyone

How are volunteers getting the world out? Some volunteers have utilized social networks, messaging apps, and student unions/clubs. In order to help spread ideas and promote this kind of creative collaboration, YouThink set up several chats on QQ (an instant messaging app) that the volunteers can communicate across.

One adventurous volunteer went offline to make sure that everyone’s voices are heard. This volunteer from Yunnan province in China traveled deep into the mountains in order to collect the voices of minority ethnic groups in remote areas. Because a number of these villagers were illiterate, the volunteer had to read out all of the options and explain them to everyone. By collecting these voices, volunteers like this one are helping to ensure that the survey truly reflects the people’ ‘voices. According to the volunteer, “I may not able to drive the survey forward as quickly as I would have if I had done it online, but this should be the idea of the MY Word Survey: each individual should have their voice heard.”

In order to promote and reward this kind of passion and drive, YouThink will have awards for some of their most devoted volunteers. Winners will not necessarily be judged on how many votes they collected, but how they embodied the spirit of the MY World survey. YouThink is calling on their volunteers to send in their stories, videos and pictures, telling us how they feel and what they think about the MY World Survey.

China Results

It’s interesting that in China, their number one priority is “Better transport and roads,” and second is “Support for people who can’t work,” which is very different from the global priority. “Climate change” and” Access to clean water and sanitation” are also high up (Top 5), much higher compared to global priorities.

Background data available from www.myworld2015.cn

Launch of localized MY World Website in China

Blog by Evonne Tang, Youthink Center China

On November 1st, MY World China’s newly improved website, www.myworld2015.cn, was unveiled during the World Youth Forum 2014 annual meeting, organized by MY World Partner, Youthink Center. The localized Chinese website was created in collaboration with Youthink, the UN Millennium Campaign and UNDP.

MY World is a global survey for citizens led by the United Nations and MY World partners. It aims to capture people’s voices, priorities, and views, so that global leaders can be informed as they begin the process of defining the new development agenda for the world.

Continue reading “Launch of localized MY World Website in China”