COMMONWEALTH YOUNG ACHIEVERS 2015 COMMONWEALTH YOUNG ACHIEVERS 2015 S R CHIEVE A G N OU 2015 Y TH L COMMONWEA TEAM OF THE COMMONWEALTH YOUNGCOMMONWEA LTH ACHIEVERS BOOKYOUNG ACHIEVERS 2015 Editorial Team Ahmed Adamu (Nigeria) Tilan M Wijesooriya (Sri Lanka) Ziggy Adam (Seychelles) Jerome Cowans (Jamaica) Melissa Bryant (St. Kitts and Nevis) Layout & Design Abdul Basith (Sri Lanka) © Commonwealth Youth Council, United Kingdom, 2015 Published by: Commonwealth Youth Council, United Kingdom Cover design: Abdul Basith (Sri Lanka) & Akiel Surajdeen (Sri Lanka) Permission is required to reproduce any part of this book CONTENTS Chapter 01 Introduction Page 1 • Preamble • Acknowledgement • Foreword Message from the Chairperson – Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) • About the CYC • Synopses of CYC Executives Chapter 02 Commonwealth Young Achievers Page 21 • Africa • Asia • Caribbean and Americas • Europe • Pacific TH L COMMONWEA Chapter 03 Youth Development Perspectives Page 279 • Generating Positive Change through Youth 2015 S R CHIEVE A G N OU Y Volunteerism • When people talk, great things happen: The Role of Youth in Peace-building and Social Cohesion • Why Africa’s Youths Are So Passionate about Change • Stop washing your hands of young people…Time for action: Youth and Politics • Youth Entrepreneurship and Overcoming Youth Unemployment • Trialling Youth Ideas on Civic Participation • Youth participation in environment protection Chapter 04 Conclusion and Way Forward Page 323 2015 S TH L R CHIEVE COMMONWEA A G N OU Y OUNG ACHIEVERS Y 2015 COMMONWEALTH COMMONWEALTH YOUNG ACHIEVERS 2015 Y OU N G A COMMONWEA CHIEVE R L TH S 2015 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION COMMONWEALTH 2015 YOUNG ACHIEVERS 2015 Years of Vigour and Freshness Ocean of Potentials Unending Efforts and Enthusiasm Tears of Hardships Hope for a Better World PREAMBLE Years of vigour and freshness, Ocean of potentials, Unending efforts and enthusiasm, Tears of hardships, Hope for a better world (YOUTH). The very letters of the term YOUTH reflect the true meaning of a young life to a greater extent. It is the season of strength and stamina with a fresh and new psyche. It is the plethora of flowering capacities and budding leadership. It is the endless and determined attempts to achieve goals. It is the tolerated pains of difficulties to overcome various dilemmas. Through all these dimensions it is in fact the journey towards a utopia, a better world for the humanity. This is why the Commonwealth Young Achievers’ book has been titled as YOUTH. Nevertheless, the youth has universally been defined as a specific time period of one’s life. In accordance with the United Nations, the youth is defined as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years whereas the Commonwealth interprets youth as young people between the ages of 15 and 29. Pursuant to the African Youth Charter, youth denotes persons between the ages of 15 and 35 years. Further, different countries have defined youth in terms of age at national level. These static definitions have been formulated mainly for statistical and demographic purposes. On the contrary, from a philosophical perspective, youth is not a particular time period of an individual but a psychological status. That is why Robert Kennedy articulates that “This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease.” These philosophical definitions are predominantly based on psychosocial, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical contexts and the relevant youth definitions and concepts have been changing in line with fluctuating economic, political, and sociocultural circumstances. It is emphatic that the world’s youth pollution has significantly increased in the current demographic context. The United Nations Population Fund in its report, The Power of 1.8 Billion: Adolescents, Youth and the Transformation of the Future, reflects that “Our world is home to 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24, and the youth population is growing fastest in the poorest nations”. The paramount picture is that 89 percent of the global youth population live in less developed countries creating a unique challenge to the policy makers. Moreover, in the 53 countries of Commonwealth, majority of which are 2 COMMONWEALTH 2015 YOUNG ACHIEVERS Years of Vigour and Freshness Years of Vigour and Freshness Ocean of Potentials Unending Efforts and Enthusiasm Tears of Hardships Hope for a Better World developing countries, more than 60 percent of the total population is youth, i. e. over 1.2 billion are young people below the age of 30. This youth bulge may be a great challenge but it is a wonderful challenge that creates colossal opportunities for development. It is needless to mention that young people possess vast potentials and thereby an effective investment for sustainable development. The cardinal factor is to guide them into correct developmental avenues. There are numerous young role models who walk in different inspirational paths creating manifold development dimensions that galvanize young people in the world to strive for their individual development and social progress as a whole. In this context, this book is a portrayal of success stories of divers and brilliant young people from across the Commonwealth nations who have impacted in their communities and lives of others. The reflections of these unique role models will inspire youths to unleash their potentials that would pave the way for a better future. It is significant that 112 portraits of young achievers from the five regions in the Commonwealth are reflected in the book. Divers role models in different thematic areas; 32 from 14 countries in Africa, 29 from 7 countries in Asia, 23 from 10 countries in Caribbean and Amerces, 16 from 3 countries in Europe, and 12 from 7 Pacific countries, in total 112 brilliant young minds from 41 Commonwealth nations convey major life lessons, experience of their hardships and how they were overcome in addition to their unique achievements and advice to the young audience in the world. The following is a table of countries in the 5 regions of the Commonwealth from which the young achievers are depicted in the book. It is momentous that the book profiles great young people from 41 out of 53 countries of the Commonwealth. COMMONWEALTH 3 YOUNG ACHIEVERS 2015 Years of Vigour and Freshness Ocean of Potentials Unending Efforts and Enthusiasm Tears of Hardships Hope for a Better World Caribbean & Africa Asia Europe Pacific Americas Botswana Bangladesh Antigua and Bar- Cyprus Australia buda Cameroon Brunei Darus- Bahamas Malta Fiji salam Ghana India Barbados United Kingdom New Zealand Kenya Maldives Canada Papua New Guin- ea Mauritius Pakistan Dominica Samoa Nigeria Singapore Grenada Solomon Islands Rwanda Sri Lanka Guyana Vanuatu Seychelles Jamaica Sierra Leone St. Kitts and Nevis South Africa Trinidad and Tobago Swaziland Tanzania Uganda Zambia Covering the salient aspects of diversity, the book depicts 59 females and 53 profiles in different thematic areas such as socioeconomic, sociopolitical, environmental, and special interest groups. Moreover, the paramount aspect is that the book reflects portraits of young people who have overcome harsh realities. Marginalized youth, refugees, war victims, child soldiers, youth with disabilities, youth who suffered from psychological ailments and other precarious diseases, and youth who lived in pathetic milieus such as violence; murders; mafia; extreme poverty; underdeveloped areas; all these portraits forms the didactic spectrum of the book. Further, profiles of indigenous youth enhance the diversity of the protagonists manifested in the book. In addition to the portraits of young achievers, the book conveys articles on different thematic areas such as youth volunteerism, youth in politics, youth in environmental protection, youth in peace-building and social cohesion, youth entrepreneurship, youth ideas on civic participation, and youth-led social change. These articles were written by youth experts from different Commonwealth countries analyzing the thematic areas from various perspectives. The Commonwealth Youth Council expects that the Young Achievers Book will inspire young people in the world to flower their potentials in search of a utopia, a better world for the humanity. 4 COMMONWEALTH 2015 YOUNG ACHIEVERS Years of Vigour and Freshness Years of Vigour and Freshness Ocean of Potentials Unending Efforts and Enthusiasm Tears of Hardships Hope for a Better World ACKNOWLEDGEMENT • The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme • Youth Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat • Commonwealth Students Association • Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network • Commonwealth Youth Sport for Development and Peace • Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network • Commonwealth Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs • All the youth leaders who helped find high TH TH L L COMMONWEA COMMONWEA profiles of young achievers 2015 S S R R CHIEVE CHIEVE A A G G N N OU OU Y Y COMMONWEALTH 5 YOUNG ACHIEVERS 2015 Years of Vigour and Freshness Ocean of Potentials Unending Efforts and Enthusiasm Tears of Hardships Hope for a Better World 6 COMMONWEALTH 2015 YOUNG ACHIEVERS Years of Vigour and Freshness Years of Vigour and Freshness Ocean of Potentials Unending Efforts and Enthusiasm Tears of Hardships Hope for a Better World FOREWORD MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRPERSON, COMMONWEALTH YOUTH COUNCIL Dear Reader, I present to you an exhibition of talent, virtue, hard work, commitment and passion. This is the Commonwealth Young Achiever’s Book (CYAB). On the global scale, this is the first time you have seen such a book and such young people featured herewith. You will be witness of the extent of the passion and commitment of young people all around the world who have dedicated their youth to youth. These young persons are examples of the modern definition of youth and beacons of hope to the rest of the world. Following ‘Angelique’s bright idea’ from Seychelles, runner-up for bright ideas in the Commonwealth Countries the Commonwealth Youth Council did not only support this project but endorsed it, on the global scale.