This Month's Projects in Numbers:
500,000 children educated on STEM
2,000 youth empowered through sport
1,600 survivors of early and forced marriage supported
...
Meet the Ambassadors
Hadiqa Bashir - Pakistan
(She/Her)
Hadiqa is the Executive Director of Girls United for Human Rights. The organisation identifies out-of-school girls and supports their re-enrollment by engaging families, mothers, and community elders. They also run fellowships in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and STEM. These fellowships link scientific subjects to climate resilience and encourage adolescents to develop leadership, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
The organisation has reached 90,000 community members, including protecting 60 girls from child marriage, supporting 1,600 girls who survived child marriage, and re-enrolling 2,000 girls who were previously out of school. The STEM and SRHR Fellowship have trained 100 young leaders, including 40 transgender youth.
Connect with Hadiqa on LinkedIn
Ahmed Sid Ahmed - Mauritania
(He/Him)
Through his role with Moon MR, Ahmed leads the Mauritania Tech Transformation Initiative, a project that sources cutting edge technology, such as virtual reality devices, from abroad to benefit Mauritania’s education, industrial training, construction, and public sectors. This helps these industries improve their training and productivity. In addition, the initiative supports international companies entering the Mauritanian market by helping them understand technical requirements and comply with regulations.
So far, over 20 professionals have been trained with virtual reality devices imported by the Mauritania Tech Transformation Initiative. By implementing these solutions, companies have reported a reduction of training material costs by up to 40%.
Karim Va-Akhunov - Kyrgyzstan
(He/Him)
Karim founded Empowering Tokmok Youth to Take Action for Clean Air and Health, a project of the environmental organisation MoveGreen. The initiative will work with students from various educational institutions in Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan to increase their knowledge about air quality and its impact on health, including noncommunicable diseases. The participants will undergo an educational program designed to build environmental awareness, develop practical skills, and strengthen cooperation with government institutions.
20 students will participate in the initiative. Programming has been planned to include a study trip to Bishkek, participation in public hearings on air quality, community-based air quality monitoring using low-cost sensors, and the publication of a publicly accessible database that will share these quality monitoring results. Ultimately, Karim hopes that his project will contribute to better-informed policies, stronger civic engagement and greater transparency in environmental data.
Eva Gracikova - San Marino
(She/Her)
Eva is the President of LEA - Female Leadership Association, a collective formed to empower women to succeed in personal and professional projects. It does this by providing women in San Marino with mentorship, training, and networking opportunities. The Association also hosts workshops and online sessions focused on leadership, digital skills, social media strategy, and the responsible use of emerging technologies.
Recently, LEA - Female Leadership Association participants have launched photography galleries, ateliers, start-ups, and film companies. In the future, Eva wants to continue to support women in her community, whether they are working on ‘a personal dream or an entrepreneurial project.’
Cynthia Tannous - Qatar
(She/Her)
Cynthia is the founder of Al Shakers, a company serving alcohol-free cocktails at private celebrations and corporate experiences. As an all-women bar-catering team in a male-dominated field, they focus on mocktail experiences that highlight flavour, design, and narrative while increasing representation within the sector.
Since launch, Al Shakers has served more than 50,000 guests across over 240 corporate events. They have partnered with major corporations, luxury brands, and government entities, including Rolls Royce, Mercedes-Benz, Nespresso, Genesis, the Michelin Guide, and Formula One, and have led workshops and community activities at the Qatar International Food Festival. The company is contributing to emerging trends in the regional beverage scene and helping advance standards in mocktail mixology across the Middle East.
Heizel Estrada - Phillipines
(She/Her)
After a ‘life-changing’ experience at the One Young World Summit, 2022, Heizel founded HDE Volleyball Academy. The social enterprise teaches underserved youth the fundamentals of volleyball, using sport as a tool for community transformation. In addition to volleyball training, participants are provided with financial support and encouraged to ‘pay it forward’ by volunteering at school supply drives and environmental events.
Since its founding, HDE Volleyball Academy has reached over 2,000 athletes and sports enthusiasts. This figure includes 1,965 players who have received volleyball training through the organisation’s grassroots skillbuilding programmes, and 30 student-athletes earned athletic scholarships to schools and universities, helping them pursue both academic and athletic goals. Additionally, 10 community-based teams have been supported through the league sponsorship program, covering essentials such as registration fees, uniforms, and training equipment.
Read More About HDE Volleyball Academy
Norah Kimathi - Kenya
(She/Her)
Norah co-founded Zerobionic, a humanoid robotic exoskeleton company that translates STEM content into sign language, giving Deaf and hard of hearing students real-time access to sign language content. Unlike imported assistive devices which are expensive and often incompatible with local sign dialects, Zerobionic is designed and built in Africa, for African learners, and works offline, making it reliable even in low-connectivity environments.
The humanoid robotic’s outer frame is produced from recycled plastic, with more than 10,000 kg of waste transformed into functional assistive technology as we speak. Zerobionic is pioneering this innovation across the continent and has already reached over 500,000 students, with a strong focus on empowering girls in STEM. Students using Zerobionic’s real-time sign language transcription and visual learning tools have recorded a 70% improvement in STEM comprehension, demonstrating the impact and potential of accessible, locally built educational technology.
Connect with Norah on LinkedIn
Munira Chambuso - Tanzania
(She/Her)
Munira is a Project Portfolio Manager at Absa Bank Tanzania. In addition to her role, she champions a number of social impact projects. One such project, Tech for Good, under the Women in Tech Programme, is a set of initiatives designed to expand digital access, empower girls in STEM, and encourage youth to become technological innovators. This year, Tech for Good (Women in Tech) held a Girl Code Hackathon with Absa Bank Tanzania, which brought talented young coders together to create technological solutions to community problems. Munira also plays a vital role in the Computer Donation Programme for Girls’ Schools, which will donate devices to government schools in 2026.
50 computers will be donated in the new year, predicted to expand information and communications technology access to up to 100 students yearly. Through additional digital access programmes, Munira has already created technological learning pathways for 15 girls. In the future, her Tech for Good initiatives plan to reach up to 200 girls yearly with mentorship and exposure to opportunities in technology and innovation.