Three social entrepreneurs felicitated by British queen at Buckingham Palace in final year of Young Leaders Awards programme
Three social entrepreneurs felicitated by British queen at Buckingham Palace in final year of Young Leaders Awards programme .
In its final year, the four-year Queen’s Young Leaders Awards programme, which recognises young citizens of Commonwealth countries for using their skills to effect positive social change, sawQueen Elizabeth felicitating 60 people from 38 countries at a Buckingham Palace event on June 26. The cohort, between the ages of 18 and 29, included three Indians, incidentally all from Mumbai.
While Deane De Menezes was recognised for her efforts in tackling the stigma surrounding menstruation, Trisha Shetty ofNGO SheSays was felicitated for promoting gender equality and Aditya Kulkarni for working in the area of maternal and child mortality.
Auxilium Convent High School in Bandra and Anjuman Islam Girls School and Prince Aly Khan Hospital in Byculla.
Aditya Kulkarni, who previously worked for Nvidia, ISRO, as a computer scientist, is now one of the people behind software company CareNX Innovations, which develops and distributes mobile health technologies for maternal and child care.
De Menezes, Kulkarni and Shetty were hosted in England for two weeks, during which they were mentored and trained (to boost their leadership skills further) through the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education.
Other than Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, the awards ceremony was graced by eminent personalities, including footballer David Beckham and former British PM John Major. For De Menezes, though, the most exciting part of the celebrations was a 10-minute private audience with the Queen — only two other awardees got a personal audience with the monarch. Extremely impressed by the Queen, De Menezes said, “Even at the age of 92, she was onher feet for hours. And when I spoke to her, I found her remarkably attentive.”
The social entrepreneurs will now be part of the queen’s Young Leaders network
Kulkarni, too, was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Queen had read about his firm’s project, ‘CareMother’. “She asked me to continue the good work,” said Kulkarni, explaining how ‘CareMother’ is operational in nine states, and, in the last three years, has collaborated with over 15 partner organisations, providing care for over 30,000 pregnancies and creating jobs for more than 300 women health workers.
These social entrepreneurs will now also be part of the Queen’s Young Leaders network, a group of 240 change-makers across 53 Commonwealth countries, all of whom are entitled to apply for grants (a Legacy Fund worth GBP 200,000 or roughly Rs 1.83 crore has been created for this purpose) to support their future endeavours.
In its final year, the four-year Queen’s Young Leaders Awards programme, which recognises young citizens of Commonwealth countries for using their skills to effect positive social change, saw
While Deane De Menezes was recognised for her efforts in tackling the stigma surrounding menstruation, Trisha Shetty of
Two years ago, research analyst De Menezes launched a revolutionary menstrual hygiene campaign ‘Red is the new green’ to eliminate the taboos and inequality connected to menstruation. Since 2016, her organisation by the same name has installed sanitary napkin vending machines (dispensing three pads for Rs 10) and incinerators at 20 different locations in schools, colleges and hospitals. Some known locations include Wilson College at Chowpatty,
Aditya Kulkarni, who previously worked for Nvidia, ISRO, as a computer scientist, is now one of the people behind software company CareNX Innovations, which develops and distributes mobile health technologies for maternal and child care.
De Menezes, Kulkarni and Shetty were hosted in England for two weeks, during which they were mentored and trained (to boost their leadership skills further) through the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education.
Other than Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, the awards ceremony was graced by eminent personalities, including footballer David Beckham and former British PM John Major. For De Menezes, though, the most exciting part of the celebrations was a 10-minute private audience with the Queen — only two other awardees got a personal audience with the monarch. Extremely impressed by the Queen, De Menezes said, “Even at the age of 92, she was onher feet for hours. And when I spoke to her, I found her remarkably attentive.”
The social entrepreneurs will now be part of the queen’s Young Leaders network
Kulkarni, too, was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Queen had read about his firm’s project, ‘CareMother’. “She asked me to continue the good work,” said Kulkarni, explaining how ‘CareMother’ is operational in nine states, and, in the last three years, has collaborated with over 15 partner organisations, providing care for over 30,000 pregnancies and creating jobs for more than 300 women health workers.
These social entrepreneurs will now also be part of the Queen’s Young Leaders network, a group of 240 change-makers across 53 Commonwealth countries, all of whom are entitled to apply for grants (a Legacy Fund worth GBP 200,000 or roughly Rs 1.83 crore has been created for this purpose) to support their future endeavours.
Aditya Kulkarni, who works on mobile tech for maternal and child care, accepts his award
Recent Messages ()
Please rate before posting your Review
SIGN IN WITH
Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.