"I think children can solve almost any problem, or, at least, they can push adults to solve it." These words from a Russian teenager express the spirit of The World We Want, a documentary about Project Citizen, an international educational project in which teens identify problems in their communities and work toward a solution.

The film shows us eight of the hundreds of Project Citizen undertakings throughout the world. We see middle- and high-school students from The U.S., Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, Russia, Jordan, Columbia, Indonesia, and Senegal. Some are from huge cities (such as New Delhi, India, with a population of 123,000,000); others come from villages (such as Ross Bethio, Senegal, home to 5,300). Their lives and the problems faced by their communities are very different, but they all have enthusiasm and the belief that they can bring change and are making the world a better place.

It's interesting that in the presidential election just finished that so much effort was spent on trying to establish who would be the change agent. Senator McCain touted himself as a maverick; Senator Obama's signs read "Change we can believe in." People are tiring of the way things have been. And many (probably most) are cynical enough to doubt that either candidate can really change the way things are done in Washington. Maybe the Obama signs should read "Change we want to believe in."

This film proclaims that change is indeed possible, but doesn't look for change to happen from the top down, but to begin with what we may see as "the least of these." Children have very little power. They can't vote. They don't hold office. People often don't even take their ideas seriously. But the program of Project Citizen is designed to help them find their voice and their power. Can they really bring change?

The issues we see these teens dealing with include school nutrition (U.S.), school violence (Jordan), clean drinking water (Senegal), and more. The group from New Delhi wanted to have the various memorials in the area kept clean and honorable. This led them to deal with issues of poverty and governmental budgets and bureaucracies.

My favorite comes from the teens in Samara, Russia. They noted that their city was plagued with casinos with no regulation. Children spent lots of time and money playing slot machines. Gambling addiction was a serious problem. They made an issue about this in their city and region. Soon people across Russia became concerned with the problem of gambling. Eventually, President Putin began to close down gambling and it will be limited to four cities in Russia. The solutions began with the problem these teens chose to do something about.

Project Citizen is active in all fifty states and in sixty-five countries. Think of all the stories there must be of the change that can come about because children set their minds to solving serious problems. (It should be noted that director Patrick Davidson would like to develop a TV series built around Project Citizen.)

An American student says, "We can't just let the adults say, 'This is the world we're giving you.' We have to step up and say, 'This is the world we're going to make for ourselves.'" A young woman from Columbia said, "I think young people can change the world. By making the world a better place, we can create the world we want."

For those of us who want change, perhaps we shouldn't just look to those who would be our leaders. They certainly can be important in bringing change to the world. But in reality, I think we need to look at these children who have done great things. Then we should ask ourselves what they have that we don't. We too can be agents of change just like the teens we see in this film.