Mariatu Gbassay Kanu, Sierra Leone

My name is Mariatu G. Kanu, a dedicated Community Health and Clinical Officer (CHO), Entrepreneur, Period Advocate, and Maternal Health Enthusiast. With a fervent commitment to innovation, I strive to develop straightforward yet life-saving solutions to address pressing issues within my community. Additionally, I empower single mothers by training them in the production of affordable and readily available sterile supplies, such as SheCures Sanitary Products, catering to women and girls in rural areas. Over the past five years, I have been dedicated to enhancing access to high-quality health and education services, leaving a lasting positive impact on my community.

SheCures is a forward-thinking hybrid enterprise committed to empowering adolescent girls and women by promoting Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) and ensuring universal access to safe and affordable menstrual products. Our innovative solutions, including meticulously designed reusable sanitary pads, aim to transform the menstruation experience into a positive and memorable one for every girl, even in underserved rural communities. By generating revenue through diversified products and services, we expand our reach and provide essential menstrual products to more communities for adolescents girls and menstruating women.

John Musila, Kenya

Musila is a graduate electrical engineer from the Technical University of Kenya and a passionate life skills, youth and governance trainer. He is also a founder of JUST-LEAD cbo, a community based organization dedicated to youth development, social justice, and community empowerment. He also coordinates a social rights movement that aims at bridging the inequality gap through advocacy and deliberate civic education. As part of his work, Musila prioritizes skills development as a tool for decent work and preventing social evils. He earned a fellowship to a youth visibility and inclusion program by the International Republican Institute in 2022.

Our project aims at empowering young people of ages between 14 and 35 with basic essential life skills, necessary skills and knowledge to be able to participate effectively in governance processes, advocate for social justice and demand action that promotes gender equality and addresses inequalities in societies.

Charlotte -Orneil Tchrabeghe, Cameroon

I am Charlotte-Orneil, a holder of Bachelor degree in English law, holder of certificate of higher education in entrepreneurship in Africa and a legal practitioner at Edanate lawyers law firm. Holder of Cameroonian nationality. I am a dynamic and results oriented person, and, a changer maker, I don't know how to give up.

My project is focus on helping rape survivors empower through the journey of healing and resilience. This project is critical to understand the unique challenges faced by the raped survivors and provide them with the necessary support and resources to help them heal and rebuild their selves or lives. This project seeks to explore the experiences of the rape survivors, identity the Barrie they encounter in seeking help and examine the interventions that can empower them to move forward from traumatic experiences

Bimasha Liyanage, Sri Lanka

I'm Bimasha Liyanage, 24 years old fresh graduate in Cyber security, who is currently a cyber engineer and IT Project Manager at EXPO Lanka - Leisure Cluster. Beyond IT my soul dances to myriad tunes. I'm a interior designer, artist, Writer and a moderator. My true passion lies in the art of the volunteering. I have volunteered with so many volunteering organizations globally and locally including AIESEC.I have done bunch of projects with my own child welfare organization which is initiated specially to give unique and long lasting solutions to the problems which we have identified within my country.

My project is a health camp with broad awareness program about common severe health problemsAs per the perspective of project. The primary goal of this project is to improve health outcomes and raise awareness among the rural population in Sri Lanka through a combination of health camp and awareness workshops. The initiative aims to address prevalent health issues, provide essential healthcare services, and empower communities with knowledge for sustainable well-being.

Komrabai Dumbaya, Sierra Leone

I am a motivated and self-driven Business Enthusiast with five years of experience in the entrepreneurship sector, specializing in business management, organizational planning, sustainable forest management, leadership development and entrepreneurship. As a founder ;CEO, I’ve developed Wanwod Development Company, to become Africa’s Most Agri-Climate Centric Company to Fulfil Four Gaps: Hunger, Green Environment, Education and Inequality. I am proud of the dedicated time; passion I have given to this initiative and I am reaping the rewards through seeing what these eco-friendly venture is doing to combat life threatening climate crisis leading to poor yields, hunger, environmental and wildlife Extinction.

Wanwod Development Company: Our vision is to become Africa's most agric-climate centric company fulfilling four gaps: Hunger, Green environment, Education and Inequality. As a way of giving back to the community and also as a gender sensitive company, Wanwod Development SL Limited has also established the Wanwod Development Organization in response to mitigating the huge lumps of glass ceilings against women, orphans and the poorest 79% in rural areas.

Lungile Fakude, South Africa

My name is Lungile Fakude from Mpumalanga, Nelspruit. I am a 25 year old driven young lady who is currently reigning as Miss Mpumalanga 2022 and working as an Occupational Therapist. I am interested in mental health and social development in the community especially within the youth. My passion is to empower those around me with skills and knowledge about who they are and how they can use that self-awareness to their advantage. I strongly believe that we should all be equal in every aspect of life for optimal quality of life.

Heal, Restore & Uplift provides the disadvantaged with equal opportunities, access and skills through the work of various stakeholders for them to thrive and improve quality of life.

Zarinah Agnew, UK

I am a neuroscientist and run two non-profits - one that builds community homes where humans can self-organise (District Commons), one that studies the emergent behaviour in these homes (Social Science Observatory). Together these projects build and explore alternative human social arrangements that serve the underserved. My work is motivated by the need for community in those most alienated from one another. Kinship cannot be bought nor provided, but have to be built slowly and over time. When people are given space to build lives together, solidarity emerges organically.

We are working to ameliorate the devastating impacts of mass incarceration by building self-determined communities and homes with formerly incarcerated individuals returning from life sentences in prison. This manifests as physical spaces, social events and outreach.Transitional housing is not a new concept. What is different about these community houses is that they are self-determined and are run by the people who inhabit them. In a deeply segregated society, these houses, which are a mix of returning lifers and non-formerly incarcerated individuals, are deeply diverse places of integration where wildly different life experiences come together around the dinner table to forge life long relationships.

Pius Seda, Malawi

I am a changemaker from Malawi. I am a student at University of Malawi majoring education and computer science. I am currently the executive director for Greenify Global, an organization I founded. I also volunteer for Love Builds Social Enterprise, an entity under Yohane Banda Foundation that aims to economically empower street-connected kids and families. I have interests in leadership, solving real world problems, writing, and environmental conservation issues.

Permaculture in schools is a project that aims to build agricultural ecosystems that are self self sufficient and sustainable. The project addresses environmental and nutritional issues

Dorcas Magai, Kenya

Dr Dorcas Magai is a clinical and developmental psychologist. She holds a PhD in Clinical and Developmental Psychopathology from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She has a keen interest in unravelling the development of psychopathology in children and adolescents to establish personal, social, and biological risk factors for these conditions. Dr Magai is the Founder of Communities Mental Wellness, a non-profit organization that aims to raise mental health awareness and provide mental health services in marginalized settings. She is passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and adolescents with mental health problems.

Although several African countries have developed legislation on mental health rights and service provisions, there is a risk of failure to implement existing rights and provision of services, partly due to a lack of awareness of mental health issues on the part of the public and some mental and public health professionals. This project aims to close this gap by raising awareness and providing mental health services in marginalized settings. The key objectives of my project are to promote mental health awareness in learning institutions and the general community, synthesize and disseminate evidence-based mental health information and promote mental health policy and advocacy. My main goal is to influence policy and legislation to decriminalize suicide and other inequalities experienced by individuals with mental illness. We aim to reduce inequalities experienced by individuals with mental illness by eliminating discriminatory laws and promoting laws decriminalizing suicide. With this, we hope to contribute to SDG 10 by ensuring that individuals in marginalized settings have equal opportunities to access information and services.

Alina Alam, India

Alina Alam

India

Alina is the founder of ‘Mitti Café' which is a chain of cafes that provides experiential training and employment to adults with physical ,intellectual and psychiatric disability. The organisation’s outreach initiative also helps create awareness about inclusion and disability rights. Mitti Cafés across India are managed by hundreds of adults with disability who have have in the last few years served over 6  million meals and beverages-thereby creating awareness about inclusion with every meal served.Their warriors with disability in this pandemic have cooked and served over 2 million meals to the poor and vulnerable communities and homeless groups,thereby proving the magic of abilities as a result of economic independence and dignity.

In the short span Alina has been featured in the Forbes list of 30 under 30 ,is a Commonwealth Youth Awardee and has won awards like the NCPEDEP Mindtree Hellen Keller Award,Times of India. She Unlimited Award ,Rotary Exemplar award ,Microsoft Nipman Award, Tiecon Young female Entrepreneur of the Year Award, amongst others.

Christina Escobar, Colombia

Christina Escobar

Colombia

I’m Cristina Escobar, I’m Colombian and I’m based in Bogota, Colombia. I studied law in los Andes University and Social Policy and Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I´m the cofounder of Rolitas. Rolitas is a community of thought that revolves around the kitchen. It seeks to generate positive social impact through collaborative projects that raise awareness on the importance and impact of cooking and food on the well-being of individuals, families, and societies. WE have three lines of action: we cook, we talk about different political and social subjects through the kitchen, and we co-create kitchen objects with artists, artisans, and thinkers. 

Lawrence Dieto, Kenya

Lawrence Dieto

Kenya

I co- founded a community-based organization in 2011. I was brought up in a humble background; I remember walking to school barefooted. I studied hard and earned a scholarship. After completing my studies, I chose community service. I have been working here full time with the help of volunteers. Am the Project Director; I have helped my organization successfully support thousands of slum children access basic education; youth and women gain vocational skills and entrepreneurship. I don’t earn a lot of money, but am really contented and complete.

In 2020 January, we started digital literacy program that equips school going children, youth and women with computer skills. They are also taught topics on human rights, youth radicalization and violent extremism to mention a few. This project will end in 2023. We also launched Boys Mentorship program, August 2021. We run these programs concurrently.

Nirali Shah, India

Nirali Shah

India

Nirali is a result-oriented professional with a passion for leveraging technology to address grassroots issues. She belongs to India, where she has pursued her Masters in Software Engineering and Business Administration.  She has five years of extensive experience in software quality assurance and as a CSR volunteer. She currently heads the ICT team at BAIF Development Research Foundation and works on spreading digital literacy in the rural areas, creating digital livelihoods, enhancing education through use of digital medium and using new and advanced digital technologies in agriculture & livestock to improve the crop and milk productivity.

The idea behind these interventions is upgrading rural quality of life, reduce inefficiencies and bridge urban rural divide.

Nirali has also volunteered with NGOs working with children, youth and senior citizens in her attempt to give back to society. In her spare time, Nirali loves to read books and spend time with stray animals.