World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child

The WCP program was founded in 2000 and is run by the World's Children's Prize Foundation (WCPF), based in Mariefred, Sweden. The WCPF is a non-profit organisation, independent of all political and religious affiliation, and run with support from bodies including the Swedish Postcode Lottery and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers help to implement the WCP program, including over 778 organisations, institutions and departments of education.

Every year, the WCP program begins with the selection of three Child Rights Heroes as candidates for the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child. Their stories, and the stories of the children they fight for, are presented online and in The Globe magazine, along with facts about the rights of the child and democracy. The World's Children's Prize is open to all schools and humanitarian organizations. It is supported by more than 778 organizations as well as institutions, departments of education etc. Many of them implement the program in collaboration with 40,000 – 50,000 teachers. Through the World's Children's Prize, hundreds of millions of people are presented with information on the World's Children's Prize program and accounts of rights violations facing children around the world each year.

The program concludes with a Global Vote in which children may participate until (and including) the year they turn 18. Students organise their own Global Vote Days and vote for their Child Rights Heroes. The nominee who receives the most votes is awarded the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC) while the other two nominees receive the World's Children's Honorary Award. By the time the prizes are awarded, several million children have learned about the rights of the child and democracy, with the support of around a hundred thousand involved teachers. The WCP program ends with the children voting for their Child Rights Hero in a Global Vote. The (record) number of voting children is 7.1 million.