Five One Young World Ambassadors have been recognized at the Commonwealth Youth Awards for their exceptional work on promoting good health, food security, and COVID-19 relief.
The awards recognize the contributions of young people whose projects are transforming lives in their communities and helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Regional Awards:
One Young World Ambassador Bevon Chadel Charles has been named regional winner for the Caribbean at the Commonwealth Youth Awards for her exceptional work in promoting food security.
The awards recognize the contributions of young people whose projects are transforming lives in their communities and helping achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The winners were chosen from more than 1,000 entries received from 43 Commonwealth countries following a rigorous judging process. Each regional winner will receive £3,000 for their projects.
Bevon's project creates climate-smart farms across the Caribbean (focus on SDG 2: Zero Hunger).
Commonwealth Young Person of the Year:
In addition to winning the regional award for Asia, One Young World Ambassador Faysal Islam from Bangladesh won the overall title of 2021 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year for his work and received a total of £5,000.
Faysal Islam's project provides low-cost ambulances and medical care to rural people (focus on SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being).
Commonwealth Youth COVID-19 Heroes:
One Young World Ambassadors have been recognized as Commonwealth Youth COVID-19 Heroes.
Alexia Hilbertidou (New Zealand) - Alexia is the founder of GirlBoss New Zealand which empowers and equips young women to develop leadership and entrepreneurial skills. During the pandemic, Alexia launched GirlBoss Edge – a virtual career accelerator giving over 1000 women access to 1:1 leaders mentorship and career skills masterclasses, particularly Indigenous, Pasifika, low-income, and rural women.
Dr. Isaac Olufadewa (Nigeria) - Isaac is the founder of the Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN). The SRHIN COVID-19 Project has translated COVID-19 health messages from the World Health Organization into over 100 languages, reaching over 1.5 million people. Isaac also launched an AI-driven app and chatbot offering thousands of young people access to comprehensive sexual and mental health information.
Sukhmeet Singh Sacha(Canada) - Sukhmeet is a co-founder of Translations 4 Our Nations; an initiative that works with indigenous community members to create medically accurate and culturally-relevant COVID-19 information in indigenous languages. The program has recruited over 140 indigenous translators to translate public health policy information into over 45 languages, reaching over 45,000 indigenous people.