In Tilottama, Lumbini Province, the Rotaract Club of Central Rupandehi is showing what happens when young people are trusted with the resources, skills and space to lead environmental action. On an August morning, seven teams of young people set out across the streets of Butwal with a simple challenge: collect as much plastic waste as …
For Khadak Nagar Yuwa Sanjal, environmental advocacy began with learning about waste. It soon became a much bigger effort to bring young people, community members and local stakeholders into the same conversation about how Khadak can manage its environment differently. In Khadak Municipality, waste is a problem people encounter in ordinary places: along roads, around …
When Boys Union Club received a Youth Advocacy Grant under the EU funded GreenShift Nepal project, environmental advocacy was a new territory for a group whose experience had largely been rooted in sports. In Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality, its members are now using that experience of teamwork and mobilisation to get young people thinking about waste, …
Story by Hannah Silas (28), Youth Researcher. Zimbabwe After graduating from the University of Jos in late 2024, I was looking for opportunities that matched my passion for research and creating positive change. In early 2025, I came across a Facebook post advertising Community Researcher positions across 14 African countries. After I had submitted my …
Breaking the Silence: My Journey as a Positive Masculinity Champion Bikash Sah was one of the Positive Masculinity Champions under the What It Means to Be a Young Man Today project, implemented by Restless Development. Through the project, he worked with young people in Madhesh Province to challenge harmful gender norms, promote positive masculinity, and …
Thanks to the safe space program, I have regained my self-confidence and my motivation to go back to school. Like every other young woman, I can now comfortably represent myself in any space. These are the words of Mary, a vibrant 15-year-old girl from Kamabai community in Sierra Leone. Today, she is in school and …
For 11-year-old Selemani, a Grade Two pupil at Sibwesa Primary School in Kidahwe, education represents more than classroom learning. It represents stability, dignity, and the possibility of a future beyond present-day hardship. He lives with his mother in a rural household where limited economic resources often make it difficult to meet even basic needs. In …
How Education Helps Shabani Haji Mustafa Reclaim His Dreams In Kidahwe, a rural community where long distances and poverty continue to push many children out of school, 15-year-old Shabani Haji Mustafa once believed his dreams had ended before they had even begun. Today, Shabani is back in school, confident, disciplined, and full of ambition. But …
A 28-year-old Hussein Abdillah Hussein is rewriting the narrative for young men. Unlike many of his peers who dropped out of school at an early age to join harmful social circles or take up informal labor, Hussein chose a different path—one of resilience, education, and empowerment. “I Refused to Follow the Path of Many” Growing …
Lhakpa Sherpa grew up in a small village in Solukhumbu, a remote Himalayan district far from Kathmandu and the wider world of opportunity. There were no roads back then, when Lhakpa was just a teenager. Long before he knew the language of NGOs or community service, he was volunteering by lifting sick villagers onto his …