22 YEARS OLD, MYANMAR
Since fleeing Myanmar at the age of 16 to escape persecution of the Rohingya people, Maung has lived in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. He is the founder of the Rohingya Student Network, which aims to ensure Rohingya people’s rights. Maung advocates for better living conditions in the camps, organizes youth workshops to empower his community, and connects Rohingya refugees with international courts, enabling them to pursue justice. Among others, he has been active in the legal action taken against Meta for the role played by the platform in fostering the spread of hate content against the Rohingyas.
Photo : WFP/Hugh Rutherford
27 YEARS OLD, BURKINA FASO
Maïmouna is convinced that poverty and lack of access to education foster violent extremism. With her association, she helps displaced women work in farming and local handicraft. She supports them in becoming community leaders. She has allowed over 60 children to go back to school and connects them with a mentor who helps them heal from trauma. Maïmouna lives in Dori, a city located by the border between Burkina Faso and Niger. Part of her family escaped from the Yirgou massacre which killed 210 people in 2019.
25 YEARS OLD, INDIA
14 YEARS OLD, COLOMBIA
Francisco has fought for environmental protection since he was 9. He wrote a book for children on climate change, built a network of over 1,000 students, contributed to banning tests on animals and single-use plastics, as well as to adopting a moratorium on mining and fracking. Francisco advocates for action-oriented eco-hope to counter eco-anxiety among youth. Threatened with death, he currently lives in Spain.
29 YEARS OLD, SUDAN
Nisreen is a climate activist who has witnessed climate change and the conflicts it has triggered in her home country, Sudan. As natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce, she advocates for the need to invest in renewable energies, which will help prevent future conflicts. Nisreen is the President of Sudan Youth for Climate Change and serves as the Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. Following the conflict outbreak in April 2023, she had to flee Sudan and resettle in Italy.
