Hyderabad’s young future leaders transforming world into a sustainable path

Our weekly segment of Community Wise features the 1M1B’s young future leaders, who are working towards Sustainable Development Goals.

Shikha Duggal

Meet 1M1B’s young future leaders from Hyderabad who are taking bold actions to accelerate UN sustainable development goals. Every one of them agreed on the need for more and faster progress across all the Sustainable Development Goals. Promises were easy but results are what mattered and they proved it.

They networked with the leaders from the United Nations, large corporations, NGOs, and civil society, and brought ideals into action. Taking sustainable development goals into their own hands, the leaders from our city are  now enrouting to a larger vision.

“The 1M1B activate impact summit is 1M1B’s annual summit at the United Nations that showcases the best of youth talent from Hyderabad amongst creating a real on-ground impact on the SDGs through their bold actions. It brought together young boys and girls engaging them on important conversations on how to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs through community action.

From sustainable entrepreneurship, sustainable villages and cities to climate crisis, mobile addiction, inclusion, to future jobs and artificial intelligence—the 1M1B summit is an opportunity to get inspired by the work of these young leaders who are taking bold actions to transform our world. The event witnessed 28 youth impacters and the summit was an example of how youth across the world can take the lead on accelerating the achievements, “ shares Manav Subodh, founder of one million for one billion, a social innovation initiative.

Future leaders is 1M1B’s flagship program for finding and nurturing the world’s most promising youth leaders. They are the youth in high school who have the potential to create meaningful influence on topics of relevance based on their own interests and passion; as well as current issues which affect people, society, and economy! Through a tested, researched and intense process, this program is given access to high-impact opportunities and leadership coaching to create real impact in the communities.

At the end of the program, students emerge as human-centred leaders who prioritize human values and morals over business and profits.Over the years they have had students working on a number of diverse areas as part of their projects.The main focus areas of the cohort of Future Leaders who presented at the 1M1B Summit at the UN were good health and well-being, COVID mitigation, quality education, equal opportunities, financial inclusion and sustainability.

Vedasri Uppala, a 14-year-old from Chirec International School, Hyderabad emphasises, “My project helped to prevent sexual abuse by educating girls through awareness sessions and self-defense classes. I addressed the issue of sexual harassment in underprivileged girls and also specifically addressed the issue of sexual harassment in girls.Conducted awareness and self-defense sessions in orphanages, group discussions about sexual harassment in sports, and put-up posters to generate buzz around the issue of the safety of girls, especially in sports. My vision was to put in my best efforts to develop solutions that can reduce and prevent sexual harassment.”

Bhavana Kantae from Obul Reddy School, Hyderabad shares her tale, “Along with my teammate Advika, we do so through social media. We put up posters in public places during the sexual assault awareness month. One of our biggest visions was to make these sessions a part of the curriculum for high schoolers, as these skills will be of great use for them once they move out to college. We are in contact with a couple of schools and are discussing the same with them. Equipped 200+ high schoolers and 100 adults with the skills to help stop harassment. Raised awareness to 100 people about 5Ds.”

The founder completely felt that students from Hyderabad are extremely passionate and serious about building a sustainable world and caring for the environment. “They are making conscious changes to their lifestyle, like carrying a water bottle instead of plastic bottles, reducing waste and recycling. While also educating and encouraging others to follow a sustainable lifestyle. Anvitha Kollipara, a student of International School of Hyderabad is an excellent example of a youth taking action on sustainability. 

Through her project Soledu, she informs underprivileged communities about solar power and its positive effects on society. She has partnered with the Energy Swaraj Foundation to procure cheaper solar panels for the communities.

The students had a four-day immersion at New York as part of the trip too. During the first three days, the students had a number of workshops, interactions with global leaders and mentoring sessions along with a lot of fun activities. A “Pitch like Pro” workshop was conducted by faculty from UC Berkeley to help them develop impactful pitches for their projects. A networking mixer was organised where students pitched their projects to guests from New York and received valuable feedback and support for their projects. 

On the 4th day, students had a guided tour of the UN followed by their showcase at the 1M1B Summit,” adds the founder.