Young Activists Summit

On 18 November 2021 at the Palais des Nations (Geneva, Switzerland), the Summit’s edition entitled ‘New Generation, New Solutions’ will honour six outstanding young people who have driven concrete change for their communities and the environment.

The award ceremony is part of the third Young Activists SummitExternal link (#YAS21), which is taking place at the Palais des Nations, the UN headquarters in Europe. SWI swissinfo.ch is media partner of the event.

The spotlight will shine on six people aged between 15 and 26 from all parts of the world who have changed their environment with their ideas. The laureates of 2021 show that young people have ideas and the power to shape a sustainable and equal world.

Young Activist Summit 2021

 
Gitanjali Rao, 15, Anti-cyberbullying app, USA: Gitanjali is a scientist and the first-ever TIME Magazine’s ‘Kid of the Year’. Gitanjali has developed various tools to counter cyberbullying, detect the amount of lead content in water, and help the early diagnosis of prescription opioid addiction. Gitanjali came up with a problem-solving methodology, which she has shared with over 50,000 students around the world, including in Afghanistan and refugee camps.
 
Jose Quisocala, 16, Bank for children’s education, Peru: At the age of 7, Jose founded the ‘Banco del Estudiante Bartselena’, a bank for children and the environment. With the recyclable waste that his children customers pick, they earn money on their bank accounts in order to pay for their food or school tuition. To date, 2,500 children aged between 7 and 18 have used this bank to buy food and/or study, and 4,000 more are in the process of being enrolled.
 
Lual Mayen, 26, Video games for peace, South Sudan: As a newborn in his parents’ arms, Lual endured a 225-mile trek from his war-torn home in South Sudan to a refugee camp in Northern Uganda. He recently developed ‘Salaam’, a video game which allows players to adopt the role of a refugee seeking for a peaceful place. The character must flee falling bombs, find water and food to survive and through in-app purchases, players support NGOs working on the ground to provide refugees living in camps with basic necessities. Lual now lives in the United States, where he established a foundation to train refugees and provide them with coding and game development skills.

Louise Mabulo, 22, Sustainable Farming & Climate Resilience, Philippines: Louise is the founder of The Cacao Project, an initiative that provides farmers in the Philippines with cacao plant seedlings and teaches them how to responsibly and sustainably produce cacao. The project has trained over 200 farmers, has planted 70,000 trees, and has helped with the revival of two water sources from increased water retention in soil. Please find the Video as well as more information on her project here: 

Titouan Bernicot, 22, Super-corals for ocean conservation, French Polynesia: As a child of the ocean, Titouan knew something had to be done to save the lungs of the ocean and the future of the marine ecosystems when he was 20. He founded ‘Coral Gardeners’, an association that is growing climate change resilient corals (super-corals) to restore the reefs of Moorea, French Polynesia, and beyond. To date, more than 15,000 corals have been replanted.
 
Stacy Dina Adhiambo, 21, Female Genital Mutilation prevention app, Kenya: Stacy developed a ground-breaking app called ‘iCut’, together with a group of four other young Kenyan girls called ‘The Restorers’. The app allows girls who are facing imminent FGM to alert the authorities by clicking a distress button on their mobile phone. It makes it easier for young women to seek help and find a rescue center. 

If the pandemic allows, the six above laureates will participate in the Young Activists Summit in person at the Palais des Nations (Geneva, Switzerland). 
 
The Summit is co-organized by the United Nations Office at GenevaExternal link, the NGO dev.tvExternal link, Radio Télévision SuisseExternal link (RTS), and its GenèveVisionExternal link label, and the Graduate Institute of International and Development StudiesExternal link.