In the hospitals of Kigali, Rwanda, Isabelle Kamariza noticed what many had overlooked: Patients weren’t being fed. Rwanda’s health care system doesn’t include meals in basic care, leaving vulnerable patients without proper nutrition during recovery. Rather than accept this reality, Kamariza founded Solid’Africa, which now feeds 400 patients daily across two hospitals.
Kamariza exemplifies the kind of leadership that Ella Robertson McKay, managing director of One Young World, seeks to cultivate. “If you move a young person’s trajectory by just a degree, the impact it has over the course of their lifetime is really exponential,” Robertson McKay explains.
Through Solid’Africa’s Gemura project, Kamariza created a system in which two farms provide fresh food for hospital patients from low-income backgrounds. The organization also helps patients manage hospital bills and covers transportation costs through its Gombora project.
“We learned that patients with health complications need medically tailored meals and that’s when we started thinking about nutrition security more broadly,” Kamariza told Forbes.
“When people talk about strengthening health systems, it’s always about what doctors, nurses, community workers need — everything from medications to equipment to infrastructure. Of course, all these things are important, but no one was thinking about this foundational input: nutrients in food.”
Ella Robertson McKay: ‘We Aim To Inspire Hope’
This outside-the-box thinking is just what Ella Robertson McKay and One Young World are encouraging on a planetary basis.
“We don’t ignore the world’s major issues, but we aim to inspire hope,” Ella Robertson McKay says. “When people see problems, we want them to think, ‘That’s terrible, but here’s a young leader making a difference; there is hope.’ Without hope, people won’t take action.”
This emphasis on hope yields results. Solid’Africa has installed water tanks in two hospitals and provides essential supplies like soap, toothbrushes, and sanitary products. The organization will soon build a kitchen facility to serve 1,000 patients three meals daily.
Robertson McKay articulates a clear goal. “Our mission is to inspire, build, and elevate young leaders, because we believe that at the heart of every global threat — whether it’s violence, peace, lack of peace, climate change, nuclear war, et cetera — at the heart of all of those challenges is a lack of leadership.”
One Young World’s initiatives have affected more than 41 million lives, according to its latest impact report. “Clearly, we can’t analyze all 18,500 young leaders in the depth that we do. So it is a conservative estimate,” Robertson McKay notes.
She emphasizes inclusivity: “Movements that aren’t inclusive of every race, gender, nationality, disability, religion will not be strong movements.” Robertson McKay advises looking beyond obvious allies. “Look at the people who you might not like, who’s in power groups that are seemingly working against you, because actually those might be the people you really need to persuade in order to make a change.”
One Young World Ambassadors Making Their Mark
Many One Young World ambassadors lead projects focused on advancing the U.N.’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Each month, coordinating ambassadors recognize outstanding individuals from their regions who have demonstrated meaningful social impact in their communities and beyond.
Indonesian One Young World ambassador Janu Muhammad was featured on Instagram and LinkedIn to highlight the work he’s been doing to promote food security.
Muhammad works with grassroots communities and multiple stakeholders to combat poverty, end hunger in rural-urban societies, and support young farmers across Indonesia. In 2020, he founded Sayur Sleman, a platform offering premium melon supplies, regenerative farming programs, and agribusiness training. The platform works to transform and empower local farming communities through a climate-smart agriculture approach aimed at improving farmer welfare.
He has been named a Young Ambassador of Agriculture by the Ministry of Agriculture and received the Sustainable Development Goals Certified Leader Award. Through the Sayur Sleman Academy program and his role as Young Ambassador of Agriculture, he’s reached over 60,000 training participants.
“After attending the 2024 OYW Summit in Montreal (18-21 September 2024), I have officially become part of the One Young World Ambassador Community,” he shared on Linkedin. “ I am ready to collaborate and make a positive impact on local and global communities, especially in the issues of agriculture, climate change, youth, and social entrepreneurship. Let’s connect and collaborate for a better world!”
Making an Impact
Robert Mills-Lamptey is another One Young World ambassador. The Ghanaian just announced on LinkedIn that he was “selected for the One Young World Official Development Assistance Course, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” which means the youth and women empowerment advocate and activist against child trafficking will get to address hurdles in “health, education, and economic resilience.”
While he described attending One Young World’s 2024 Montreal Summit as the “fulfillment of a dream,” he acknowledged the work must continue and, in many ways, he’s just getting started.
“I feel a profound responsibility to leverage this opportunity to make a meaningful impact, especially as our country works hard to overcome hurdles in health, education, and economic resilience,” Mills-Lamptey shared on LinkedIn. “A heartfelt thank you to United Way Ghana and United Way for giving me the opportunity to participate in One Young World 2024, opening doors to this transformative experience. Here’s to a world where development knows no borders!”