One Young World Ambassadors are leading projects in every country of the world, creating substantial social impact across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Every month our Coordinating Ambassadors select someone from their region who has created significant social impact locally, regionally or even worldwide.
This Month's Featured Projects in Numbers
94 k+
people reached across the spotlight projects
50 k
kilograms of plastic waste recycled
Meet the Ambassadors
She/Her
Martha Lidia Oxí Chuy - Guatemala
Martha Lidia is the Co-Executive Director of the MAIA Impact School, an organisation that is redefining education in Guatemala by combining academia, Indigenous Maya culture, socio-emotional learning and personal development, to develop a generation of empowered female leaders. The MAIA Impact School is Central America’s only school of its size designed specifically to connect the talents of Indigenous girls.
MAIA currently has 300 Girl Pioneers involved in a seven year holistic programme. Their approach also includes family engagement, directly impacting approximately 2,000 people from 40 rural communities on a yearly basis.
Since 2017, Maia has provided full scholarships to nearly 400 girls, trained around 3,600 women, 65 organisations and 150 local leaders in their girl-centred methodology. To date, MAIA’s retention rate is 94% and 51% of the girls in MAIA passed Guatemala’s national literature exam (compared to 31% nationally), and 37% passed the national maths exam (17% nationally).
They/Them
John M. Barac - Montenegro
John M. is the Executive Director of LGBT Forum Progress, an organisation in Montenegro that has developed a programme for monitoring and reporting online hate speech. The only organisation with this approach in Montenegro, they have been active for more than ten years and have filed several thousand charges to the Police Directorate of Montenegro.
As a result of their work, John and their team have noticed behavioural changes in people’s online interactions. They have noticed that some people will dissuade others from engaging in online hate speech as they gain knowledge and understanding following this process and change their perspective.
Between January and November 2023, they filed 222 charges for online hate speech to the Police Directorate. In October 2022, they filed 220 charges. Within one month in 2019, they filed over 60; and in the first five months of 2018, they filed 78. Concerning misdemeanours, between 1/4 to 1/3 of the reported cases end up before the court and about half of those result in penalties.
He/Him
Kenley Kenneth - Palau
Kenley is a Pacific Islander environmental activist. He is a Youth Negotiator for the National Climate Change Office of Palau, and he participated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) representing them.
As a Palauan, Kenley’s commitment to environmental activism is motivated by a personal connection due to firsthand experience of the devastating impacts of climate change on his islands, their coral reefs and biodiversity. He aims to be a part of the crucial effort to advocate for secure financial support, and ensure that the world takes urgent action to combat climate change, in order to help his and other small island nations survive.
Kenley was a member of the 7th Our Ocean Conference Secretariat, where as the Youth Coordinator he was the lead for the youth component of the conference in Palau. There he brought together fifty youth delegates from across the globe to address pressing ocean issues.
She/Her
Juliet Namujju - Uganda
Juliet is the Founder and CEO of Kimuli Collections, a fashion company that produces up-cycled clothing and accessories by training and employing persons with disabilities. Through their waste collection process, they also support homeless or rural youth living in poverty by buying the waste materials off them.
In total, they have directly employed 86 skilled disabled tailors and trained and employed 120 marginalised youth as waste collectors. Additionally, they also organise sensitisation programmes in schools, children camps, and rural communities to support the reduction, reuse and recycling, as well as up-cycling of waste.
They held an inclusive fashion show in 2019 that impacted 800 individuals from three countries and was covered by international media outlets. After this, they signed supply contracts with 7 prestigious international fashion houses. This collaboration, in turn, facilitated the upcycling of an impressive 50,000 kilograms of plastic waste, transformed into 20,000 upcycled garments and accessories.
He/Him
Jonathan Puerta - Colombia
Jonathan is a consultant, project manager, and specialist in innovation and AI policy.
He has co-founded two social impact initiatives in Colombia: Design Your Nation and TASKME, both organisations focused on empowering young people through providing them with entrepreneurial and employability skills and tools.
Jonathan holds a MSc in Science & Technology Policy from the University of Sussex, and has led and collaborated on research projects for organisations such as the European Commission, the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), the Inter-American Development Bank, and the G20 group.
Throughout these projects, he has studied the state of AI development and adoption in Latin America, analysed the geopolitical race in AI policy and regulation, and quantified the impact of emerging technologies on the labour market. He has been part of PILLARS, the European Union's project analysing the impact of automation technologies on industries and occupations. It will be used by the European Commission for shaping future policies.
She/Her
Tea Vrcić - Croatia
Tea is the Chief of Marketing Officer at EnergyShift, a web-based, blockchain powered platform that enables citizens to jointly invest in and co-own solar farms. Their co-ownership financing model democratises access to the energy sector for regular citizens.
EnergyShift allows people to become part of the energy transition and to participate in impact investment, through investing in co-owned solar farms. They operate as a microfinancing platform where clients invest in solar projects through accessible microloans and allow them earn high yields with less risk. They offer an opportunity for people, regardless of investment experience, to become active in impact investment and generate socio-environmental impact.
As of November 2023, they have more than 2,000 European citizens registered on their platform, with an investment potential of 22 million euros.
He/Him
Nhial Deng - South Sudan
Nhial Deng became a refugee in 2010, when he fled from Ethiopia to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. There, in 2017, he founded the Refugee Youth Peace Ambassadors Initiative, which worked on peacebuilding, youth empowerment, and social entrepreneurship. They offered workshops, mentoring sessions, sports-focused activities and community dialogues. Through the Refugee Youth Peace Ambassadors Initiative, they impacted more than 20,000 refugees, creating a safe space for young people to heal from their trauma.
In 2021, Nhial founded SheLeads Kakuma, a programme that aims to promote gender equality in refugee camps through leadership, advocacy and mentoring for women and girls. SheLeads Kakuma connects young refugee girls and women with mentors across the world.
Additionally, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Nhial also set up a digital awareness campaign to tackle misinformation, reaching over 40,000 people in Kakuma and Kalobeyei and providing them with credible and accurate information regarding the virus. For his work, Nhial won the Global Student Prize 2023 from Chegg.org.
She/Her
Stephani Paliza - Perú
Stephani is a first-year student of the Diplomatic Academy of Peru, where she is preparing to represent her country on the global stage with the highest level of excellence. Between 2021 and 2022, she worked at the Women's Observatory Against Disinformation, which seeks to support the violence-free participation of women in decision-making processes, including conflict resolution. While Stephani was there, the Observatory was selected to participate in the 2021 Paris Peace Forum and received an Honorary Mention at the World Justice Challenge 2022 in the Equality and Non-Discrimination category.
Stephani was also a volunteer at United Peruvian Youth, a youth organisation in Peru that promotes SDG 4 - Quality Education. In recognition of her work in 2022, she won the UK Ambassador for a Day competition in Peru. Stephani was also an Aspire Leader by the Aspire Leadership Institute funded by Harvard University and was selected as part of the Youth Council of the Global Fund for Children.
He/Him
Barry Walsh - Ireland
Barry is a diversity and inclusion advocate. He founded and runs a website called Focusondiversity.ie, where he features people, companies and programmes that are actively promoting the area of Diversity and Inclusion. To achieve this, he interviews companies on what they are doing in the area of D&I, as well as promoting people to follow working in different areas of the field. Barry also gives advice based on his firsthand experience of neurodiversity in the workforce. As of November 2023, Focusondiversity.ie has over 23,000 views and 200 articles.
Additionally, Barry gives presentations on neurodiversity in the workplace and other areas of disability. So far, he has given conferences to 600 people attending or smaller presentations to corporate companies.
She/Her
Devika Malik - India
Devika was a Para-athlete representing India at the 4th Asian Para Games in Hangzhou 2022. She was one of six women with cerebral palsy competing in para-athletics events from India and the oldest in track events from India at 33 years old. Devika competed in the 100 & 200 metres sprint events in Women's T-37 category at the Asian Para Games. She placed fourth in the competition, breaking her previous records in past competitions and setting new personal best performance timings.
Devika had retired from sports in 2016, but in 2021, she decided to start training for these Asian Para Games. She is now the national record holder for India in the 100 & 200 metres T-37 category.
Additionally, Devika founded Wheeling Happiness, a non-profit organisation that helps people with disabilities by promoting inclusion and advocating for better access to opportunities. So far, they have impacted over 10,000 people. Devika is also the founding member & Asia Region Representative of the Commonwealth Children and Youth Disability Network. She has received the National Youth Award from Government of India in 2021, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2020, Queen's Young Leader award from Queen Elizabeth II for her work.
He/Him
Rodrigo Eidy Uemura - Brazil
Rodrigo is the President of Litro de Luz Brazil, a social organisation that brings light through solar powered solutions to communities that lack access to an electrical grid in the country. They impact people living in favelas, Amazonian riverine communities, indigenous villages and Quilombala populations.
Their solution is crafted from sustainable materials and they use a community development approach to involve the residents, fostering empowerment and effective collaboration. Litro de Luz has seen their solution directly impact on education, health, economy, security and safety, and the environment through CO2 emissions reduction. Additionally, they establish corporate partnerships, through which they provide corporate volunteering and workshops or provide institutional support.
As of October 2023, Litro de Luz has impacted over 25,000 individuals across 100 communities and installed more than 4,000 solutions across the five regions of Brazil. At companies, Litro de Luz so far has made 40 corporate workshops with around 3,600 employees.
He/Him
Jeshua Jôvan Bardoo - St. Vincent & the Grenadines
Jeshua is the Executive Officer at the Equal Rights, Access and Opportunities SVG Inc., a non-profit human rights organisation dedicated to promoting equality and non-discrimination in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). Their approach is spread across four key thematic areas: women’s rights, children’s rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and disability rights (physical and mental).
Their work centres around education, sensitization and raising awareness to people about their rights and the rights of others. Jeshua and the ERAO SVG team collaborate with local, regional and international organisations to promote social justice.
In June 2023, ERAO SVG held a historic Pride SVG Lunch Reception in collaboration with the Office of the Resident British Commissioner in Kingstown. This event marked the first time that Vincentians came together to publicly celebrate Pride. The Pride SVG Lunch Reception was attended by close to 40 people from across the LGBTQIA+ community, LGBTQIA+ allies, human rights activists and advocates, civil society organisations, international organisations, and legal professionals.
Learn more about the tireless work of One Young World Ambassadors and the outstanding impact of their social impact initiatives in November 2023.