Green Hope Foundation – Empowering youth

Sustainability Activist, TEDx Speaker, Changemaker, Author & Winner of the International Children’s Peace Prize, 19-year-old Kehkashan, has been impacting the global fraternity with her work on children’s rights, peace & disarmament, gender equality, mitigating climate change and social upliftment. One of Canada’s Top25 Women of Influence and a  National Geographic Young Explorer,Kehkashan is the Founder President of global social innovation enterprise, Green Hope Foundation, that uses Education for Sustainable Development as a transformative tool that provides them with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and behaviour needed to think and act for a sustainable future. Through Green Hope, Kehkashan has directly empowered over 57,000 marginalised young people - refugees , indigenous youth, orphans , the homeless, turning them into local changemakers who lead their communities in localising the SDGs. A powerful voice for future generations, Kehkashan has spoken at over 150 United Nations and global forums to champion greater youth inclusivity.

No part of our planet is left untouched or unaffected by the impacts of its 7billion+ residents and by the general apathy of civil society. My generation is the last one that has the opportunity to take actions to mitigate these challenges before it is too late - yet the children and youth fraternity continue to be ignored, under-represented and left behind while policy-makers continue to debate and procrastinate about the future of our planet. I do not accept this situation and through Green Hope, I am working to engage and educate my fellow youth - focussing on those who are marginalised, empowering them to demand their rights, in particular to inheriting a sustainable environment. The two main issues that my project addresses are lack of inclusivity and the low level of awareness amongst young  people, especially in developing nations , where they form a major part of the population.

Climate change, loss of biodiversity, overconsumption and wastage are stretching our finite planetary resources to the limit and threatening our future survival, with a disproportionate effect on vulnerable third world communities, those who are least responsible for it. Our world has more young people than ever before and the widening opportunity gap is further aggravating our marginalisation. Our world today has more refugees than ever before and climate change has added another dimension causing millions to migrate from rural to urban areas , thereby causing further poverty and widening of the opportunity gap. According UNICEF, Education for Sustainable Development holds the key to bridging this divide but with 165 million children without any access to education, it requires a multi-pronged collaborative action between all stakeholders and policy makers to ensure that "No One is Left Behind". This is the problem that I am solving through my social innovation enterprise-Green Hope Foundation. Our mission is to empower young people, cutting across social, cultural and economic barriers, in the implementation of the SDGs , taking grass roots level actions as well as providing a platform that amplifies our voices in policy making.

My project empowers young people through our innovative advocacy tool called “Environment Academy” which is essentially a workshop organized “by children – for children”. I train our youth members, some of whom are as young as 10, to conduct these academies and this unique “peer to peer” engagement has proven to be extremely effective for the target audience who take to it more enthusiastically than if they were being “told” by adults. Global warming, carbon footprint, biodiversity loss, gender inequality,  sustainability – these are difficult concepts for children to understand , especially as a majority of the youth whom we engage have never been to school. Since our work is global, there are additional dimensions of language and social strictures, particularly for girls and women. To circumvent these issues, we use innovative , non-formal communication modes in our advocacy – such as Art, Dance , Music , Sport and Drama – to spread awareness. Our academies also incorporate STEM education to build necessary skill sets amongst the participants. Armed with this knowledge, the academy participants venture out within their local communities taking definitive steps towards conservation, thereby “localizing the SDGs”. 

My project empowers young people, especially girls, from marginalised communities.It has directly alleviated the misery and provided sustainability education to over 57,000 young people , these include over 600 Syrian refugee children in the Bekaa Valley camps-Lebanon , over 2000 Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong which is the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox Bazaar Bangladesh , 20,000 orphans and children of prisoners in Kenya , Nepal , Bangladesh and India. To alleviate the impact of Covid19, we are currently working in the overcrowded slums of Dhaka , Bangladesh to build resilience through improved sanitation and hygiene. In developed countries, we provide environmental education and field action campaigns for schools. Green Hope is the Environmental Education partner for Canada's largest school board in Toronto that has 600 schools and 250,000 students and even during the pandemic we are conducting virtual "environment academies" for the children. We have similar partnerships with schools in UAE , chapters at University of Toronto, Ho Chi Minh University and with the Youth Parliament in Suriname. Green Hope is now an accredited youth organisation with UNCCD and UNEP and won the 2019 Innovator of the Year award for sustainability education.

Our world has more young people than ever before yet we continue to suffer from a lack of opportunity, inclusivity and the freedom to decide our own future. This marginalisation is aggravated for young people in the developing world, for girls, indigenous and vulnerable communities. My mission is to create a world where "No One is Left Behind" through education that empowers youth to view the current challenges as one’s own and shows how to approach them at a grassroots level thereby creating new values and behaviors that contribute to solutions & the creation of a sustainable society.

When I was 6 years old, I visited Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in my home town, Kolkata. I was extremely moved by the plight of the children, many of them of my age or younger, who were orphans, abandoned by their parents and surviving on the charity provided by the nuns. I learnt that such inequalities existed in all countries and one of the most effective ways to empower them was through education, so that they would be able to enter the job market or become entrepreneurs and not be dependant of charity. I began by donating books, organizing collection campaigns in schools. I also went to Jordan where I donated books to children of Iraq war refugees. I became interested in climate change and plastic pollution and noticed that these impacted these vulnerable communities the most. I started conducting small workshops amongst my peer groups spreading awareness about these issues. My work at a local level got noticed and I was invited to attend Rio+20 as a child delegate, where I realized that children like me were completely excluded from the decision-making process. I decided to change that and on my return, established Green Hope Foundation.

As a young person myself, I am appalled at the lack of inclusivity and discrimination that young people face. We are taken for granted. It is our future that is stake, yet all the decisions that affect our future are taken by adults, without the involvement of children and youth. Age restrictions prevent our participation. I strongly believe that every child has the potential to be a changemaker – all we need is education that will open the doors of opportunity. During my interactions with children – whether in refugee camps or in public schools in Toronto, I have come to realise that , unlike adults, we care instinctively for the environment. The current state of environmental degradation affects young people the most , especially those of us in developing countries . We continue to accept this inequality due to a lack of awareness and my project addresses this gap using Education for Sustainable Development as a transformative tool.

I have been working on empowering children and youth for the last 11 years across 16 countries and it has been a constant learning process. I possess excellent communication and organizational skills, that have enabled me to organize my campaigns and advocacy programmes. I have always been at the top of my class, academically and am currently pursuing a Major in Environmental Studies at Canada’s#1 institution, University of Toronto on a full scholarship. This formal education further supports my work. I am an impactful public speaker and have been invited to speak at over 155 conferences at the United Nations, institutions such as the World Bank, European Parliament, National Geographic Society and major universities , including at Yale and Stanford. I am also a TEDx speaker, a Climate Reality Leader, a United Nations Human Rights Champion and a National Geographic Young Explorer. I have been deeply involved in the sustainable development process since 2012 starting with Rio+20 and therefore possess deep knowledge about the SDGs , targets and the challenges that need to addressed. I disseminate this knowledge and experience through my project to my fellow children and youth , so that they can follow my lead.

Amongst the vulnerable communities whom my project seeks to empower are refugees. The world’s largest refugee camp is in Kutupalong , a remote region on the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar. We wanted to empower the Rohingya refugee chidlren in this camp through our Environment Academies but were continually denied access for various reasons.  I persisted and got in touch with UNICEF as well local NGOs and travel companies. With the help of local organisations , we finally managed to get permission to visit the camps , after 6 months of persisitent followup . Our team spent a week in December 2018  at Kutupalong and we were able to provide sustainability education to 2000 Rohingya refugee children , providing them with books and stationeries as well.

I am a globally recognized youth leader and role model , as a result of my advocacy and for amplifying youth voices at the United Nations and other decision making processes. At the age of 12, I was elected as the Global Coordinator for UNEP’s Major Group for Children and Youth, making me the youngest person in the world and the only minor to ever hold this position. For a period of 2 years, I led the global youth caucus at UNEP , enhancing youth engagement and inclusivity in all UNEP meetings and discussions. I am now the Youth Lead at the Toronto-St.Paul’s Constituency Youth Council under the leadership of Hon Carolyn Bennett , Member of Parliament Canada , through which I lead the engagement of young people in the community and in the political process. My other leadership roles are – Youth Ambassador at World Future Council, Climate Reality Leader and Mentor and a National Geographic Young Explorer. I am a United Nations Human Rights Champion and have been chosen as one of Canada’s Top25 Women of Influence.

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Innovation is at the core of our advocacy. Our advocacy tool called “Environment Academy” is essentially a workshop organized “by children – for children”. I train our youth members, some of whom are as young as 10, to conduct these academies and this unique “peer to peer” engagement has proven to be extremely effective for the target audience who take to it more enthusiastically than if they were being “told” by adults. Global warming, carbon footprint, biodiversity loss, gender inequality, sustainability – these are difficult concepts for children to understand , especially as a majority of the youth whom we engage have never been to school. Since our work is global, there are additional dimensions of language and social strictures, particularly for girls and women. To circumvent these issues, we use innovative, non-formal communication modes in our advocacy – such as Art, Dance , Music , Sport and Drama – to spread awareness. Our academies also incorporate STEM education to build necessary skill sets amongst the participants. Armed with this knowledge, the academy participants venture out within their local communities taking definitive steps towards conservation, thereby “localizing the SDGs”. This innovative way of education makes our project easily replicable and scaleable , due to which we have been able to implement it in 16 countries , from urban to rural settings and impacting youth in both developed and developing nations.

The two main issues that my project addresses are the lack of inclusivity and the low level of awareness amongst young  people , especially in developing nations , where they form a major part of the population. Our mission is to empower young people, cutting across social, cultural and economic barriers , in the implementation of the SDGs , taking grass roots level actions as well as providing a platform that amplifies our voices in policy making. We use Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a transformative tool to engage young people in the implementation of the SDGs. ESD enables us to view the current challenges as one’s own and shows how to approach them at a grassroots level (“think globally, act locally”), thereby creating new values and behaviors that contribute to solutions for those problems and, by extension, to the creation of a sustainable society .We empower young people to use this  “Learning to Build a Better Earth Than Today’s.”After attending our academies, the refugee children in Kutupalong have started planting trees, adopted better hygiene practices and reduced plastic usage. The youth in Suriname, Indonesia , Bangladesh have regenerated several thousand square kilometers of mangroves. The children in Nairobi conduct regular "no plastic" campaigns and plant trees. Every Environment Academy concludes with an outcome document, wherein the participants agree on an action plan to mitigate local sustainability issues.

Watch this video on our climate change workshop for students in Dubai: 

https://youtu.be/E7xtf1uSqfI

Number of people I am have and am currently impacting: 57,000

Number I will be impacting in the next year : 20,000

( through our current partnership with the Toronto District School Board , we will conduct 20 academies in the next year , directly impacting children in 20 schools , approximately 6000 children. We plan to impact an additional14,000 children in the other countries we operate through our academies and grassroots projects.)

In five years , we plan to impact an additional 100,000 children by increasing our presence in 5 additional countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

My mission is to empower young people, especially those who are marginalsed and vulnerable , so that we are able to create a world of equal opportunity, where "No One is Left Behind". I do this through a combination of grassroots advocacy and outreach effected by our "Environment Academies". In addition, I amplify youth voices by speaking and lobbying at United Nations processes as well as at forums that bring together parliamentarians , policy makers and decision-makers , to highlight the inequalities and influencing legislation and actions that put youth at the forefront of the development agenda.

My goal in the next year is to implement my project in 3 new countries. I plan to conduct 24 environment academies , speak at least 12 global forums and UN processes. I plan to conduct 6 tree planting and mangrove conservation campaigns with a target of planting 20,000 trees and regeneration 2 regions where mangroves have been depleted.

In the next 5 years , I plan to obtain ECOSOC accreditation for Green Hope , thereby facilitating greater youth participation in decision making processes. The 5 year plan includes a total of 25 countries where Green Hope will have a presence at a grassroots level. We plan to create a central data repository using AI where all our global activities can be logged and monitored . These will also serve as case studies for other youth to learn from .

For the next year the main barrier is the impact of Covid19 restricting travel. The economic situation may also impact funding available for our projects

For the next 5 years , the main barriers are financial as the impact of Covid 19 is still unknown. To establish new country chapters ,we need to identify local youth and build necessary infrastructure . This process requires local approvals , funding as well adaptation to cultural norms.

1.     Next year travel restrictions : we are using social media and webinars to continue our “Environmental Academies”.

2.     Funding : we are applying for grants and also reaching out to corporates . This is a continuous process

3.     New country chapters : we will use the learnings from our past implementations to successfully establish new chapters. We always spend time on the ground in any new country where we wish to establish a chapter . We will follow the same process , but are concerned about the funding due to the economic impact of Coivd.

1.     Toronto District School Board :  They have appointed Green Hope as a partner to provide Environmental Education to its 600 schools . This MOU is signed for 3 years , upto Dec2022 and with possibility of renewal.

2.     United Religions Initiative: This is conglomeration of inter-faith organisations from around the world that work on elevating humanity, through peacebuilding, respect and conservation of nature. Green Hope is member organization and we conduct environmental education workshops for member groups

Confidential

We have an business plan that is approved by our Board of Directors. It includes a review of 2019, objectives for 2020 and financial budget. It includes our business model through which we generate funding through the services we provide to the community, as below:

Green Hope Foundation provides the following products and services, available to all sections of civil society in order to enhance their awareness of the current sustainability issues that have beset our planet and encourage their participation in the process of creating a just, equitable and sustainable future. The bedrock of our services is providing Education for Sustainable Development as an empowerment tool and then providing support and guidance to convert this learning into localized action.

1.Environment Academies

2. Community environmental projects: Organise tree plantings, cleanups, recycling campaigns, local habitat conservation, No Plastic drives

3. Webinars and virtual classrooms for sustainability education

4. Book a speech: Book Kehkashan Basu, the Founder President of Green Hope, to provide a motivational speech for young people, as a role model for young people to become change-makers .

5. Sustainable merchandise: Green Hope branded biodegradable carry bags, USB pen drives, re-usable bottles, T-shirts. The proceeds from these sales are used for Green Hope’s outreach projects.

6. Carbon footprint offset programs: Provide services to individuals and corporations to offset their carbon footprint by planting equivalent numbers of trees in a Green Hope chapter country.

Confidential:

We fund our work through a combination of:

1.     Gift from individuals                  

2.    Sustained Fundraising                                    

3.   Corporate donations, grants

4. Bookings from speeches, sale of merchandise 

We have been working on this project for 7 years and our outreach and impact have increased with every year. 

We would like to keep our funding sources confidential.

Grants are a major source of our funds and this is an year round activity. We would like keep this confidential.

Confidential

It is increasing with each year of operation as we upscale our outreach and impact. We monitor it so that it stays within budget. We file our returns to the Canadian Revenue Agency as per the rules of incorporation of Not For Profits

We are applying for The Elevate Prize to reach our goals for the coming years. As a growing social innovation enterprise , that is youth led, we require support in terms of :

1. Funding : due to the impact of Covid, there are now less number of donors

2. Data gathering using AI , so that we have a digital repository of our project that can be accessed and used as a learning tool

3. Marketing support to increase our outreach , attract new donors. Create a new website and develop apps that will help us to deliver our education programs remotely .

4. Legal support : to formally establish our country chapters outside of Canada

I believe that winning the ELEVATE prize will provide the recognition and support required by our project to achieve its immediate and long term goals.

We do not have a long term funder and so every year , we have to continuously fund raise to meet our annual objectives. We depend mainly on individual donors and small grants .Due to Covid19 , we believe that availability of sustained funding will be limited and we would require professional support in this regard , to enable us to reach large corporates or donors who would be willing to make a long term commitment to our project.

We would like to partner with UNICEF , so that we are able to obtain access to refugee camps to conduct our environment academies.