3 Ghanaians Receive The Queen’s Young Leaders Award 2018

Three Ghanaians have been honoured by Queen Elizabeth II as part of this year’s The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme.

The three are Derrick Omari, 22; Alimatu Bawah, 28; and Shadrack Osei Frimpong, 26.

They were presented with medals by Queen Elizabeth II, Head of the Commonwealth, who hosted a reception at the Buckingham Palace to acknowledge finalists of the The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme on Tuesday 26 June 2018.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Harry and Meghan) joined the Queen to celebrate the programme which recognises the achievements of young change-makers from across the Commonwealth.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also attended the event to celebrate the achievements of inspiring young leaders from around the Commonwealth.

The Queen’s Young Leader Award recognises and celebrates exceptional people aged 18-29 from across the Commonwealth, who are taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives.

Winners of this prestigious Award will receive a unique package of training, mentoring and networking, including a one-week residential programme in the UK. With this support, Award winners will be expected to continue and develop the amazing work they are already doing in their communities.

Ms Alimatu is the co-founder of CowTribe, which uses mobile technology to provide animal health services to rural livestock farmers. The platform has helped to link farmers with veterinary services more quickly and easily, via a simple booking app. Farmers can also subscribe for vaccination reminders, outbreak alerts and animal husbandry management advice. The service aims to reduce livestock mortality and increase farm productivity and income. As the only ‘vet on demand’ platform in the country, CowTribe now has more than 25,000 users after just two years of operation.

Mr Omari on the other hand, is working to raise levels of IT literacy within his community. He is the founder of Tech Era, a programme which introduces underprivileged children in Ghana to technology. To date, it has trained 80 students to use computers and solve problems with robotics. Derick hopes to reach more than 4,000 students in rural Ghana in the next three years and to establish 12 robotics clubs in high schools. His team is also working with visually-impaired students at one school, where the aim is for half of the learners to be able to use a computer and mobile phone within a year. In addition, Derick is the founder of the Berekuso Music Project, which equips students with music and art skills that they might use as a future source of income.

While Mr Frimpong is a social entrepreneur working to improve the lives of people living in rural communities in Ghana. He is the founder of Cocoa360, which runs a free girls’ school and medical clinic in his community, funded by proceeds from a community cocoa plantation. With 17 paid staff members, 90 students and an annual reach of 2,500 patients, the Cocoa360 model has already benefitted many lives in rural Ghana. In the future, Shadrack would like to train members of the community to become health workers, and provide them with motorbikes to be able to deliver healthcare to patients in remote villages.

The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme is now in its fourth and final year and has formed a unique community of 240 influential change-makers, who represent 53 Commonwealth countries.

Source : ClassFMonline