One Young World Ambassadors are leading projects in every country of the world, creating substantial social impact across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Every month our Coordinating Ambassadors select someone from their region who has created significant social impact locally, regionally or even worldwide.
This Month's Featured Projects in Numbers
8997
people directly impacted across the spotlight projects
500
books donated
300
solar panel installations
Meet the Ambassadors
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Italo Ribeiro - Brazil
Italo is the Co-Founder of TODXS, a social impact business committed to promoting economic inclusion and reducing the unemployment gap of LGBTIQ+ youth in Brazil. Today, the organisation has more than 10 projects, partnering up with several corporations, governments and civil society organisations in Brazil.
Through the TODXS Ambassadors programme, they identify and select young LGBTIQ+ leaders to participate in a training programme and workshops to develop their social entrepreneurial skills. Their alumni can become entrepreneurs through their TODXS Fund, which is the first fund dedicated to LGBTIQ+ SMEs entrepreneurs in Brazil. Those selected receive mentorship, idea acceleration and capital funding of BRL 4,000.00.
TODXS has impacted over 700 alumni, who have started more than 100 businesses. Collectively, their actions have impacted over 1.8 million individuals. TODXS has provided over 400 scholarships for people from underprivileged backgrounds to join its programmes. In addition to these two projects, TODXS Consulting, their corporate diversity and inclusion consulting arm, has worked with more than 10 corporate clients.
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Sabrine Chennaoui - Tunisia
Sabrine is the Co-Founder and CEO of MONSAPO, a pioneering start-up dedicated to revolutionising sustainable living through the use of innovative technology. Its flagship initiative is transforming used cooking oil into eco-friendly household products, tackling environmental pollution while promoting circular economy principles.
To achieve so, MONSAPO’s automated machine processes used oil, extracting valuable compounds to create high-quality household cleaners and cosmetics. This process not only reduces waste but also minimises the environmental footprint associated with conventional manufacturing processes.
MONSAPO’s impact spreads across different sectors. It has preserved two billion litres of water through the sale of its recycled oil-based soap. MONSAPO has empowered over 120 people through awareness campaigns on the dangers of used cooking oil disposal and training sessions on how to create their own eco-friendly cleaning products. In the future, MONSAPO’s machines are projected to save more than 70 trillion litres of water and divert 25,000 tons of pollutants from entering the environment.
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Joshua Anak Belayan - Brunei
Joshua is the Country Co-Director at ASEAN Youth Advocates Network (AYAN) Brunei. He is committed to advancing a future in which youth leadership and advocacy take centre stage, in alignment with ASEAN’s principle of unity in diversity. The objectives of AYAN are to promote youth leadership and advocacy, strengthen community engagement, empower young voices, build networks of changemakers.
Joshua is working to champion active community engagement and empowering the voices of young people by leveraging the collective ASEAN regional identity and values. AYAN aims to foster a solid network of changemakers in the region, emphasising transformations within their national and regional ASEAN communities.
During his time at AYAN Brunei, Joshua and his team have organised 17 events, conducted 50 workshops, and impacted 1,145 participants. At the ASEAN level, they have conducted two events, conducted six workshops, and impacted 262 participants across ten ASEAN countries.
Hadiatou Barry - Guinea
Hadiatou is a social entrepreneur and Founder of Shop-Hadia, a sustainable and ethical slow African fashion brand that was founded in 2019 to promote African fashion in Europe, and provide access to quality education to orphans and street children in Guinea.
The brand invests in local designers in Guinea and Senegal, and works with artisans across the African continent supporting the Made in Africa initiative. Active in the city of Conakry and Labé, Shop-Hadia hires local tailors and designers, who minimise waste in their processes and supply customers with culturally authentic clothing.
Hadiatou created the Fashion for Hope (FFH) program as an integral part of the Shop-Hadia brand. For every purchase made in Shop-Hadia, 10% of the profits go towards funding the FFH programme. Through FFH, Shop-Hadia provides quality education to orphans in Guinea. The programme is coordinated by You For Guinea, a non-profit organisation also founded by Hadiatou.
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Jason Shaïf - Suriname
Jason is the Vice-president external of JCI Unify, a JCI Suriname chapter that focuses on raising green awareness and promoting the implementation of environmentally conscious practices. Furthermore, JCI focusses on giving leadership opportunities to young people and refining their leadership skills.
JCI Unify’s main initiatives are the "Buy A Book for a Child" project and The Green Week Convention. Through the Buy A Book for a Child project, they promote the "Green Ambassadors" book, an illustrated book that teaches them about various environmental issues, and organise reading days and book distributions in different districts. In 2023, over 500 books were sold and distributed through the Buy A Book for a Child" initiative to children.
The Green Week Convention is a series of events organised around World Environmental Day. During the events, they provide environmental education on topics such as recycling and mangroves, while promoting a healthy lifestyle with the inclusion of physical activities and supporting social entrepreneurs.
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Julia Inés Chávez - México
Julia is part of the inaugural cohort of the Youth Purpose Leadership Council (YPLC) at Deloitte, serving as Chair for Latin America. The YPLC is made up of Deloitte professionals, from around the world, that meet with the firm’s Global Purpose Executive representatives to advise, advocate and drive the priorities for purpose alignment throughout the organisation.
The YPLC team aims to create initiatives, strategies and programmes targeting the regional drive of their professionals and the issues they care about in their communities. The team aims to represent the voices of the more than 415,000 professionals at Deloitte across over 150 countries.
Deloitte’s global impact agenda is divided into WorldImpact and WorldClimate. Within WorldImpact, the WorldClass initiative aims to impact 100 million people through education and career development opportunities by 2030. Meanwhile, WorldClimate strives to advance the firm’s progress towards net-zero in their near-term 2030 goals.
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Michael Showunmi - Nigeria
Michael is the Founder of Raising Star Africa, a non-profit organisation that supports and enables persons with disabilities in becoming self-reliant and active members of society. It’s work focused on five pillars: education, skills empowerment, soft and social skills, awareness and advocacy, and inclusion.
In 2024, Michael and his team aim to build the Raising Star Africa Ability Centre with $500,000. Through the centre, they seek to provide access to STEM and vocational education as well as digital skills training for children with disabilities in Nigeria.
Raising Star Africa is on a mission to impact one million disabled children in Africa. So far, Michael and his team have impacted over 6,000 persons with disabilities, renovated three schools to become inclusive and facilitate accessibility to them for more than 650 people. It has empowered over 100 disabled children and young adults with skills development and climate education, and more than 5,000 people with social skills development to empower themselves.
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Natalia Murillo Villa - Spain/Colombia
Natalia is the Founder and CEO of Resignificadas (Resignified Women) NGO, a non-governmental organisation based in Spain and Colombia that seeks to end violence against women at all levels, and fights for the resignification of all victims of violence based on work, entrepreneurship, and social empowerment through family and community.
Natalia and the Resignified Women team have created a Centre for Social Innovation, focused on multidisciplinary research around gender-based violence (GBV), and a Centre for Concrete Attention to Gender Violence, through which they create online and in-person networks and events to discuss GBV.
Throughout 2023, the team created an online platform for direct referral to public services and aid from the Spanish government. The platform has helped hundreds of women by offering access to information to ask for help. Additionally, they have created various forums and community activities where they offer this information printed. Resignificadas have created support networks with other civil society associations in Spain and Colombia, as well as with the European Union.
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Motaz Amer - United Kingdom
Motaz is a Young Ambassador at the Prince's Trust Northern Ireland, and an active collaborator with other non-governmental organisations in the country. Inspired by his lived experiences as a refugee, he works to provide comprehensive support for refugees, with a focus on educational programmes, mental health assistance and mentoring support.
Motaz aims to empower refugees with the skills and resources they need to integrate and thrive in their new environments. In terms of education, he works with the Prince’s Trust to facilitate access to education and resources through their Team programme, a 12-week programme to empower young people and guide them to build a future. Motaz, who is an alumni of the programme, helps design engaging workshops and activities focused on fostering personal development, teamwork and leadership skills.
Over the course of two years working with Prince's trust and local organisations, Motaz has helped around 600 asylum seekers and refugees across Northern Ireland.
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Maria Kolesnikova - Kyrgyzstan
Maria is an environmental activist, a UN Earth Champion and a chairwoman of MoveGreen, an environmental non-governmental organisation in Kyrgyzstan. Due to Maria and her team’s efforts, MoveGreen has grown from a grassroots public initiative to an organisation influencing civic engagement and environmental policies in the country.
In January 2024, UNICEF presented their air quality white banners experiment results run in Bishkek done in partnership with MoveGreen. Also, thanks to MoveGreen's long term advocacy work the Bishkek City Council created the energy efficient fund. MoveGreen was recognised by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Kyrgyzstan for their Clean Air campaign and cooperation with authorities to improve air quality across the country and address their smog problem.
Additionally, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development selected MoveGreen to join their first Civil Society Organisation Steering Committee. The CSO Steering Committee is made up of 13 organisations active in the countries that cover the Bank’s strategic priorities, and will advise the Bank on country and sectoral public consultations.
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Lucía Dalenz - Uruguay
Lucía is the Founder and CEO of Invictas, a digital magazine dedicated to showcasing success stories of young women entrepreneurs and leaders in Latin America. The magazine’s mission is to inspire the current and the next generation of Latin American women leaders through sharing compelling stories of resilience and success, fostering personal and professional development of individuals by innovative and impactful courses, and providing mentoring and coaching sessions.
Their educational offer, soon to be launched, will cover a curated range of topics such as personal finance, leadership development, emotional intelligence, marketing skills, storytelling and various other essential subjects. At Invictas, they believe in creating a more equitable region with equal opportunities for everyone regardless of gender.
In less than one month since relaunching the initiative, the Invictas team have received over 50 applications from young women leaders and entrepreneurs wanting to showcase their success stories.
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Matsepiso Majoro - Lesotho
Matsepiso is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Mahlaseli Energy, a renewable energy company in Lesotho that provides decentralised solar offgrid solutions for rural electrification and water supply. Active for the past five years, Mahlaseli Energy has done 300 installations and employed 20 people.
For 2024, the company’s biggest goal is to provide access to affordable, sustainable and reliable electricity for the country, as well as eliminate the upfront costs associated with ownership of solar offgrid systems. To achieve this, Matsepiso and her team have created the MahlaseliSolarPayGo system, which won One Young World’s Lead2030 for SDG7, in partnership with the ČEZ Group.
MahlaseliSolarPayGo will enable access to clean and affordable electricity in sparsely populated rural communities of Lesotho, where grid infrastructure is limited or not a viable solution. The system helps overcome financial barriers regarding access to basic electricity services, by allowing users to make small payments over time guaranteeing affordability.