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2022 YOUNG ACTIVISTS SUMMIT

The 2022 Young Activists Summit – which was held on 2 December 2022 at the United Nations in Geneva (Switzerland) – honoured 6 young change-makers working tirelessly for an inclusive and equal world during a live event with participants from 134 countries. The Official Summit (available below) was followed by live conversations with the activists on Instagram that have been viewed 242,000 times.

The six laureates received a donation to carry out a field project and advance their causes on the ground.

This fourth edition of the Young Activists Summit has reached over 8.9 million people on social media around the world.

PHOTOS

WATCH THE OFFICIAL SUMMIT

ACTIVISTS

24 YEARS OLD, AFGHANISTAN

Giving girls access to education

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19 YEARS OLD, SOUTH AFRICA

Fighting against racism

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21 YEARS OLD, Chile

A pollution-free environment & protecting environmental defenders

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26 YEARS OLD, UK/USA

Promoting disabled talent and changing mindsets through entertainment

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22 YEARS OLD, DRC

Protecting street children

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21 YEARS OLD, USA

Making classrooms safer for LGBTQ+ students

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AWARENESS

  • • The 2022 Young Activists Summit and its laureates were covered by 58 media outlets, including CNN, TV5MONDE, Brut, ABC, Agencia EFE, Radio France Internationale RFI, Keystone ATS, Le Temps, SRF, Naver, Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise, Sunday Times South Africa, etc.
  • • #YAS22 laureate C’est Prévue Emmy Lusila was invited to take part in the Swiss 19.30 TV news programme (RTS) which is followed by over 300,000 people every day, and in a live interview on TV5MONDE, which reaches 370 million households across 198 countries.
  • • A documentary on C’est Prévue Emmy Lusila – coproduced by the digital media outlet Brut and dev.tv – has reached a total of over 1.3 million views across all of Brut’s platforms.
  • • In 2022, the Young Activists Summit launched a new TikTok account, to expand its outreach to youth. The concept is to feature young content creators from different parts of the world who are influential in the field of human rights and/or the environment.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

  • • 3,500 people registered to take part in the online event, from at least 134 countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, El Salvador, Georgia, Haiti, Iraq, Lesotho, Malaysia, Russia, Sudan, the UAE, Ukraine, the USA, Zimbabwe, etc.
  • • A VIP dinner gave the activists an opportunity to pitch their respective projects to an audience of 50 decision-makers.
  • • The activists were connected with some of the world’s largest foundations (Clinton Foundation, Oak Foundation, Aga Khan Foundation, etc), paving the way for potential funding which will make a tremendous difference in the way their projects are carried out.
  • • Environmental activist Sebastian Benfeld was officially congratulated by the President of Chile, his country of origin, following his #YAS22 award.
  • • C’est Prévue Emmy Lusila received many private donations following her public statements.

DONATIONS

A donation was granted to each of the six activists thanks to the generous support of the Fondation Sisley d’Ornano and of the Canton of Geneva. These donations will support the launch of a health centre for street children in Kinshasa (DRC), underground schools for girls in Afghanistan, access to LGBTQ+ inclusive books in conservative and low-income districts in California, an ecological restoration project in the municipalities of Quintero and Puchuncavi (Chile) – one of the world’s most polluted areas, book corners for children living in disadvantaged rural and township communities in South Africa, and an episode of Zetta Communities – a learning management system for Deaf and Disabled talent.

CO-ORGANIZED BY

dev.tv, non-profit NGO of media professionals

United Nations Office at Geneva

Radio Télévision Suisse

Graduate Institute

MEDIA

TV5MONDE

GenèveVision

FOUNDATIONS

Fondation Sisley d’Ornano

Fondation Botnar

Fondation Hélène & Victor Barbour

Fondation pour Genève

Fondation Ousseimi

Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung

Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco

African Women’s Development Fund

Swiss Solidarity

Fondation Aigues Vertes

GOVERNMENTS & PUBLIC ENTITIES

Swiss Confederation

Republic and State of Geneva

Permanent Mission of the USA to the UN

European Union

Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN

City of Geneva

Canton of Vaud

UK Permanent Mission to the UN

University of Geneva

NGOS & ASSOCIATIONS

Global Citizen

International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights FIFDH

Eduki Foundation

Step into Action

Geneva Youth Call

Youthtopia

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

UNFPA United Nations Population Fund

UNESCO International Bureau of Education

PRIVATE SECTOR

Manotel

Fred Didon Créations

a.Community

Dorier

Brightside Group

Numera

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Giving girls access to education

24 YEARS OLD, Afghanistan

Pashtana is the founder of ‘LEARN’, a non-profit organization which has empowered 7,000 girls in Afghanistan through education. Since the Taliban’s takeover, she fled to the US from where she has continued to educate girls in underground schools in Afghanistan, and provide them with a standard curriculum in addition to concrete skills (e.g. in graphic design or IT). These skills enable girls to make money – which is decisive within an Afghan household – and to thus avoid being trapped in child marriage.

Fighting against racism

19 YEARS OLD, South Africa

Zulaikha became a symbol of the fight against Pretoria Girls High School’s policy regarding black girls’ hair in 2016, at the age of 13. She held demonstrations that led to not only a change in school policy, but also an inquiry into allegations of racism at the school. Zulaikha Patel’s actions inspired other protests in South Africa and people worldwide began sharing pictures of their own afros on social media, in solidarity with the female students of Pretoria High School. She recently wrote a children’s book titled “My Coily Crowny Hair” to make sure that no black child ever feels inferior about their hair but rather embraces and falls in love with it. Zulaikha now works on decolonizing the South African school curriculum.

A pollution-free environment & protecting environmental defenders

21 YEARS OLD, Chile

Sebastián was born in a ‘sacrificed’ zone in Chile – Quintero y Puchuncavi – one of the world’s most polluted areas where oil leaks and pollution from heavy industry are harming the health of local citizens. From a very young age, he has engaged with youth movements to advance environmental protection and defend his community’s rights and health. His achievements include the closure of a foundry. Sebastián launched a movement called “Escazú Ahora” which rallied over 34,000 people so that the Chilean government adopts the Escazú Treaty. The latter is the first international agreement to recognize the right to a healthy environment in Latin America. Sebastián also contributed to the closure of a very polluting copper smelter. He now works on the implementation of the Treaty and on the protection of environmental defenders.

Promoting disabled talent and changing mindsets through entertainment

26 YEARS OLD, UK/USA

Keely founded ‘C Talent’ at the age of 18 to promote disabled talent in the movie and media industries. Left with a permanent ‘invisible’ disability following a series of wrong diagnoses, Keely places disabled talent into all roles, not just disability-specific roles. She changes the way the world views and defines disability, utilizing the entertainment industry’s massive reach and power. Through her agency, Keely has placed talent in Hollywood movies, incl. with Disney and Google Pixel, and has reached over 50 million people through their productions to date. Keely also offers consulting services in accessibility to many companies including Netflix, Twitter and Virgin Media. 

Protecting street children

22 YEARS OLD, DRC

C’est Prévue founded an orphanage called ‘La Maison des Anges’ which now hosts 13 children – aged between 5 months and 12 years old – who used to live on the streets of Kinshasa. From the age of 13, she started caring for street kids as she took part in meal distributions, and witnessed their poor living conditions. At the age of 17, she found a house to host her orphanage, which is funded by private donors through small financial contributions.

Making classrooms safer for LGBTQ+ students

21 YEARS OLD, USA

After being bullied throughout elementary and middle school, Sameer founded The Empathy Alliance to make schools safer for LGBTQ+ students like himself. Sameer’s efforts soon expanded to include the entire school district serving over 42 schools & 35,000 students. Sameer Jha wrote a book: ‘Read This, Save Lives’ and was invited to the White House by President Joe Biden.

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