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
1 . 82 m+
people impacted across the spotlight projects
40 k
kWh / year estimated energy savings
8 k+
jobs created
He/Him
Moko Tepania - Aotearoa New Zealand
Moko Tepania is the Mayor of the Far North District Council, one of the 78 councils that make up local government in Aotearoa New Zealand and serving a population of 75,000 people, of whom over 50% identify as Māori. Moko is the first Māori and the youngest mayor elected in the Far North.
The Council, under his leadership, has made significant culturally responsive changes. These include introducing a formal meetings calendar based on the Māori lunar calendar, adopting a Māori language policy for the district, establishing a new Māori committee with representatives from the 11 iwi (Indigenous Tribal) authorities in the Far North, as well as restoring the traditional Māori name of the district, Te Hiku o te Ika to the council logo.
Previously as a councillor, Moko led the change to see the establishment of Māori wards for the Far North District Council, a historic achievement to bring an Indigenous voice to the decision-making table and a way of upholding the country's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi.
She/Her
Bruna Ferreira Amaral - Brazil
Bruna is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Toti, an innovative platform promoting education and the inclusion of refugees and migrants in the tech sector. Additionally, the social enterprise helps organisations grow their ESG performances through their social impact projects as well as by supporting the employment of diverse and qualified talent.
Toti was born to generate opportunities for high-quality jobs for refugees in Brazil as intake refugee numbers reached record levels. It is active in more than 21 states and 140 municipalities in Brazil, reaching people from 42 different countries living in the country.
Across the past six years, Toti has directly impacted more than 1,200 people, with an additional indirect impact of 4,000+ people, through professional development and training courses on subjects such as web development, data analysis, and technical support. It has held 48 classes, which have generated an average increase in income of 200% for students.
Yaakoub Benarab - Algeria
Yaakoub is the CEO and Founder of SNAI3I - صنايعي, a curriculum design social enterprise. The SNAI3I - صنايعي model has three impact pathways. The first is equipping children and teenagers with future skills in engineering and entrepreneurship; reaching over a 1,000 children and teenagers across its four branches in Algeria. The second is curriculum evaluation and design for training programmes and educational institutions to enhance teaching methodologies and learning outcomes. The third involves a user-generated curriculum marketplace for schools to acquire hybrid courses, with 70 courses sold so far.
SNAI3I - صنايعي has directly impacted more than 10,000 children, over 200 teachers, 15 schools and two universities, and two companies. The initiative has also created jobs for over 50 young students and recent graduates. Indirectly, the initiative has reached an estimated 100,000 people and it has a significant social media presence across different channels.
She/Her
Laura Grootenboer - The Netherlands
Laura is the Head of Engagement, Sustainability Transformation at Deloitte North and South Europe. In her role, she leads on behaviour and culture change initiatives, leadership engagement and employee advocacy and engagement. As part of her work in internal sustainability, she helped organise the second annual Growing Green Leaders event on April 5.
The event brought together 200 young people from Deloitte, ING, Cargill and Vattenfall to discuss sustainability, implementation and how to keep moving forward when things get tough. This theme tied into last edition’s theme of how young people could have a voice on sustainability in their organisations and taking effective action.
The Growing Green Leaders event agenda included introductory remarks by Laura, a keynote by Dyonne Niehof, One Young World’s Coordinating Ambassador for Benelux and Germany, a panel discussion with corporate leaders from the participating organisations and eight interactive workshops.
Eliezer Lappots-Abreu - Dominican Republic
Eliezer is the President and Executive Director of the Health Horizons International Foundation, a non-profit organisation aiming to strengthen primary health care across the Dominican Republic. The programmes’ content focuses on education for prevention and integral management of non-communicable diseases through a community-based approach.
The Health Horizons International Foundation has impacted 1.8 million people through their different programmes, including joint work with the Dominican Ministry of Public Health. The initiative has reached 25,000 young people through NCD education, prevention of high-risk behaviours and raising mental health awareness in rural communities and schools.
The Health Horizons International Foundation created the first NCD Education & Prevention Manual implemented in Primary Health Care Centers, as well as the first Community Health Worker programme. Its community-based women’s health programme for breast cervical cancer screening has impacted more than 2,000 women so far. Additionally, the Foundation has the first and only Centre of Excellence for diabetes care in the country, working to close the access to affordable and quality healthcare gap.
She/Her
Promise Mabena - South Africa
Promise is the Founder of Esther’s Crown, a non-profit organisation working to achieve food security and mental health wellbeing for all, especially women and children. Promise is also a published author, a TV & radio presenter and philanthropist. The initiative began as an online platform that provided counselling and spiritual support during the COVID-19 pandemic. It now offers mental health talks for women online and in-person and has expanded to 10 African countries.
Acknowledging the need for quality food in informal settlements, Esther’s Crown launched a mobile kitchen in South Africa, named after the informal settlement of Zwakala, to ensure children have access to healthy and nourishing food. The mobile kitchen also functions as a safe space for those in informal settlements, providing them with clothes and books too.
Zwakala has fed 200 children, while Esther’s Crown mental health initiatives have reached over 1,000 women. Additionally, Promise is also a published author, TV and radio presenter. She received the 2024 Humanitarian of the Year Award from Emerge Africa for her philanthropic work.
She/Her
Sagufta Salma Janif - Fiji
Sagufta Salma is the Executive Director of Outsource Fiji, an initiative committed to advancing the outsourcing industry in the country while addressing social inequalities through targeted projects. To achieve this, Outsource Fiji focuses on job creation, training and development for underprivileged young people.
Additionally, through partnerships with educational institutions and industry stakeholders, it offers programmes covering technical and soft skills, facilitating internships and job placements to ensure a smooth transition to employment.
Outsource Fiji is also active in initiatives aimed at protecting and certifying the outsourcing industry, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations to uphold quality and integrity. Additionally, it promotes accessibility and inclusion in accessing the job market for people with disabilities. Its job creation initiatives have led to the creation of 8,000 jobs for underprivileged women and young people. Through scholarship opportunities, it has empowered more than 800 women and young people to access employment, and equipped over 500 people active in the outsourcing industry with leadership skills.
She/Her
Luisa Fernanda Romero Muñoz - Colombia
Luisa Fernanda co-founded Get Up And Go Colombia (GGC), an non-governmental organisation working on peacebuilding through sustainable tourism in Cauca, Colombia. Since founding, the organisation has developed various tourism projects aiming to showcase the region while contributing to peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts through the creation of economic opportunities, and the rebuilding of the social fabric in local communities.
Luisa Fernanda is also the Digital Action Lab coordinator for Civicus, where she supports grassroots organisations in the Global South working for more inclusive societies.
GGC has impacted more than 25,000 people, including local communities, volunteers and tourists, through its activities over the past eight years. Through its latest initiative, the Peace Centre Tiuspa Café, the organisation is promoting gastronomic tourism and peacebuilding in conflict-affected communities, impacting around 5,000 people. Additionally, the organisation has created Virtual Reality tours of former conflict zones working with Indigenous youth and former combatants, and collaborated with victims who have replaced illegal crops.
She/Her
Sabine Englberger - Switzerland
Sabine and fellow Ambassador Sarah Hubbauer, are a part of siempact, a grassroots corporate change community founded by 39 One Young World Ambassadors from Siemens in 2021. Its mission is to spark grassroots initiatives and transform Siemens from the bottom up into a company for people, planet, and profit.
After the Summit in Manchester, 2022, Sabine and Sarah co-founded the first local hub of siempact in Switzerland together with Emily Ain. The hub has 12 active members, recruiting eight new ones in 2024, and four ongoing impact projects.
Following the success of its Impact Mentoring Project, a six-month programme matching 13 social entrepreneurs with 13 Siemens experienced managers, the project will be scaled to other regions. Other projects include the ECOmode Project, a custom-developed machine learning algorithm to make Siemens' offices more sustainable and energy efficient, with an estimated 40000 kWh / year of savings for our Siemens office in Zug; a sustainable pension fund project and corporate volunteering.
She/Her
Daniela Marisabel Marca Baldellón - Bolivia
Daniela is the Founder and Lead of Proyekta Tech, a non-profit organisation in Bolivia dedicated to empowering young people through STEM education to combat youth unemployment and the high rates of informal unemployment in the country.
Proyekta Tech holds workshops, talks and uses hands-on activities to educate young people on STEM, recently with a special focus on AI, digital skills development and entrepreneurship. The organisation works with populations in urban and rural areas providing scholarships and access to digital platforms for outstanding students.
Proyekta Tech has trained more than 1,000 students on tech, AI and provided vocational guidance. Its educational programmes, which are designed by its team, have provided students with essential skills to pursue a professional career in the digital and tech sector. Proyekta Tech has collaborated with four municipal governments and the NGO Solidar Suiza through the PADEM Education support programme to support and enhance its educational programmes. Additionally, it has trained 50 volunteers across five areas of work, including logistics, human resources and technology.
She/Her
Ayane Murakami - Japan
Ayane is part of the Nagasaki Youth Delegation, a human resource development project to deepen learning for nuclear disarmament sponsored by the Nagasaki Prefecture, the city of Nagasaki, and Nagasaki University.
By participating in international conferences addressing nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and through post-conference activities, the initiative aims to enable young people in Nagasaki with leadership skills, acquiring knowledge on international affairs and establishing global relationships to use that knowledge for action.
Ayane was also the Head of Peace Caravan Tai, a student organisation that was created to deliver lectures on the impact of the atomic bombings, including a historical perspective, as well as the current issues regarding nuclear weapons to schools around Japan. Additionally, the project also provides guided school field trips through the remains of Nagasaki and organises discussion events on the impact of the atomic bomb in their city.