The Kofi Annan Changemakers

Fahd (he/him) created ‘Learning Land’, a virtual and physical platform that brings educators together with policymakers to co-create bottom-up sustainable solutions and advocate for policy change. Fahd hopes to leverage his grassroots movement to bridge the learning gap in Lebanon, accelerate progress and shape the future of education in the country.

Mahryan (she/her) works to promote, defend and raise awareness of the rights of refugee children and contribute to environmental justice in Brazil. She trains young migrants and refugees to become digital mobilizers for human rights. She was part of the delegation to COP26, where she brought environmental racism to the forefront of the agenda.

Juwon (he/him) leads the Chapters working group of the World Youth Parliament for Water. His vision is to contribute to actualising international cooperation of young water professionals, who could promote sustainable dialogues and actions that would birth a new era of water response globally.

Luisa (she/her) empowers poor communities who were previously devastated by conflict in Colombia by training locals, especially women, to work in the Tourism industry. Luisa has supported over 20,000 people, providing a source of livelihood through sustainable ecotourism, and furthering peacebuilding and reconciliation among her community.

Nojus (he/him) is the CEO of Youth for Women Foundation, mobilizing and empowering community stakeholders to advocate for gender equality, LGBTQIA+ rights, and gender-based violence policies, fostering digital healthcare and literacy initiatives, and bridging the widespread digital divide. He hopes to continue to educate and empower women and youth from rural, marginalized communities on their mental health, human rights, physical well-being, and digital literacy.

Manata (she/her) works with the Danko Public Foundation in Kyrgyzstan. Together with her team, she develops programs for high school students to improve literacy. She hopes to continue to contribute to the development of youth in a rapidly changing world, and also reducing ‘brain drain’ in Kyrgyzstan.

Marius (he/him) contributes to alleviating malnutrition among women of reproductive age and children under the age of five in the Benin Republic. Through his enterprise, BICOF, he aims to provide affordable and nutritious food and boost food and nutritional security. Marius has been working closely with the local people of Northern Benin to improve their nutritional status by disseminating healthy, nutritionally dense products.

Shradha (She/her) is leading the Grassroots Energy Management Support (GEMS) project focused on bringing about an inclusive energetic transition in rural India. GEMS is working to ensure lower pollution, improved health, and social welfare of women and girls in rural India. GEMS will achieve its goals by replacing traditional open-pit cooking with low-smoke ones and solar lamps instead of kerosene lighting. An add-on advantage of the energy transformation is improved time management of women, creating new income-generating opportunities.

Saif (he/him) works with vulnerable children and youth in India by using his Rugby organization to rehabilitate and transform them to become young, active leaders in their communities. He wants to create a ripple of change through his organization across the country. Saif’s intervention has provided people with access to a growing support system that gives them a space to grow whilst offering a clear pathway to stay physically and mentally fit through Rugby.

Samar (she/her) and her organization, Adeela, promote the participation of youth in driving social change through art and culture. Samar wants to contribute to dismantling systems that make social injustices possible through building youth spaces and art-driven solutions. Adeela is present in over 11 states in Sudan and has supported 500+ grassroots youth bodies working on tribal conflict, violence against women and the participation of youth in local governance.

Mohammad (he/him) is the founder of the ‘Youth for Peace Initiative’ (YPI). YPI helps accelerate the achievement of the SDGs by promoting the values of peacebuilding activities between Jordanian and Syrian refugees. Through his organisation, Mohammad offers youth access to educational opportunities and resources to gain skills to become influential leaders and peacebuilders in their communities.

Stacy (she/her) helps young women and girls in Kenya to escape FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) while also educating the public on its effects. She aims to influence the government through the Ministry of Gender and Health to enforce policies against FGM in the future. Stacy created a mobile app, iCut, that enables girls/users to report cases of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) before it happens so that users can contact rescue centres or hospitals closest to them.