Four exceptional young people from India, Nigeria, the Solomon Islands and Saint Lucia have won prizes at the 2019 Commonwealth Youth Awards in recognition of their efforts to end hunger, sexual violence, sanitation issues and climate change.
\nA ceremony was held today at the Commonwealth\u2019s headquarters in London, where winners shared a \u00a312,000 grant for their innovative projects.
\nThe Commonwealth Youth Awards regional winners are:
\nAfrica and Europe: Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, Nigeria, focus on SDG 5: Gender Equality Asia: Padmanaban Gopalan, India, focus on SDG 2: Zero Hunger The Caribbean and Canada: Johanan Dujon, Saint Lucia, focus on SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure The Pacific: Bobby Siarani, Solomon Islands, focus on SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
\nOluwaseun, who also scooped the overall prize of 2019 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year, set up the \u2018Stand to End Rape\u2019 (STER) initiative.
\nA survivor of sexual violence herself, she set up the service to offer support to women, men and young people who have experienced any form of gender-based abuse in Nigeria.
\nSTER trains healthcare workers how to deal with survivors and provides them with free health kits such as HIV tests.
\nSpeaking at the awards, she said: \u201cI dream of a future where this work is not required. I dream of the day when sexual violence is completely eradicated from this world.\u201d
\nOluwaseun\u2019s work has reached over 200,000 people providing pro-bono medical, legal, mental health, educational and empowerment services.
\nHer sentiments were echoed by an Indian socio-entrepreneur, Padmanaban Gopalan, who hopes to end hunger.
\nHe founded the \u2018No Food Waste\u2019 programme in India which sees 12,000 volunteers collect surplus food from parties and restaurants. The volunteers then deliver it to \u2018hunger spots\u2019 in India to feed the hungry.
\nHe said: \u201cMy programme has recovered over 650,000 meals in my country which have benefited nearly one million people.\u201d
\nFrom Saint Lucia, Johanan Dujon founded an indigenous biotechnology company \u2018Algas Organics\u2019. His company develops commercial agricultural products from harmful Sargassum seaweed.
\nThese products unblock fish landing sites and reduce the harmful effect of the seaweed\u2019s hydrogen sulphide emissions on local communities.
\nSpeaking at the ceremony, he said: \u201cSaint Lucia heavily depends on tourism. This seaweed problem has been having a crippling effect on our tourism and local fishery sector.
\n\u201cWe have developed a process to transform this seaweed to highly quality fertiliser that we now export to other countries.\u201d
\nJohanan hopes to use his grant to expand his work to other affected small island states in Africa and the Pacific.
\nSolomon Island\u2019s advocate for sustainable livelihoods, Bobby Siarani, founded a bio-gas initiative to address waste disposal and sanitation issues. The project delivered biogas-based construction workshops to over 500 young people and has provided clean energy to hundreds of people in rural areas of his country.
\nBobby plans to use his Commonwealth grant to take his initiative to remote areas in the Solomon Islands.
\nCommonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, who presented the awards, said: \u201cThe pace, depth and scope of development in any society depend on how well its youth are nurtured and supported.
\n\u201cThis means providing the space for young people to thrive, to contribute and to realise their potential.
\n\u201cIn such an environment, they are able to exercise their rights and citizenship, and to find fulfilment and purpose; passing on to others the gains and positive values that come from the true community.\u201d
\nEvery year the Commonwealth Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work recognise the exceptional contribution of young people, aged 15-29, of 53 Commonwealth countries who are leading initiatives in view of the sustainable development goals.
\nFrom more than 500 nominations from over 45 countries, 16 finalists were chosen by a panel of judges including representatives of high commissions, partner organisations and young leaders.
\nThe 12 additional finalists for the awards were:
\nAfrica and Europe:
\nAlice Mukashyaka, Rwanda Brenda Katwesigye, Uganda Turatsinze Mafigi Victor, Uganda
\nAsia:
\nSiti Najihah Kamilah Binti Latif, Brunei Sai Venkata Satya Kedar Illa, India Shanza Khan Shahani, Pakistan
\nThe Caribbean and Canada:
\nRyan Robinson Perinchief, Bermuda Ashley Komangaapik Rose Cummings, Canada Curmira Gulston, Trinidad and Tobago
\nThe Pacific:
\nSivendra Michael, Fiji Zoe Paisley and Lisa Paisley, Fiji Angelica Salele and Isabell Rasch, Samoa
\nThis is the 30th year of the Commonwealth Youth Awards which are run by the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) to promote the innovation, creativity and potential of young people in solving socio-economic and environmental challenges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Four exceptional young people from India, Nigeria, the Solomon Islands and Saint Lucia have won prizes at the 2019 Commonwealth Youth Awards in recognition of their efforts to end hunger, sexual violence, sanitation issues and climate change. A ceremony was held today at the Commonwealth\u2019s headquarters in London, where winners shared a \u00a312,000 grant for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}