This Month's Projects in Numbers:
30,500 women trained to respond to gender-based violence
20,260 young people equipped with skills to protect and sustain the environment
4,000 farmers supported to strengthen livelihoods
...
Meet the Ambassadors
Nukman Salimin - Brunei
(He/Him)
Nukman founded Jaga Diri, a health literacy platform that encourages non-communicable diseases (NCD) prevention through creative content. While in medical school, Nukman learned 80% of deaths in Brunei are attributable to NCDs. Now, as a final year medical student, he focuses on community health, including founding the only student health conference in Brunei and hosting a Dialogue Session with the Minister of Health of Brunei Darussalam in Glasgow, Scotland.
To date, Jaga Diri has reached more than 6,000 people. Nukman's additional work as President of the Brunei Medical Students' Association has impacted more than 300 healthcare students and professionals, and over 250 students attended Nukman's motivational and study workshops. Taking care of yourself so you can take care of others serves as the foundation of Nukman's work.
Connect with Nukman on LinkedIn
Lina Khalifeh - Canada
(She/They)
Lina founded SheFighter, the first self-defense studio designed specifically for women. The idea was created to combat violence against women by training women in mental and physical empowerment through practical, real-life self-defense training. Lina brings over 20 years of experience in martial arts, including taekwondo, kickboxing, kung fu, and boxing.
To date, SheFighter has trained and empowered more than 30,000 women globally and certified over 700 female instructors through its structured Training of Trainers (TOT) system. SheFighter is now active in 35 countries. Its newest studio in downtown Toronto marks a significant milestone in international expansion, and the first studio to open in North America.
Marcia Bikié - Spain
(She/Her)
Marcia co-founded GEMA, an Afro-feminist organisation that uses school workshops, public events, and leadership programmes to provide Afro-descendant women with tools to understand identity, challenge, discrimination, and advocate for their rights. In doing so, GEMA strengthens community networks, promotes racial and gender justice, and advances inclusive education.
So far, 500 people have attended GEMA’s educational sessions, community dialogues, and mentorship opportunities. In addition, 200 young women have been provided with advocacy tools through the organisation. Marcia wants people to know that GEMA’s work is built on three things: “care, community, and persistence."
Connect with Marcia on LinkedIn
Letícia Benavalli - Brazil
(She/Her)
Letícia leads Instituto Pró-Onça, a women-led conservation organisation that protects biodiversity by engaging with local communities, especially women and youth. Through institute initiatives, women and young people are trained in tools such as wildlife monitoring, data collection, and ecosystem restoration. This strengthens local conservation efforts while also creating opportunities for participation in science and environmental decision-making, particularly for groups that have historically been excluded from these spaces. At the same time, the institute generates biodiversity data that supports conservation strategies.
To date, Instituto Pró-Onça has identified 11 individual jaguars and recorded 26 species of medium and large mammals. In parallel, the organisation’s restoration efforts have supported the production of over 600 native seedlings to restore degraded ecosystems. At the community level, the institute has engaged over 200 young people through environmental education and field-based learning initiatives, and trained 15 women in biodiversity monitoring, restoration, and ecotourism activities.
Connect with Letícia on LinkedIn
Elsie Harry - St. Kitts and Nevis
(She/Her)
Elsie, who is a dual-citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana, serves as Fundraising Coordinator and Board Member with STEMGuyana, supporting community interventions that empower youth to become innovative thinkers and leaders in STEM fields. Elsie raises funds for STEMGuyana’s major initiatives, including its Learning Pods Programme. This is a technology-assisted after-school intervention that reinforces science, math, English and introduces coding and robotics to children aged 7 to 15. Launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, it addresses barriers to education in rural and vulnerable communities, including limited internet access, lack of devices and low engagement with formal schooling.
At its peak, the programme reached 1,000+ students through 40 pods. Today, 13 pods across 8 of Guyana’s 10 regions serve 260 students and indirectly benefit 260 parents through improved educational outcomes. With 50% female participation, it promotes gender inclusion, and Learning Pod participants demonstrate an average improvement of 40% in math and English compared to non-participating peers in the same schools and classes.
Connect with Elsie on LinkedIn
Jazmin Fallas Kerr - Costa Rica
(She/Her)
Jazmin is the founder of Fundación BoaPaz, an organisation that empowers vulnerable populations, including female heads of household, people with disabilities, and rural communities, through education, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunity. Its flagship initiative, the ESS Chorotega Life Zone, is based in Costa Rica's Blue Zone and works to connect local people in mountain, rural, and coastal communities to training, markets, and investment so they can build sustainable livelihoods without being displaced by outside development.
To date, ESS Chorotega Life Zone has provided opportunities for over 60 youth and women to participate in entrepreneurship and income-generating activities linked to sport, tourism, and local value chains. 15 social ventures are currently in incubation, with more than 50 direct beneficiaries linked to markets. Looking ahead, ESS Chorotega Life Zone hopes to expand their impact investment pipeline beyond its pilot territory.
Learn More About Fundación BoaPaz
Paula Aponte - Colombia
(She/Her)
Paula founded CurubaTech, a social enterprise that helps businesses get better, more reliable crops from the smallholder farmers they already buy from. Instead of finding new suppliers, companies invest in improving the supply chains coming from the farms they already work with. CurubaTech makes that happen by connecting farmers with agronomists via WhatsApp, who can give real-time advice on everything from crop health to harvest timing, without anyone needing to leave their land.
Farmers supported by CurubaTech have increased their production by 43% and cut their use of chemical inputs by 38%, across 10 different crop types. During a serious drought in 2023 and 2024, 87% of the farms CurubaTech worked with survived, while many unsupported farms in the same areas did not. Paula wants people to know that helping smallholder farmers and serving corporate supply chain needs are not competing priorities.
Connect with Paula on LinkedIn
Nel Vera - Paraguay
(He/Him)
Nel founded ENCONTRÉMONOS, an experiential camp programme in Paraguay that helps young people understand their role in protecting the environment. Through hands-on workshops and activities, participants explore how their everyday choices connect to bigger environmental issues such as responsible tourism, ecological entrepreneurship, community action, and local policy. The camp hopes to build a culture of environmental responsibility and inspire young people to see themselves as active agents of change.
To date, ENCONTRÉMONOS has reached all 17 regions of Paraguay, delivered workshops in more than 90 cities, and impacted 20,000 young people. The programme has built partnerships with over 50 organisations, including national government offices, embassies, and hydroelectric plants including Itaipu Binacional. Looking ahead, Nel believes that young nations like Paraguay hold enormous potential, and that lasting change starts with investing in people, helping them grow into their best selves as citizens, leaders, and members of their communities.
Shameem Mansoor Al-Mahrizi - Oman
(She/Her)
Shameem Mansoor Al-Mahrizi leads the Sustainable Concrete Solutions: SCMs & Waste Reuse for Low-Carbon Construction project at Holcim, an organisation that prioritises sustainability. The construction industry is a major contributor to CO₂ emissions, and this project focuses on developing sustainable concrete solutions by reducing cement content and reusing construction waste. A key aspect is the use of Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs), which lower the carbon footprint while maintaining or enhancing the strength and durability of concrete. In addition, the project explores methods to recover and reuse concrete sludge and other construction waste materials. The goal is to produce eco-friendly, high-performance concrete that is both environmentally and economically sustainable through low-carbon alternatives and waste reuse strategies.
The project contributes to reducing the environmental impact of the construction industry, which accounts for around 8% of global CO₂ emissions. By replacing 20–40% of cement with SCMs, CO₂ emissions per cubic metre of concrete can be reduced by 20–30%. It also promotes circular construction practices by reusing up to 5% of concrete plant waste and slurry, reducing landfill waste and saving approximately 0.8 tonnes of raw materials per tonne reused, contributing to more sustainable construction practices.
Connect with Shameem on LinkedIn
Judy Khairalla - Egypt
(She/Her)
Judy is an AI & Data Engineer with a particular focus on Digital and Workplace Accessibility at the Deloitte Innovation Hub (DIH). Having grown up witnessing individuals with disabilities face systemic barriers, she recognised an opportunity in her role to embed inclusion and accessibility within the workplace and set a lasting standard. She identified exclusionary practices and mapped processes that unintentionally shut people out, translating these insights into practical, easy-to-adopt solutions. One of the key initiatives she led was introducing descriptive alternative text for images to ensure visual content is accessible to everyone, which has since become mandatory for onboarding new joiners. She also established a dedicated team within DIH to design and deliver accessibility content and led developers in creating accessible solutions for teams, clients, and the wider community, including introductory sessions on web accessibility for junior developers.
To date, the team has delivered 20+ workplace accessibility inductions, including 2 specialised sessions for enabling functions and leadership teams, as well as 4+ technical workshops on web accessibility. In total, they have reached over 700 colleagues, achieving an average engagement rating of 4.7+/5. Additionally, a Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) event generated 100+ engagements and was recognised for its innovative delivery. What began as the work of one advocate has grown into a 15-strong community, with individuals actively championing inclusion across their projects.
Michael Akinsete - Nigeria
(He/Him)
Michael Akinsete is the Co-founder of Ecotutu, a climate-tech company established in 2019 that designs, builds, and operates solar-powered cold chain solutions to preserve perishable foods such as fruits, vegetables, and proteins. The company provides accessible, market-linked cold storage for farmers, aggregators, and traders through a Cooling-as-a-Service model, helping to reduce spoilage, extend shelf life, and increase incomes while strengthening climate resilience across food supply chains. Its core solutions include modular, solar-powered cold rooms powered by Ecotutu’s Hybrid Monoblock technology, integrated with real-time data monitoring systems, and designed to be affordable and suited to the socio-economic realities of developing markets.
To date, Ecotutu has deployed over 25 solar-powered cold rooms across Nigeria, preserving more than 40,000 tonnes of food that would otherwise have been lost. The company has supported over 4,000 farmers and agribusinesses, contributing to an average income increase of 30–40% for its users, while improving food availability and building resilience within local food systems.
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn
Srishti Pragat - India
(She/Her)
Srishti Pragat is the founder of Sky Social and leads Gender Justice Labs, a community-led, survivor-centred initiative addressing gender-based violence through an integrated, trauma-informed, and systems-driven approach. The initiative serves underserved and tribal regions in India, operating at the intersection of legal empowerment, psychosocial support, and grassroots leadership. The labs focus on building local ecosystems that enable prevention, response, and long-term resilience, moving beyond awareness-based interventions. This includes providing women from marginalised communities with access to legal literacy, counselling support, and rights-based education in culturally responsive ways, alongside structured modules on consent, digital safety, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), equipping participants to navigate systems addressing violence.
To date, the project has created a measurable impact across diverse communities, directly reaching over 50,000 individuals, including more than 20,000 youth and 15,000 women, through structured gender justice interventions, workshops, and leadership programmes. A key milestone includes menstrual health and hygiene initiatives that have engaged over 17,000 tribal girls, alongside gender sensitisation and legal literacy workshops conducted across multiple states in India. By mobilising thousands of young people as gender champions, the initiative fosters sustained behaviour change and local ownership.
Connect with Srishti on LinkedIn
Yuta Aihara - Japan
(He/Him)
Yuta is the founder of Youth LENS ON Plastics, a project that focuses on capturing youth perspectives and actions on environmental issues, with a particular emphasis on plastic pollution. The initiative works by interviewing young individuals and student organisations across Portugal and Thailand to uncover how youth perceive and respond to environmental challenges. This intercontinental approach bridges European sustainability frameworks with the urgent environmental realities of Southeast Asia. Yuta is currently producing a documentary film that synthesises these interviews and fieldwork findings, with the aim of creating a platform where youth perspectives on environmental issues can come together to inspire new dialogue and solutions. To date, the project has connected over 30 young individuals across Portugal and Thailand.
Imaad Nabil - United States
(He/Him)
Imaad leads Aaghaz-e-Dosti, meaning “the beginning of friendship,” a cross-border Pakistan–India initiative founded on the belief that ordinary people, when given the chance to speak to one another, almost always choose humanity over hostility. The project operates at two intersections: education, connecting students across India and Pakistan through letters, collaborative projects, and facilitated dialogues, contributing to peacebuilding by shaping the perspectives of young people; and diaspora bridge-building, engaging South Asian communities abroad to explore shared identity and reduce perceived divisions.
Through its New York initiative, Aaghaz-e-Dosti hosted an India–Pakistan cricket watch party and interviewed members of both communities, inviting them to share messages of peace for the other side. To date, the project has connected hundreds of students across India and Pakistan through classroom exchange programmes, building pen-pal relationships and structured dialogues. It has also engaged one of the world’s largest South Asian diaspora hubs, capturing voices across North America and gathering survey insights showing that personal familiarity through shared workplaces, friendships, and cultural spaces significantly reduces hostility. Through this work, Aaghaz-e-Dosti aims to create the familiarity that geography and politics have made scarce.