Dedicated to engaging youth at all levels of the activity, YouthPower2: Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE) is pleased to announce the launch of its new Youth Advisory Group (YAG). This seven-member group is made up of young changemakers from Bolivia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Nepal, The West Bank, and Uganda.
We received nearly 1,300 applications that showcased the talents, leadership, and commitment of young people in our YouthLead network. While this abundance of applications made the selection of final candidates very difficult, it demonstrated once again how many qualified and dedicated young people are ready for opportunities to engage. We are inspired and motivated by the work that these changemakers are doing around the world to positively impact their communities.
The newly selected YAG will play a vital role in ensuring that meaningful youth engagement and leadership occurs across all YP2LE tasks and related activities including research, communications and advocacy, mentoring, capacity strengthening, learning networks, and the YouthPower.org and YouthLead.org platforms. They will provide strategic input; support and amplify youth voices; offer recommendations; advise on development and dissemination of learning products; and ensure inclusive approaches.
We are very excited about what they will bring to YP2LE! Learn more below:
Meet the YAG
Zwelithini Matsoso
Learning Network Steering Committee Liaison
Lesotho
Zwelithini Matsoso serves as the advisor to the United Nations Youth Advisory Panel hosted under United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Lesotho country office, and the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning Country Coordinator for Lesotho. He also serves the Global Hope Mobilization as the Project Officer on COVID-19, and the Women Deliver Young Leader for Lesotho. He has worked with the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation to build the Lesotho National Youth Policy and facilitate consultations of the National Youth Development Bill, and has further advocated for meaning engagement of Youth in the national reforms processes; constitution, judiciary, public service, security, media and economic reforms. He is the founder of the Lesotho based human rights organization, Economic and Social Justice Project. Zwelithini has also coordinated over 57 Youth organizations to form the Youth Alliance on COVID-19 which its mandate is to promote Youth engagement in COVID19 response and to bring relief to Youth affected by COVID-19.
Edna Tukiko
Mentorship Liaison
Kenya
Edna is an international development professional with multicultural experience in youth programs across Eastern and Southern Africa, and South Asia, including at UNICEF and at UNFPA. She holds over seven years of mentoring experience, and is currently an advisory council member at the Global Give Back Circle - a program that empowers and connects at-risk adolescent girls with local and international mentors. Edna leveraged her expertise in mentorship program design and management as a consultant in the design and implementation of the mentorship program for the Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) Regional Leadership Center East Africa. She helped design the strategy and recruited and trained mentors from the private and public sector to work with the first two cohorts of YALI participants. She is an alumnus of YALI East Africa (2016), a mentor at the MasterCard Foundation Scholars program, and at the Kakenya Centre of Excellence in Kenya. Edna is passionate about leadership, innovation, and in ensuring that youth fulfil their potential.
Nandini Tanya Lallmon
Advocacy & Communications Liaison
Mauritius
Based in Mauritius, Nandini Tanya Lallmon is a lawyer by profession and humanitarian by passion. She is the legal lead of the #Reform53 campaign of the Commonwealth Youth Gender and Equality Network. She is also an advisor to the Steering for Greatness Foundation, Global Peace Chain, International Human Rights Advisory Council, Agents of Peace Kenya and CIVICUS. Additionally, she is the founder of the Mauritius Chapters of the International Youth Council, International Youth Society, Youth Advocacy Council and African Network of Youth Policy Experts. Moreover, she is a fellow of the Young African Leaders Initiative, African Changemakers, African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative and TEDx 100Ideas100Millennials. Besides, she volunteers as career coach for Opportunity Desk, ambassador for the My Body is My Body Program, community leader for internet health at Digital Grassroots, pro-bono consultant for The African Gusto Hub and business mentor for the Mentoring Women in Business Programme of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. She has won multiple awards for her philanthropic work at local, regional and international levels. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nandini Tanya Lallmon endeavours to amplify the voices of marginalised groups through digital activism on social media.
Firas Bali
Capacity Building Liaison
The West Bank
Firas Bali is a founding member of Ibtikar for empowerment and social entrepreneurship with a professional background in the field of social entrepreneurship and innovation. Previously, he has worked with international and local organizations in project management and monitoring and evaluation of Humanitarian and development projects. With over six years of experience working with nonprofits and social enterprises working to promote education and youth empowerment in Palestine, he feels passionate about social enterprise development and education innovation.
Wendy Meruvia
YouthLead Ambassador Liaison
Bolivia
Wendy Meruvia is a social entrepreneur who is passionate about youth, innovation, development and Experiential Learning. She is founder and director of Ciudad Mundo. A social enterprise that promotes the comprehensive development of youth through high impact learning experiences, that involve international traveling and local training. She has a bachelor's degree in graphic design, a diploma in higher education, a master's degree in social project management and another in business administration. She works everyday to pursue the transformation of the younger generations.
Kushal Naharki
YouthLead Ambassador Liaison
Nepal
Kushal Naharki is passionate environment activist and young changemaker from Nepal. He is highly dedicated towards empowering youth and communities through knowledge sharing, training, events, webinars and campaigns in the field of Environment, Agriculture and Youth Empowerment. He is the winner of Eco Hero Award 2018. He has worked as Regional Ambassador to Asia for EcoGeneration, Local Representative of YPARD Nepal, Project Member of Climateducate South Asia and YouthLead Ambassador. He believes that we are our own leader of positive changes and innovations in our community. He is interested in Entrepreneurship, Capacity Building, Climate Change, Plant Health and Agriculture Biotechnology.
Hilda Namakula
Youth Research Advisor
Uganda
Hilda is a passionate youth-led research, youth engagement, policy and development practitioner with more than seven years of practical experience in conducting research, developing policy publications and supporting the implementation of public health and development projects in Uganda and South Africa. She currently works as a Co-Principle investigator on the ALERTs (Adherence, Lived Experiences and Resilient Transformation among “slum dwellers”) study focusing on documenting the impact of COVID-19 on slum dwellers to inform the national COVID 19 task force response and projects’ design. She has previously worked with Makerere University School of Public Health as a Research Fellow in the Kampala Slum Maternal & New Born Project (MANE). Hilda’s experience in youth-led research and policy has included the Youth4Policy fellowship with Konrad Adenuer Stiftung (KAS) and Youth Think Tank (YTT) fellowship with the MasterCard Foundation. She’s also an alumna of the Young Africa Leaders Initiative (YALI), and a Co-Founder of Mwamba Imara Foundation - an initiative that supports young adults in livelihoods and health.
About YouthPower2: Learning and Evaluation
YouthPower2: Learning and Evaluation (YP2LE) is a USAID-funded project focused on building and disseminating the evidence on Positive Youth Development (PYD). YP2LE’s goal is to give program implementers, researchers, and young changemakers the information, tools, and resources they need to develop high-quality, impactful, and sustainable youth programs.
A core component of YP2LE are its global learning and network hubs, YouthPower.org and YouthLead.org. YouthPower.org provides evidence, tools, resources and events about positive youth development for funders, researchers, and youth-serving and -supporting organizations. YouthLead.org is a global hub for young changemakers, aged 15-35. The platform is designed to help changemakers maximize their impact through connecting and networking with their peers at home and around the world; accessing resources and information that can support their work; and engaging opportunities to build their skills through learning events and campaigns.
For questions about the Youth Advisory Group or youth engagement in YP2LE, contact Sarah Sladen, Senior Youth Engagement Advisor, YP2LE at SarahS@makingcents.com.
