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$ 1 : 16
For every $1 of value invested, One Young World Ambassadors deliver $16 of social value, based on a Social Return on Investment analysis of 42 Ambassador-led initiatives addressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2022
SDG Impact Tracker
Interested in supporting impactful initiatives led by young leaders? Search this database of over 350 projects from the One Young World Community to find out more.
Building Blocks Entrepreneurship Academy
Building Blocks Entrepreneurship Academy - South Africa
Nozipho Mpanza
Ambassador-led Initiative
25
SROI
South Africa is experiencing an unemployment crisis that is disproportionately impacting young people, with rates reaching as high as 66.5% for people aged between 15-24 years. This issue will have long-term consequences on the economic future of the country. Nozipho has been committed to tackling this challenge since 2015, when she began to help young people prepare their CVs to access the job market. However, she soon realised that intervention was not enough, and in 2018 she went to the roots of the issue by providing better quality education to give young people a platform from which to launch their careers.
The Academy, co-founded by Nozipho, aims to build the skill-set of its students so that they can better succeed in the current economic climate of South Africa. The organisation ran its first 5 day bootcamp in 2019, involving special guest speakers, interactive content, and ending with a market-day where students could present their designed enterprises to a selection of businesses. Since the pandemic, the organisation moved bootcamps online, shortening the days slightly from 8 hours to 4.5 but maintaining the same quality of content. The Academy also hosts an interactive e-learning platform after noticing interest from parents in a more adult-focused programme. This covers similar ideas, with modules exploring emotional intelligence, conflict management skills, negotiation skills and problem-solving abilities. The project's core team also makes itself readily available for one-on-one sessions for young people interested in entrepreneurship and career development. Between the various different programmes, more than 4,000 people have received this comprehensive education to prepare them for the world of work and an entrepreneurial career.
The Academy uses business funding to sponsor students from low-income backgrounds, ensuring that there is a diverse demographic of students in the alumni network and guaranteeing the education is accessible. The team continues to support the most engaged students through this alumni network. In addition to its core programmes, Building Blocks has also visited schools in Hong Kong and Rwanda to explore similar programmes and provide training on diversity issues.
“The One Young World network has assisted Building Blocks in its endeavour to reach communities across the world through bridging connections between Building Blocks and its global partners. On multiple occasions, Building Blocks has collaborated with ambassadors of One Young World to deliver our workshops and training.”
Moja
Menstrual health is a taboo topic in much of the world. For example, nearly half of girls in the UK aged between 14-21 are embarrassed about their period. In Tanzania, more than 80% of girls fear being teased about menstruation, especially by boys. That has vast health, social and educational consequences. When menstrual health education is inadequate and access to menstrual products is limited, risk of disease and infection climbs. In addition, the average menstruating student misses three to four classes during each cycle.
A social entrepreneur, Elissa, co-founded Moja in 2019 to address the issue. It is an underwear company that aims to use business as a force for social good. Moja creates underwear for men and women and uses part of the margin to reduce health inequalities in developing regions. People with a distance to the labour force in Tanzania receive education on sewing and entrepreneurship. They produce underwear and reusable menstrual pads which are distributed in schools alongside health and menstrual health education. Moreover, 5 local entrepreneurs have received the skills and training to supply these products and run their own small enterprises, producing 5,800 sanitary products to date. Children in the region, both boys and girls, have also been taught about relationships, hygiene, and menstrual health, with 2,200 students in local schools educated on menstrual hygiene.
Moja strives for transparency and sustainability in its underwear production. The underwear sold on its webshop is produced ethically in Portugal, with an OEKO-Tex Standard100 Certification. The Moja team has established a local team in Tanzania, running entrepreneurship programmes in two sewing locations and building a framework for education workshops.
“I was always passionate about social entrepreneurship, but One Young World opened my eyes to the depth and breadth of impact that was possible. The network continues to challenge and inspire me to be more thoughtful and compassionate in my leadership.”
United Youth Leaders of Barbados
United Youth Leaders of Barbados - Barbados
Christa Soleyn
Ambassador-led Initiative
7
SROI
Christa founded the United Youth Leaders of Barbados (UYLB) because young people can change their communities for the better, but often lack the necessary skills to implement their ideas. Barbados has struggled with the issue of youth unemployment, with the current figure standing at 29% in light of the pandemic. Christa started the project 15 years ago but has since established a structure to ensure that young adults continue to run the UYLB, with the older cohort including herself acting in a more supervisory role.
Attending the 2019 One Young World Summit in London helped Christa step out of her comfort zone. As a solution-driven person, being part of the One Young World Community has allowed Christa to see herself as part of a bigger change, and her work has expanded beyond the immediate circle of the UYLB. She sits on the board of an industrial school for young offenders, helping to implement institutional changes from a young person's perspective, and has collaborated with other One Young World Ambassadors. Many of the UYLB’s webinars focus on mental health, integrating Christa’s psychology background, while the initiative also focuses on providing young people with practical entrepreneurial skills.
The UYLB organises an annual retreat, with 202 participants attending since 2016. The retreat always includes a project which generates real impact, and many participants go on to start their own organisations and work in the community after leaving the UYLB. Christa’s goal has been to turn young people into engaged citizens and the UYLB has organised workshops on a range of topics related to this, including C.V. writing, volunteering, and civic engagement.
"After the One Young World Summit I stayed in contact with other Ambassadors from the region. But I also gained knowledge and heard the stories and found new ways of doing things. Before One Young World, I would have stayed in my lane, now I see myself as part of a bigger change"
Voicing Voices
Voicing Voices - United Kingdom
Ayan Said
Ambassador-led Initiative
9
SROI
Ayan worked as a teacher before founding Voicing Voices in the aftermath of the pandemic. The UK’s gender furlough gap, in which 133,000 more women were furloughed than men [1], exacerbated the challenges already faced by women from vulnerable communities across the country. While in Qatar, Ayan became active in mobilising young people for social justice through education and she has maintained this drive ever since.
Ayan attended the 2019 One Young World Summit in London and was immediately consumed with the atmosphere present throughout the event. She felt that the work she had been trying to do by herself was validated through her membership in a community of like-minded young people. Through One Young World, Ayan received mentorship which proved to be useful both in terms of practical advice and realising her potential. Since then, Voicing Voices has grown to address gender inequalities in marginalised communities with an emphasis on intersectional factors. Ayan has designed and delivered workshops to international audiences in Qatar, collaborating with the Qatar Foundation on multiple campaigns raising awareness for International Women’s Day. This includes supporting masters students at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in designing courses on how parents can support SDG 5, and providing leadership training to young people for THIMUN Qatar. She has also delivered workshops to UN Women UK and Solace Women’s Aid, focusing on the challenges faced by women in both personal and professional settings.
Ayan is committed to purpose-driven networks and communities like Wading Herons, an organisation of former corporate professionals interested in social entrepreneurship, and maintains an active role in the One Young World Community. She has directly delivered workshops, seminars, and talks to over 464 people and has written for publications such as Doha News, while also partnering with the Qatar Medical Students Association for a period of five years.
"At the Summit I was engulfed, consumed, with the atmosphere. It felt that all the work I was trying to do on my own had been validated. It made me realise I wasn't alone"
ASENTI Africa
The African Summit on Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ASENTI) was directly inspired by the 2011 One Young World Summit in Zurich. Upon arriving back in Kenya, Calvin immediately set out to influence entrepreneurial spaces in Africa. The continent reportedly has the highest percentage of entrepreneurs among working-age adults in the world, and this presents an opportunity to expand incubation programmes for budding entrepreneurs there. ASENTI has successfully accelerated entrepreneurship throughout Africa by helping young businesses reach the next stage of scalability and providing them with networking opportunities.
Calvin received similar opportunities at the 2011 One Young World Summit, connecting with young people who were generating impact in their own communities. He has since stayed in touch with most of the people he met through One Young World, and utilised the inspiration he found there to begin his work with ASENTI while maintaining a community upon which he could rely. ASENTI has developed strong partnerships with other organisations interested in African entrepreneurship, including UNFPA, UNIDO, and Oracle. Currently, the organisation has several different initiatives, including an agritech mentorship programme, the main summit in Kenya as well as several smaller, virtual summits regionally where more specific challenges can be addressed. Calvin frequently contributes to start-up discussions in his own country.
At the ASENTI summit, 10 start-ups are selected out of 100 applicants to pitch their business idea and model to an audience of successful entrepreneurs. So far more than 2,500 people have attended an ASENTI summit, while 2,000 people have undergone incubation and mentorship through ASENTI initiatives from 30 African countries. A further 1,000 have been impacted through ASENTI’s work with partner organisations. ASENTI Africa focuses on sustainable energy, fintech, agribusiness, health innovation, and technology, through which it hopes to empower and influence the continent’s entrepreneurial spaces.
"I have become more confident as a leader and I derive that from One Young World. The kind of platform it gives you exposes you to people you only see through media or hear about, and that gives you confidence"
Foundation For Girls
Foundation For Girls - United States
Shreya Mantha
Ambassador-led Initiative
20
SROI
Shreya co-founded Foundation For Girls (FFG) with her sister in 2014. Encouraged by her parents to find a way to give back to their community, Shreya discovered that Charlotte, North Carolina, suffered from a serious lack of community resources for young women and single mothers despite being the second largest banking hub in the US. The same year FFG was founded, Charlotte was ranked last for economic mobility out of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country. FFG seeks to address this problem by helping vulnerable young women develop the knowledge and skills they need to begin a process of multi-generational change.
Shreya found the 2019 One Young World Summit in London to be one of the most impactful experiences of her life, and the One Young World Community has become a useful sounding board for her work irrespective of the direction it takes. FFG has developed a strong network of coaches, consisting of young women executives who are committed to investing in the programme long-term. As a partner-based organisation, FFG does not have a physical site of its own but has grown rapidly through word of mouth and now has a presence in 9 US states.
Since its founding, FFG has worked directly with 2,500 mothers and 466 children. Its work focuses on holistic economic empowerment, giving these women the knowledge and behavioural patterns they need to make the best decisions possible for themselves and their dependents. FFG’s 4-pillar programming in Financial Well-Being, Career Journey, Digitally Forward, and Circle of Care equips women with the resources they need on their journey to economic mobility. In 2021 alone, FFG invested in 207 women and 99 children via 3,510 coaching hours, 6,903 care hours, and 12,702 care packs. Through knowledge transmission, FFG builds economic resilience in communities across the US.
"The diversity of thought and leadership and how people approach situations was a huge learning for me at One Young World. It’s always in the back of my mind that One Young World is there as a resource and as a Community, and it's really comforting to know we have support like that."
SocialBoost
In 2021, Ukraine ranked as the second most corrupt country in Europe according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. To help turn the tide and develop Ukraine’s technological infrastructure, Viktor co-founded SocialBoost. The NGO produced its own IT products including digital platforms, as well as a start-up incubation programme and an investor school to aid the growth of local businesses.
Viktor attended the One Young World Summit in 2017 in Bogotá. Despite being older than most other delegates he still found the experience extremely fruitful, both in terms of its motivational value and the networks and connections he developed with delegates while there. Viktor has a vision of a digital society in Ukraine, and he tries to maintain the connections he formed with the One Young World Community as a source of constant inspiration for him. SocialBoost grew by over 200% after the Summit, despite the constraints that come with operating in a difficult political climate.
SocialBoost’s digital platform is used by up to a million people. It can be used to plan municipal budgets, taking into account the priorities and preferences of local residents. This participatory element has been adopted by over a hundred cities in Ukraine, ensuring transparency at every stage of the budgeting process. SocialBoost has also developed a community of over 50 mentors and 5 key experts to help local start-ups, with 150 companies graduating from the accelerator programme since 2016. The mentors are responsible for the start-up’s development, providing consultations and matchmaking the companies with their own extensive networks.
[Information accurate as of interview, 11/01/2022]
“The Summit was a huge motivation boost, and I still have some connections that I maintain from it. One Young World is a huge community all in one place, and looking at these people generating impact even after the Summit is very inspiring”
Tiwale
Tiwale began as a summer project in 2012 when Chmba became concerned that women in Malawi were not receiving the opportunities they deserve. Social pressure and government fees mean that very few women in the country attend secondary education, with only 13% of girls completing upper secondary school, a rate that falls to 2% amongst the most disadvantaged children. Chmba witnessed this reality in her own community and developed a strategy to keep girls in school by helping them learn how to supplement their income.
Chmba recalls being blown away by the 2017 One Young World Summit in Bogotá, seeing large-scale successful projects and initiatives led by young people, some of which had managed to partner with prestigious international organisations. This encouraged Chmba to continue working on Tiwale. She made close friendships and has used the One Young World Community as a resource to further her collaborations with other young people. Tiwale has become a safe space for vulnerable young women, girls, and non-binary people. It offers its members two routes, an education pathway and an entrepreneurial programme directed at older participants. Tiwale hosts educational workshops and has increasingly focused on digital literacy.
The organisation has 413 registered members, and a scholarship system to help high-achieving young women continue their studies. The vocational training offered has led to collaborations with the Swiss Embassy and the Ministry of Health, producing 33,000 masks at the height of the pandemic. Through workshops and seminars across the world, Chmba has reached over 26,000 young people while partnering with universities. On the ground in Malawi, Tiwale is active in assisting women affected by rural to urban migration while also operating sites within the city for young women and the LGBT community.
“One Young World has been a resource in terms of my access to fellow young people. It’s definitely on my resume, when people ask about my experience of being around young people from different spaces it is something I refer to”
TeachSurfing
TeachSurfing - Germany
Miganoush Magarian, Gretta Hohl
Ambassador-led Initiative
5
SROI
TeachSurfing is a social enterprise with its roots in One Young World's 2012 Summit in Pittsburgh. Miganoush and Gretta, wanted to share the experience they had gained as young professionals. Encouraged that the same sentiment was shared by other young leaders, the pair of Ambassadors turned their idea into an organisation shortly after returning to the Summit as speakers in 2015.
The aim of the platform is to connect this supply of expertise with non-profits and educational institutions around the world. Young "TeachSurfers", on travelling to new countries, offer workshops for schools, organisations, or communities that have relevant learning demands. This initial mission was adapted to increase the programmes’ impact on marginalised individuals who had recently migrated to or sought asylum in a new country. In 2019, TeachSurfing ran a project, TSRP, coaching migrants and refugees in Germany on how to share their knowledge with local communities via workshops. This was the outcome of their successful application to the Google.org impact challenge.
Before the pandemic, a key element involved bringing together two cultures into one room, to promote integration. In order to maintain this aspect of the programme during COVID-19 enforced lockdowns, TeachSurfing started the series "Stay Home Share Knowledge", whereby a diverse group of speakers shared cultural insights virtually. The latest initiative is a dedicated university accredited online learning programme for refugees and migrants, organised with the assistance of Erasmus+, to develop their capacity as educators. This developed into the Volunteer Educators E-Learning Programme (eVELP) for young migrants and refugees based in Cyprus, Italy, Germany, and Romania. Between the general platform and these refugee-support programmes, TeachSurfing has built a wide-reaching network of 3,387 educators to date, representing more than 273 different organisations in 135 countries.
In addition to the core programmes, TeachSurfing is a software provider with a team of IT experts. It develops and provides community platforms with matchmaking functionalities to other organisations, such as the Menstrual Health Hub, Stattkapital and e-online Lernplattform of Social Impact gGmbH.
“We have a special relationship with One Young World because TeachSurfing was born there. Since then we have been in close contact with One Young World. Every time we have new knowledge-sharing events or collaboration opportunities we share them with the One Young World team. It comes from the trust we have with One Young World “
Fundación BoaPaz
Despite having a good reputation for socioeconomic indicators such as health and education relative to the rest of Central America, Costa Rica has a significant inequality issue that continues to rise. Jazmin grew up in a low-income family, where she witnessed her mother experience discrimination and a lack of opportunities afforded to men in the community. With her co-founder José, who is himself hearing impaired, Jazmin has dedicated her time alongside her studies to help marginalised communities, primarily women and people with disabilities, pursue careers in social enterprise and by advocating for their rights.
Together they lead Fundación BoaPaz to promote inclusion through education, entrepreneurship, innovation, and human rights for the aforementioned groups. This takes the form of two main areas of action: education and advocacy. The foundation collaborates with local and national organisations to run programmes and activities that equip members of marginalised communities to become social entrepreneurs, empowering them to support themselves and overcome discrimination. Long-form programmes take place over 6 months, including an average of 3 hours of training per week, helping participants develop into promising new entrepreneurs. They also run shorter, one-off workshops which have helped an estimated 2,000 people, including around 40% people with disabilities, and around 60% disadvantaged women in the same field. After attending the One Young World Summit as a Chanel scholar, Jazmin realised the need to provide digital literacy education to the communities supported by the foundation. Most education and training in this field is normally inaccessible to such communities as it requires strong English language skills.
This work accompanies more policy-based initiatives, such as Bill #22.206, whereby Jazmin is advocating for the creation of a National Digital Literacy Program (PNAD). The bill aims to guarantee universal access, universal service, telecommunications solidarity, reduction of the digital divide, as well as digital literacy. Additionally, Jazmin provides private sector consultancy on these issues, which also generates revenue that is reinvested into the non-profit initiatives.
“One Young World opened my eyes to opportunities in the private sector, for organisations like us. They have technical abilities, and connections in your countries, that you gain access to through One Young World. It is a real community. You feel like you are part of a family. You are connected to people with the same problems as you, and the same ambitions.”
Eswatini Sexual & Gender Minorities
Eswatini Sexual & Gender Minorities - Swaziland
Melusi Simelane
Ambassador-led Initiative
20
SROI
Melusi had been working in LGBT spaces in Eswatini for a while, but he found that the question of LGBT rights was only ever framed through the lens of HIV intervention rather than through a more holistic approach. He founded Eswatini Sexual & Gender Minorities (ESGM) to shift the conversation away from an entirely sexualised framework. Same-sex intimacy remains illegal in the country, making a broader conversation around LGBT acceptance difficult. Eswatini is the first country in Africa to reach 95-95-95 status so that 95% of people living with HIV know their status, are receiving treatment, and have a suppressed viral load. With these achievements in mind, Melusi has been determined to broaden the conversation despite immense systemic challenges, bringing a case before the High Court arguing that the LGBT community have been being denied their right to free association.
The 2019 One Young World Summit introduced Melusi to a huge network. He found it fascinating that One Young World puts young people centre-stage, with young people coming up with ideas and taking on leadership roles. He spoke about the impact of poverty on the LGBT community, which opened a space for dialogue in Eswatini and connected him with global partners. As a membership-based organisation, ESGM focuses on policy, as well as advocacy and mobilisation at a community level.
With over 300 active members, ESGM has organised community visits and sensitivity training, reaching a wider audience through workshops and hybrid training. The conversation around LGBT rights has steadily progressed over the last few years. ESGM has worked on human rights, domestic violence, and with community caregivers on LGBT inclusion. During the pandemic, it also distributed 150 food parcels and 1,000 sanitary towels. Melusi has since stepped back from his role, with a young queer woman becoming executive director of the organisation.
“What I found fascinating about One Young World was that it was the young people in charge of everything and it was the young people coming up with ideas. The final word was young people talking about what needs to change”
IMARA Comoros
Haïna left Comoros for Madagascar when she was 17 to attend university, as tertiary education remains underdeveloped in her native Comoros. She returned to discover that little had changed on the islands in terms of educational attainment and the dominance of traditional gender roles. Comorian girls have higher repeater and dropout rates in primary and secondary school than their male peers [1]. Frustrated by this persistent lack of opportunities in the country, Haïna began supporting local children through educational games before founding IMARA Comoros with a like-minded colleague in 2015.
The 2015 One Young World Summit in Bangkok was Haïna’s first exposure to people from all over the world. Discovering so many people who cared about the issues she cared about proved to be a profound moment and a constant source of inspiration for her. She realised that being fully transparent with her students at IMARA was the best way to change the culture of a corrupt society. Her goal is to help create a generation of young Comorians who not only dream big but who are capable of action, by showing them what action looks like and giving them the tools to achieve it. Haïna incorporates aspects of traditional Comorian learning into the curriculum so that parents can participate in their children’s education. This inclusivity has helped IMARA gain wide acceptance in a conservative society.
IMARA has organised fairs and workshops on STEM subjects and robotics with help from consultants in the US, and its pioneering curriculum is the first of its kind in the country. It was also the first organisation on the islands to introduce the production and use of reusable sanitary pads. This initiative has been such a success that international organisations have received training from IMARA-educated children on the issue.
"If I had to summarise my experience with the One Young World Summit, that’s when the world was brought to me and that’s when I realised I wasn’t an island. Three years later I was selected for a leadership academy thanks to One Young World, which was also a life-altering experience for me"
Change 1's Life
Angola has markedly lower rates of electrification and literacy than many of its neighbours in Southern Africa, with less than 40% of its population currently able to access electricity and its youth literacy rate falling behind in recent years. Through Change 1’s Life, Edmilson has stepped in to help solve these almost overwhelming problems and the many gaps in the country’s infrastructure.
Edmilson attended the One Young World Summit at the Hague in 2018. He found it to be a deeply motivating experience, broadening his horizons and giving him a platform to develop the network necessary to build his projects. Change 1’s Life began with a series of smaller initiatives, including education in rural areas and distributing alternative light sources to discourage kerosene usage. These early projects gave Edmilson and his team the community exposure, momentum, and data they needed to begin their main initiative: the transformation of rural communities through the creation of digital, ecological villages. His objective is to provide rural communities with the digital infrastructure they need to accelerate their educational attainment while also protecting the environment.
To these ends, Edmilson and his team have organised the transportation of 20 forty-foot long containers with the help of international donors. They have successfully installed the first medical centre in the village, providing regular checks and ambulances for local communities and increasing the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in the area. Change 1’s Life also installed a solar-powered mobile food bank and a handwashing station during the pandemic. The mobile food bank allowed for a degree of sociability but the project was also predicated upon encouraging street cleanliness and recycling by users. Construction is underway on other aspects of the village, with the first playground for local children having recently been built.
"I feel like a representative of the One Young World Community. I think the Summit really broadened my horizons, in terms of how much I can do and how much I can have access to if I continue to do it the right way."
Florence Energy
Whilst still an intern, Aushim visited a landfill site in 2009. He was appalled to see a mountain of waste being climbed by children who dangerously scavenged anything of value to sell to be able to feed themselves for the day. This sparked an idea within Aushim for a waste-to-energy solution that could solve the issue in front of him, as well as the issue of energy access that continues to hinder development in South and South-East Asia.
Aushim, whilst studying at the University of Adelaide, started Florence Energy (2010) to establish a decentralised waste management system that produces fuel from plastic wastes in landfill sites. The systems are installed at landfill sites to convert waste to petroleum with zero emissions. The organic component is converted to compost which is given to farmers to reduce their dependence on fertilisers. The technology was optimised in collaboration with MK Aromatics Limited and the University of Adelaide. The company works with government-run landfill sites and directly with packaging companies to source the materials. It directs this waste to large facilities in Chennai and Goa, where their technology is used to safely and sustainably process plastic waste into crude oil. To date, the company has managed to transform 27,000 tonnes of plastic waste into 21+ million litres of petroleum.
In addition to the environmental benefit of creating a circular economy, Aushim is also focused on improving the labour market in the waste management sector. In the industry, labour is traditionally informal, but Aushim ensures that all staff are set up with a bank account into which they receive their salaries directly; and assistance is provided for labour to acquire their government-issued identity cards to access the benefits they are entitled to. This financial inclusion unlocks greater opportunities for development as individuals and participants in the economy.
Florence Energy is seeking strategic partners to assist with the listing of the company on Sustainable Market Indices to leverage the carbon credit savings being generated from its business.
“Florence Energy is advancing human security at pace and at scale, and the clarity with which the company continues to grow can be attributed to the life-changing opportunity of the prestigious One Young World Summit. The world we live in is like a ship and we, as a generation, carry the greatest shared responsibility to serve and protect this ship of humanity for ourselves and the generations to come.”
Barranquilla+20
Founded by Xiomara Acevedo in 2012, Fundación Barranquilla+20 is an educational initiative promoting climate awareness and action to children and young people. Colombia is a country suffering from reduced freshwater, land instability and increasing sea levels, making it highly at risk of future climate disaster. Barranquilla+20 began as a decentralised movement of young people campaigning for climate action, water and biodiversity protection and conservation, before formally becoming an NGO in 2018.
Xiomara has worked with One Young World extensively since first attending the Summit in 2017. She feels that having the support that One Young World can offer is important when working in difficult environments, insofar as it demonstrates that young leaders are not alone and that they can be part of powerful conversations. Barranquilla+20 has gone from strength to strength, organising projects alongside prestigious partners like the Gates Foundation to highlight the importance of gender in climate justice and strengthen the capacity of young women leaders in the climate space. Other projects include Guardians of Bocas de Cenizas, where Barranquilla+20 trains and supports local communities to protect biodiversity in a critical region, and Youth for Climate Emergency, a course and campaign for activists and citizens on climate change management. It has also organised climate marches involving 10,000 people.
Barranquilla+20 has worked to transform school infrastructure in an environmentally sustainable direction, creating a circular model of education which integrates water solutions, energy efficiency, climate curriculum, food waste, and community. The project, known as Low Carbon Schools, has also expanded its reach, working with partners in Paraguay and Bolivia and with hopes to extend their work across Latin America. Xiomara believes in downscaling the conversation around climate change in order to make it more approachable, so that local communities with deep territorial knowledge and climate memory across generations can contribute to the solutions the world needs.
"One Young World has helped me a lot with leadership because it is a Community of leaders, and this shows me that I am in the right community. It is a Community of doers, and One Young World fuels me.”
How to use to the SDG Tracker
Search for projects by the following case study categories:
- Ambassador-led Initiatives: qualitative and quantitative analysis of the social impact of projects which are led by young leaders in the Community.
- Business for Social Good: written case studies for initiatives ran by corporate partner organisations, led by young Ambassadors/employees.
- Leadership Stories: short biographies of Ambassadors who are growing into influential leaders for social good in some of the world’s largest companies.
- Covid Young Leaders Fund: detailed case studies of grant recipients from One Young World's 2020 funding opportunity for projects tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Lead2030: detailed case studies of the Lead2030 award winners and how their projects have generated impact from participating in the programme.