Sheik Ahmed Sesay, Sierra Leone

Sheik Ahmed Sesay is currently furthering his Association of Chattered Certified Accounting (ACCA). He serves as the Youth Commonwealth Correspondent Sierra Leone. He is an Alumnus of the Young Africa Leadership Initiative. A program sponsored by former U.S president Barrack Obama and late Nelson Mandela, for fostering emerging leaders in Africa. In 2020, he received a global SDGs badge from the United Nations, as someone making a meaningful contribution to the U.N SDGs. In 2023, he was recognized as a Youth Water Champion by the United Nations for my country, Sierra Leone.

Millions of people living in rural and urban Sierra Leone rely on water wells or boreholes for their daily water needs. The general objective of this project is to provide fifty boreholes to schools, hospitals, orphanage homes, and deprived communities in five districts with safe drinking water. This project will help to enhance the lives of the people living in these areas, thus uplifting their standards of living through pure, dignified, and safe drinking water.

Salah El Sadi, Palestine living in USA

Master's in Water and Environmental Science, a Bachelor's in Industrial Chemistry, a High diploma in leadership and teaching from a Fulbright scholarship, and a diploma in Entrepreneurship, my experiences include founding and leading Blue Filter Company for water treatment technology, being a manager of the Chemistry laboratory at the Ministry of National Economy, serving as a Circular and Blue Economy Expert, and consultant to UNICEF and the World Orthodox Organization in the field of green entrepreneurship Achievements range from patent registrations to winning water purification competitions.

The aim of the Blue Filter project is to address the global challenge of clean water scarcity and pollution, with a focus on providing sustainable solutions to communities in need. The project aligns with the United Nations' 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, by aiming to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Key Objectives

Mwenda Mutopola, Zambia

I am a 26-year-old Zambian male that recently graduated with a degree in medicine and surgery. I am passionate about waste management, health, health management information systems, sustainability and the impact these particular processes have on global, regional and local health. I’m a highly motivated individual and a part of innovation towards a holistic approach towards good outcomes in health, population and environment. Outside of this, I have an immense interest in agriculture, particularly livestock and crop farming, and circular systems.

Green Wing Co-Op is a community led waste management initiative. that empowers the residents to take ownership of their waste by collecting and segregating their own organic waste. The enterprise provides residents with eco-friendly bins in which they put their organic waste. This waste is collected at each household by employed community champions that operate e-rickshaws. This waste is then brought to a composting and packaging facility, which creates standardized and packaged organic fertilizer. The fertilizer is then sold to farmers. The sales of fertilizer generate income that covers costs of the system – the investment in equipment, salaries to the community champions (collectors), while covering other operational costs, while also providing incentives for the residents (waste generators). Incentives may be subsidies on farmer produced crops or as cash prizes for continual participation.

Fareed Ullah, Pakistan

I am a WYSE - ILP 2014 Alumni, a humanitarian professional with a MA degree in international Relations and degree in civil technology. I began my career as a Civil Engineer during the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Later, i joined UNDP in earthquake response and in 2008 formed PRDS and start working as a Programme Manager, eventually became Chief Executive in 2012. With over 18 years of hands-on experience, lead numerous humanitarian and development projects in conflict-affected areas of KP, Pakistan. I actively engaged in various networks, including the NHN Pakistan and the Social Accountability Network of Pakistan.

Participatory Rural Development Society (PRDS) serves the vulnerable communities and poverty-stricken people and Afghan Refugees in remote and neglected areas of Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces including Newly Merged Districts (Erstwhile FATA). Over a decade of experience, the organization has assisted more than 1.2 million vulnerable beneficiaries and successfully completed 49 projects of humanitarian relief and development across Pakistan. Moreover, the organization has been able to support the development of over 1,120 community-based organizations providing services to over 0.6 million populations.

Aneeba Rashid, Pakistan

Dr. Aneeba Rashid, an environmental scientist and educator based in Lahore, Pakistan, specializes in bioremediation and wastewater treatment. With Ph.D. in Botany and extensive experience as an assistant professor, she combines research prowess with a passion for teaching. Her interests span from sustainable agriculture to climate resilience, as reflected in her diverse portfolio of publications, international engagements, and volunteer work. Dr. Rashid's multifaceted skill set includes event management, multilingual proficiency, and strong interpersonal skills. Committed to social and environmental causes, she embodies a dedication to sustainable development and knowledge dissemination, making her respected figure in academia and beyond.

The purpose of this project is to clean up wastewater (thrown in combined drainage due to poor sanitation) so that it can be used again in nearby areas in Pakistan's Punjab region for crop irrigation. By putting in place cutting-edge biological treatment systems, we turn wastewater into a useful resource that supports local farmers' livelihoods, conserves freshwater, and advances sustainable agriculture.

Alex Alexandre, Brazil living in USA

I'm someone that studied environmental engineering and sustainable sciences in university and got into software and data because of market conditions. I would like to start merging these fields but I find hard to find people committed enough to trust and start a project. I have a lot of experience with startups, specially as a CTO and Software Architect and I can do those things well on my own. I can get things up and running.

I have an idea of creating a platform for Environmental Professionals to help them automate the boring parts of their work. Already implemented a working solution that has been used for over 3 years by a company genetaring thousands of reports per year.

Taniça Mazoio, Mozambique

My name is Taniça Mazoio, I am an Environmental Engineer, passionate about community work and sustainability, I have experience in this area acquired through my collaboration in several projects for community development, environment and sustainability in different institutions. I am interested in women's empowerment in matters related to the environment and sustainability, so I developed a women's empowerment project in these areas. I am a highly motivated person with excellent proven leadership and mentoring skills.

Kutsunsiwa is a social project in the area of ​​Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, that emerged as a way to solve the problems related to the lack of basic services of water, sanitation and hygiene, empowering women to be agents of change in the area of ​​Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in their community and providing sustainable and safe menstrual hygene in the comunities of Mozambique.

Nompendulo Shabangu, Botswana

I am a communicator of note who considers herself a global citizen. I am the Managing Consultant at Karabo Media & Communication, which I established in November 2021. I am passionate about media & communication. I'm also enamoured with practical women empowerment and, as such, have gone on to found notable women empowerment initiates such as an online magazine for women whose primary objective is widespread mentorship. I recently completed my bachelor of Media Studies program at the University of Botswana (awaiting graduation in October 2022). I am a visionary, strategist, and natural-born leader.

My project is a 10 episode talk show highlighting ways in which Batswana (people) and Botswana (the country) are contributing toward clean water and sanitation as per SDG6 and hearing ways in which some people are impacted due to not having yet attained this goal

Mbom Benis Bi, Cameroon

I am Mbom Benis Bi from Cameroon, a nurse by profession and a sexual and reproductive health educator and a community health educator. I'm passionate about improving health of adolescents most especially girls, adolescents living with HIV AIDS, adolescents with disabilities and adolescent mothers in the communities of Bamenda North West Region of Cameroon. As a nurse we are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals health wise. I am currently volunteering in a local NGO known as Community Association for Vulnerable Persons (CAVP) Bamenda, Talk Pregnancy with Dr Noela which is locates in Bamenda too and in a clinic.

This is to meet the needs of adolescents, persons living with HIV and adolescent mothers and to improve on accessible and clean water and its availability in the community which will go a long way to improve their health.

Kampame Allan, Uganda

I am a public health worker passionate about building resilient and sustainable health systems that benefit the population directly. Currently, I am tackling a water shortage challenge in my community and I am working on providing potable water to the community through a community based funding.

Working towards provision of safe water to the community and enhancing sanitation and hygiene knowledge and facilities in the area.

Abubakar Amidu, Nigeria

I am a graduate of geology, a professional manager and an impact entrepreneur in the making. My background cuts across Aid (development & humanitarian) sector with International and Indigenous development organizations. For over 5 years through work experience and participation in series of professional development training I have acquired competences and skills in leading, designing managing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects. It is my desire and passion to contribute my professional expertise towards ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Water Sanitation and Hygiene in Takalafia (WASH-IT) project is aimed at providing safe, clean and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene practices in Takalafia Community in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria.

Rangana Chandranayak, Sri Lanka

Rangana Chandranayak

Sri Lanka

Production Manager at Serendipol Pvt Ltd, worldwide first production of organic and fair trade coconut oil. Serendipol currently consumes 13+ million litres ground water/year. We treat it biologically and discharge for irrigation purpose in the factory’s garden. Overflow is into a local creek. We recently began diversification of our product range and are adding coconut milk, cream and chips which will further increase water demand. Local groundwater levels vary with rainfall. During increasingly extended droughts we periodically face water scarcity and our water consumption contributes to the lower local water table. If we further want to expand production we need to conserve groundwater. Options we have capture some or all wastewater and treat it to achieve the standards required for washing or drinking water and then reuse the water in production or improve infiltration of current biologically treated wastewater into the ground to accelerate recharge of the underlying groundwater aquifers.