This Month's Projects in Numbers:
- 65,000 young people empowered through training and entrepreneurship
$100,000 in medical treatments made accessible to patients facing financial barriers
- 2,590 survivors of human trafficking supported with mental health care
Omar El-Husseini – Egypt
(He/Him)
Omar leads Youth Empowered, Coca-Cola HBC Egypt's flagship youth employability programme, which bridges the gap between education and labour market needs through practical skills development, career readiness training, networking opportunities, and professional certifications. To expand the programme's reach, he introduced a Training of Trainers (ToT) model in partnership with the Youth Leading Youth (YLY) Union under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, equipping young trainers to deliver employability training across Egypt.
To date, Youth Empowered has reached more than 60,000 young people nationwide through in-person and digital initiatives. The ToT model has enabled 100 trainers to deliver job-readiness training to more than 20,000 young people across 33 governorates, while the programme's self-paced digital learning platform has engaged over 30,000 learners, expanding access to employability and professional development opportunities at scale.
Jabulani Nyembe – South Africa
(He/Him)
Jabulani is the Founder and CEO of Athena, a South African startup helping patients access and afford healthcare through interest-free "healthcare now, pay later" plans. In response to South Africa's healthcare affordability crisis, where high out-of-pocket costs cause many people to delay or forgo treatment, Athena partners with healthcare providers to enable patients to receive immediate care while spreading the cost over time.
To date, Athena has provided more than US$100,000 in medical treatments through its payment plans, partnering with more than 40 healthcare providers across South Africa, including dentists, optometrists, and specialists. The organisation has maintained a 95% patient repayment rate, demonstrating the affordability and sustainability of its model while expanding access to essential healthcare. healthcare.
Ross Mery da Gloria – Timor-Leste
(She/Her)
Ross is the Founder of Kios Matenek, a youth-led social enterprise and innovation hub in Dili, Timor-Leste, empowering young people through entrepreneurship, practical learning, and sustainable innovation. The organisation creates opportunities for youth and women through green building, agricultural innovation, social entrepreneurship, and local product development, first gaining national recognition after winning the UNDP Timor-Leste Accelerator Lab Green Building Design Challenge, which enabled the construction of the country's first youth-led green building prototype.
Over the past six years, Kios Matenek has engaged more than 5,000 young people, entrepreneurs, students, and community members through over 1,000 workshops, training sessions, networking events, and community activities. The organisation has also partnered with 20 rural farmers, the majority of whom are women, to develop its first sustainable product, Luffa.lou, creating both environmental and economic opportunities.
Faith Drummond – Northern Ireland
(She/Her)
Faith works as a restorative practitioner with NI Alternatives, leading on a project called BUILD (Better Understanding In Local Development). She contributes to community-led regeneration, helping transform derelict, vacant, and underused spaces into housing and assets that benefit the local community, while ensuring they have a voice in shaping the future of their area. She is the founder of ‘Not JustUs’, an initiative that empowers individuals who are victims of the justice system. Her work uses an approach combining justice education, restorative practice, and wellbeing. Rather than traditional classroom learning, participants gain first-hand experience through court visits and direct engagement with the police, legal professionals, and justice agencies. This is combined with restorative approaches and wellbeing activities, including cold-water swimming.
To date, Not JustUs has successfully completed 3 full cohorts of the programme, bringing together over 60 individuals negatively impacted by the justice system and providing direct engagement with justice agencies, alongside restorative practices and wellbeing activities. Participants have reported feeling more informed, confident and empowered in navigating and engaging with the justice system.100% of participants who have completed the programme said they would recommend Not JustUs to others.Across both of her work, she empowers people to better understand, engage with, and influence the systems and decisions that impact their lives.
Esther Chinenye Eruchie – Nigeria
(She/Her)
Esther is the Founder of FriendnPal, an organisation transforming mental healthcare across Africa and emerging markets through AI-powered behavioural health infrastructure. This mission is deeply personal, after losing her mom to depression and was later diagnosed of ADHD and depression, while working on human trafficking cases. Recognizing that mental health intervention often begins only when individuals reach crisis point, FriendnPal combines predictive intelligence, remote patient monitoring, mood and symptom tracking, journaling, digital mental-health tools, and licensed clinical care to identify risks earlier, close treatment gaps, and enable timely intervention. Supporting more than 50 languages across mobile, web, voice, and WhatsApp, the platform helps overcome structural barriers to accessing mental healthcare while connecting individuals to licensed professionals when risk is detected.
To date, FriendnPal has reached more than 100,000 people, completed over 60,000 behavioural assessments, and helped intercept more than 1,380 suicide cases. The platform has generated over 192,000 behavioural health data points to support research into earlier identification of mental health deterioration and more personalised interventions. Beyond technology, Esther's work centres communities that are often overlooked by traditional systems, supporting more than 700 women and 850 survivors of trafficking, demonstrating that accessible mental healthcare can be delivered through a sustainable technology model.
Mohit Kumar Chandak – India
(He/Him)
Mohit designs trauma-informed programmes across India that support children and young women living in situations of extreme vulnerability. He developed and leads the Literacy Project, a trauma-informed education programme delivered in government shelter homes in Mumbai that helps children rebuild foundational literacy. He also created the Mentoring Project, supporting young women who have aged out of shelter homes and are at high risk of re-trafficking. More recently, he founded the Samarasa Foundation, which delivers after-school education across five villages in Tamil Nadu, and has also designed a community-level intervention supporting communities traditionally engaged in begging to improve education, health, and long-term social outcomes.
To date, the Literacy Project has reached more than 640 girls, with 88% achieving foundational literacy and 54% completing the programme, representing an estimated impact of more than 1,030 girls. Since 2019, the Mentoring Project has supported around 100 young women, while the Samarasa Foundation currently serves approximately 120 children across five villages. His community-level intervention has also benefited more than 100 children.
Vinicius Gaby – Brazil
(He/Him)
Vinicius leads GentilMmente, a two-year project hosted at the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of São Paulo (IPq-USP), tackling the stigma and misinformation young people encounter about mental health online. Using a multi-channel communication approach, the project delivers evidence-based mental health literacy and socioemotional learning through short-form videos, a podcast, and a free online course designed to meet adolescents where they already are. What makes the project unique is its Youth Advisory Board of eleven adolescents from across Brazil, who hold editorial control over the content to ensure it reflects the realities and experiences of young people.
The project's first national Youth Advisory Board attracted applications from adolescents across 19 of Brazil's 27 states, demonstrating strong demand for youth-led mental health education. Today, board members set themes, write and review scripts, and are beginning to create content themselves, ensuring conversations around mental health are shaped by young people, for young people.
Christianna Paul – Dominica
(She/Her)
Christianna is the Founder of WePlanet Inc., a youth-led environmental nonprofit and social enterprise in Dominica that empowers individuals, communities, and businesses to take meaningful climate action through digital innovation. Guided by the belief that small actions create big change, the organisation developed a mobile app that rewards users for sustainable behaviours such as recycling, using reusable products, supporting local Eco-Partners, and participating in community clean-ups. Beyond the app, WePlanet strengthens environmental stewardship through youth engagement, community outreach, and its WePlanet Ambassador Programme, which equips young people to lead sustainability initiatives in their schools and communities.
Since launching, WePlanet has grown to more than 1,000 monthly app visitors and over 500 registered users, encouraging everyday sustainable action across Dominica. Through more than 15 partnerships with businesses, schools, NGOs, and government agencies, alongside a network of 20+ Youth Ambassadors, the organisation is rewarding positive environmental behaviours while strengthening community collaboration.
Luz Diana Paredes Rojas – Paraguay
(She/Her)
Luz is the Founder of Recreo Saludable, a youth-led initiative tackling the rise of non-communicable diseases among adolescents in Paraguay by transforming unhealthy school food environments. Supported by the AstraZeneca Young Health Programme Impact Fellowship, the organisation empowers young people to become advocates for healthier schools by training a Youth Defence Council to audit school canteens, develop data-driven NCD risk maps, and lead digital advocacy campaigns that influence public policy. Through partnerships with government and health stakeholders, the initiative is helping young people shape healthier school environments nationwide.
To date, Recreo Saludable has trained 50 adolescents as health auditors and digital advocates, developed Paraguay's first youth-led NCD Risk Map, and established three model healthy school kiosks. The initiative has indirectly benefited more than 5,000 students through peer-led health education, produced three social media documentaries, and co-developed a national policy proposal with two National Deputies and health professionals. If adopted, the proposed legislation has the potential to improve the health of more than 1.2 million students across Paraguay.
Karime Guillen Libien – México
(She/Her)
Karime is the Founder of Rearvora, a Mexican circular biotechnology company that recovers organic byproducts and transforms them into functional bio-ingredients for new industrial applications. Through biotechnology, the organisation keeps biological resources in circulation while helping companies identify, valorise, and reintegrate waste into productive systems. She also founded EcosConKarime, an educational initiative that makes science, sustainability, and the circular economy more accessible. Together, both initiatives connect biotechnology, circular economy, and education to create more conscious and sustainable ecosystems.
To date, Rearvora has recovered and transformed more than 4 tonnes of organic byproducts, with 2.3 tonnes processed resulting in an estimated reduction of 3.5 tonnes of CO₂e. The organisation has served more than 250 customers and 10 companies, built 15 strategic partnerships, and secured over US$60,000 in funding. Through workshops, talks, and educational initiatives, Karime's work has reached approximately 4,000 people across Mexico and Latin America, earning recognition through Forbes 30 Under 30, the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Fellowship, and beVisioneers.