This Month's Projects in Numbers:
588,320 children provided educational resources
40,000 tonnes of CO2 mitigated
97,000 people reached with mental health services
...
Meet the Ambassadors
Dimma Muhammed Mawejje - Uganda
(He/Him)
"Dimma founded Mawejje Creations, a socially conscious fashion enterprise using banana waste and discarded textiles to craft eco-friendly fashion items such as clothing, bags, and pencil pouches. Simultaneously, Mawejje Creations trains banana farmers to enhance their agricultural practices and monetise banana waste, educates youth on sustainability, and employs women in fabric production roles. In doing so, Dimma supports communities and champions the circular economy.
So far, Mawejje Creations has directly impacted over 200 people. This includes 100 banana farmers who participated in sustainable agriculture training, 70 youth who attended an upskilling programme, and 30 women who are employed as fabric producers. Dimma believes that every sustainable choice contributes to the fight against climate change and encourages more responsible practices in the industry.
Follow Mawejje Creations on LinkedIn
Lorena Neira - Abu Dhabi
(He/Him)
Lorena founded Blusink, a climate tech start-up that regenerates ecosystems. The organisation designed small, apple-sized pellets called Blusinkies that can be placed on the seafloor to sequester carbon and provide a habitat for algae, invertebrates, and coral. Each Blusinky is made of up to 60% upcycled minerals and agricultural waste, which repurposes land waste into a solution for ocean acidification.
To date, thousands of Blusinkies have been deployed across the coastlines of Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Portugal, the Maldives, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. In early deployments, Blusinkies have been shown to support up to 50% more marine life than generic restoration materials such as cement or clay, helping restore hundreds of square meters of living seafloor. Lorena hopes her work demonstrates that carbon removal technologies can, and must, actively strengthen ecosystems.
Shivad Singh - South Africa
(He/Him)
Shivad founded Head Start Education, an organisation using games, videos, and worksheets to help learners in developing countries access educational resources. These innovative digital solutions ensure that children, regardless of background, have access to develop the skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. Recently, the company has launched an education platform with the largest telecommunications company in Afghanistan which provides education to women barred from attending school.
Head Start holds licenses to 15 leading education platforms, which cumulatively have over 556,000 subscribers through its partnerships. The organisation has also provided educational content to over 100 school centres through partnership with School in a Box and is the official education provider for major telecommunications services including MTN and Vodacom.
Connect with Shivad on LinkedIn
Dumazedier Kabasele - Democratic Republic of Congo
(He/Him)
Dumazedier co-founded Afyakili, an initiative to improve the mental health of the Congolese population through a structured program of awareness, prevention and psychological support. One initiative under the Afyakili umbrella, Afyakili Tour Scolaire, was created to integrate mental health into teaching practices to prevent school dropout and mental health crises. This work is particularly relevant to restoring dignity and hope in spaces where both teachers and students have been affected by conflict.
To date Afyakili Tour Scolaire has trained 5,000 students trained in stress management and psychological distress recognition, 2,000 of which received direct assistance while in acute distress. It has also equipped 800 teachers and 200 counsellors with frontline support tools. Additionally, the programme has provided 1,000 survivors of sexual violence with specialised care.
Shreeya Giri - Nepal
(She/Her)
Shreeya founded Happy Minds, a mental health start-up providing psychotherapy services. The initiative is Nepal’s only platform offering a comprehensive Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which combines mental health awareness and skill training in workplaces. Happy Minds also hosts mental health first aid training, a community-driven wellbeing conversation series, and targeted efforts addressing men’s mental health.
Happy Minds has reached 97,000 Nepalis across seven provinces, trained over 4,500 psychological first responders, and supported more than organisations through employee mental health services. Shreeya believes in cross-network support, so that the impact of Happy Minds lasts long after programming ends.
Follow happy minds on instagram
Mufiqur Rahman - Indonesia
(He/Him)
Mufiqur founded the Gender-Sensitive Global Citizenship and Life Skills Education Program for Youth, an initiative that educates young people ages 14-19 on citizenship competencies and life skills. Through structured learning modules, students learn skills to navigate complex social realities and participate actively as responsible national and global citizens.
The programme exceeded initial targets, reaching 27,320 children and adolescents, engaging 272 teachers, and partnering with 137 schools and 19 non-formal educational institutions. Mufiqur is proud that the initiative has been locally responsive and connected students, teachers, schools, families, civil society organisations, and local governments.
Learn more about Mufiqur's work
Miki Kawamura - Japan
(She/Her)
Miki founded Youth Peace Ambassadors (YPA), an initiative of the Goi Peace Foundation, that connects young people who share a common commitment to living and creating peace. Through sharing and dialogue spaces, education, and leadership programming, and an in-person Summit, the organisation provides a structured pathway for youth to implement peace projects in their own communities.
The Youth Peace Ambassadors programme was presented at Expo 2025 Osaka, where 1,200 video messages were collected from participants in over 70 countries. The first cohort of Youth Peace Ambassadors received more than 1,600 applications from 105 countries, from which 60 youth leaders were selected based on diversity in perspective, background, and areas of action. Applications for the 2026 cohort are currently being reviewed.
Learn more about Youth Peace Ambassadors
Keiko Kubota - Aotearoa/New Zealand
(She/Her)
Keiko is a coach for Mitey, a programme of the Sir John Kirwan Foundation. The programme uses senior-level teachers, known as Mitey Coaches, to help lead school-wide change and provide children with the skills, knowledge, and understanding they need to nurture their own emotional wellbeing and support that of others. As a Mitey Coach, Keiko helps school leaders to operate their schools through a wellbeing lens and create environments where mental health is prioritised inside and outside the classroom.
Mitey is currently reaching over 95,000 students across Aotearoa, along with their families and teachers. Keiko is proud of her work equipping children with the knowledge, language, and emotional skills they need to navigate life. She believes it is essential to give children the confidence to ask for help, support others, and face challenges with courage before they ever feel alone.
Connect with Keiko on LinkedIn
Victoria F. Legault - Canada
(She/Her)
Victoria is the Executive Director of Aide aux Trans du Québec (ATQ), an organisation that provides essential psychosocial, community, and advocacy services to transgender and non-binary people across the province. Victoria’s work focuses on strengthening community infrastructure so it can respond sustainably to growing needs in a context of rising anti-trans rhetoric and systemic exclusion. This includes consolidating governance, diversifying funding, professionalising operations, and expanding services while remaining rooted in lived experience and community accountability.
In this post, Victoria has overseen the design and implementation of four major community initiatives. She has also undertaken a full organisational rebrand, including a new visual identity, website, and communications strategy. In addition to her appointment as Executive Director, Victoria co-chairs Égides, an LGBTQI+ alliance, which brings together more than 200 organisations across the Francophone world.
Connect with Victoria on LinkedIn
Jakub Gietka - Poland
(He/Him)
Jakub founded 10 Steps After Diagnosis, is a national educational and empowerment initiative created to support families, young people, and professionals immediately after a diagnosis of disability, chronic illness, or rare disease. The project offers a structured ten-step model that transforms complex systems into practical, understandable pathways across key life areas. It combines accessible checklists, clear explanations, expert input, and lived-experience perspectives so that families can act quickly and confidently, instead of being left alone to “figure it out.”
The project is led by the Aiming for the Future Foundation and endeavours to reach and support 10,000 individuals after diagnosis. The project is internationally recognised through the AstraZeneca Young Health Programme Impact Fellowship and the Lead2030 Challenge, and proudly grounded in lived experience.
Connect with Jakub on LinkedIn
Vanessa Lok - Sweden
(She/Her)
Vanessa is the Transformation Office Programme Lead - Sweden Operations at Astrazeneca. She is trilingual and brings over five years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having worked at AstraZeneca and Pfizer across Operations, R&D, and Marketing in the UK, China, and Sweden. She is also an ultra runner and a brand ambassador for ASICS.
At the Opening Ceremony of the Summit in Munich, Vanessa served as the first flag bearer from Macau. As an Ambassador, she hopes to organise events that serve as a bridge to reconnect with One Young World across Northern Europe. She also wants to connect with new people interested in the value of youth leadership, explore potential partnerships, and encourage future delegates.
Connect with Vanessa on LinkedIn
Stephanie M. Checo Rijo - Spain
(She/Her)
Stephanie is a Dominican leader working in Spain with Fundación Acavall, a non-profit organisation advancing inclusion and emotional wellbeing for vulnerable communities through animal-assisted interventions. There, she leads partnerships and long-term sustainability strategies. The initiative uses evidence-based interventions, including therapy, education, and activity programming, that work with horses, dogs, and cats to create meaningful therapeutic, educational, and social experiences.
74% of participants report improved mood and 82% show reduced depressive symptoms, alongside strengthened social and emotional skills. Through her career, Stephanie has also supported over 300 impact entrepreneurs across Latin America and Europe and mentored more than 50 women. She has been recognised as an Outstanding Dominican Abroad through the National Youth Award.
Read More About Fundación Acavall
Jorg Wellink - The Netherlands
(He/Him)
Jorg developed ChargeHyve, a secure e-bike battery charging locker designed specifically to address the risks associated with lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries can overheat, malfunction, or even ignite during charging. They are also high-value items that are frequently stolen. ChargeHyve solves both problems by providing a secure, fire-resistant charging enclosure with built-in temperature and gas monitoring. If abnormal heat or hazardous gas levels are detected, the system automatically shuts off charging to prevent potential fire incidents. Each charging compartment is insulated and built to contain a battery fire inside that single space, stopping it from spreading to nearby lockers.
ChargeHyve has been tested in a simulation following German safety standards. During the test, lithium-ion battery cells went into thermal runaway and exploded inside the charging box. ChargeHyve successfully stopped the fire from spreading to neighboring lockers. Jorg hopes that his e-bike battery charging solution will help create the conditions for sustainable mobility to scale safely and responsibly, as lasting progress depends on building the right foundations.
Karina Yamamoto - Brazil
(She/Her)
Karina founded Gridbrid, a platform that helps the energy sector make informed decisions guided by data. The software simulates thousands of scenarios, informed by historical data on power demand and energy prices, to plan more profitable, resilient, and sustainable power plants in minutes instead of months.
So far, Gridbrid has simulated 469,000 of these scenarios. This has resulted in 20 million gigawatts of energy produced across 19 countries. Karina is determined to work behind the scenes to make the development of clean energy projects smarter and more efficient before they’re even built. That means fewer delays, lower costs, and more sustainable infrastructure reaching real communities faster.
Elena Martinez Martinez - Dominican Republic
(She/Her)
Elena is the co-founder of SOS Group, encompassing two enterprises committed to stopping the spread of sargassum seaweed, a harmful form of seaweed rapidly spreading in the Caribbean and Atlantic oceans. Under the SOS Group umbrella, SOS Carbon and SOS biotech have developed complementary solutions to address this problem including deploying a sargassum seaweed collection system that works with small-scale fishing vessels, and transforming collected seaweed into products. This approach prevents sargassum from reaching shorelines, reduces emissions, and creates stable, dignified employment for artisanal fishers who are increasingly affected by declining fish stocks and climate change.
To date, SOS Group has collected over 30,000 tonnes of invasive sargassum seaweed across four countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic). Elena’s large-scale collection and up-cycling model has enabled the enterprises to avoid more than 40,000 tCO₂ emissions. The Group has also trained and employed 161 artisanal fishers and created products with over 52 farmers.
Connect with elena on linkedin
Angel Berrios - Guatemala
(He/Him)
Angel leads TuConsejerIA, a WhatsApp bot that provides mental health, financial guidance, and social support services in Guatemala. By operating through WhatsApp, the most widely used communication tool in the country, TuConsejerIA removes technological barriers and meets people where they already are. Users interact with a structured conversational system that provides emotional regulation tools, guided self-assessments, decision-making support, and verified information pathways.
In its pilot and outreach phase, TuConsejerIA conducted a digital needs assessment. This survey indicated that over 63% of respondents reported difficulty accessing reliable mental health information, and more than half expressed uncertainty about where to seek professional support. As Chief Technology Officer, Angel hopes that TuConserjerIA will be able to fill this gap and create safer pathways for individuals facing emotional, financial, or social vulnerability.
Connect with Angel on LinkedIn
Sara Valeria Samaniego Ruiz - Colombia
(She/Her)
Sara is an influencer, also known as Marce the Recycler, founded a recycling education organisation called the Reciclamores. She has been creating environmental content for 6 years to demonstrate that recycling can be simple, gaining 613,000 followers in the process. She also provides education on how ‘the best waste is the waste that isn’t created.’
While studying in Denmark, Marce launched her first book titled Marce and the Universe of Colors. In this book, she teaches about waste management practices and the importance of waste collectors. Through the Reciclamores, she also provides professional recyclers with dignity and leisure by taking them to see the sea.
Follow Marce the Recycler on Instagram
Naabil Khan - United Kingdom
(She/Her)
Naabil founded Skin For All, an education platform designed to illustrate how common skin conditions appear across diverse skin tones while simplifying complex medical information for both medical students and public audiences. While studying medicine, Naabil recognised that most dermatology resources display skin conditions on lighter skin. Skin For All highlights how clinical signs can differ depending on pigmentation, something often overlooked in traditional textbooks.
The Skin For All website has highlighted more than 100 skin conditions and received over 10,000 visitors. Naabil’s work has also expanded into broader initiatives and advocacy platforms, such as Skin For All Academy, which encourages students from universities around the world to advocate for adequate skin tone representation across multiple medical specialties. Her work has been widely recognised by the American Medical Student Association’s Racial Justice in Medicine Award and WeAreTheCity Rising Star in Healthcare Award.
Glory Lamria - United States
(She/Her)
"Glory is a graduate of Columbia University’s Master of Science in Technology Management. She is also a contributor to the Columbia School of Professional Studies AI Lab, a cross-disciplinary resource to advance AI literacy, research, partnerships, and deployment. Glory is particularly interested in the intersection of AI, business strategy, and global policy.
Glory approaches her work through applied research, which means she focuses on solving real-world problems. She studies new and emerging AI technologies, helps shape AI policy, and looks at how AI can improve digital inclusion. As part of this process, she collaborates with scholar-practitioner faculty and carefully considers how AI affects emerging markets. Before this, in her industry roles, Glory worked on AI marketplace systems that served millions of users across Southeast Asia.