16 year old Winner of Turner Social Change Prize

‎16 year old Kehkashan Basu , Founder President of youth sustainability organisation ‎Green Hope, was a proud recipient of the prestigious “Turner Social Change Prize” at ‎a glittering ceremony in Bogota, Colombia on 5th Feb during the ongoing 16th World ‎Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.‎

Dubai, UAE , February 07,2017: Kehkashan was invited to this 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in ‎her capacity as the winner of the 2016 International Children’s Peace prize and as a ‎member of the KidsRights Youngsters. Bogotá was chosen as the global venue for this ‎important universal dialogue of almost 20 Nobel Laureates which included Kailash ‎Satyarthi and  Lech Walesa.‎

The World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates was born as an initiative of the ‎Gorbachev Foundation supported by Nobel peace Laureates and the City of Rome.

The ‎World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates is internationally recognized as the most ‎important annual event in the field of peacemaking, attracting Nobel Peace Laureates, ‎high-profile leaders, organisations, students, and professors from around the globe ‎since 1999.‎

During this summit , Kehkashan conducted two workshops for youth during which ‎she exhorted the critical need to empower young people , especially girls in the ‎sustainability process. Sharing the initiatives of her youth organisation Green Hope , ‎Kehkashan said “The Sustainable Development Goals , hold out a promise of a ‎sustainable future , in which no one will be left behind. But this promise will not ‎become a reality unless we set right one fundamental aspect ---  peace. It is time we ‎call on the people of our planet to remember our common humanity and join ‎together to build a future free of strife. Let us all join hands to end poverty, address ‎climate change, forge equality and ensure access to education so that we can create a ‎more peaceful world.”‎

On the concluding day of this summit, Kehkashan’s project on biodiversity ‎conservation was chosen by the panel of Nobel Laureates as one of the recipients of ‎the Turner Social Change prize. Reacting to this honour, Kehkashan said “ Our ‎biodiversity is at severe threat and it is the responsibility of every member of civil ‎society to work towards its conservation. As young people , we must show the way”. It ‎was a great honour for Kehkashan to receive this award in front of  His Excellency Juan Manuel Santos, ‎the President of Colombia, all the Nobel Laureates present there, Sir Richard Branson and other ‎dignitaries.‎

Kehkashan is also the Youth Ambassador of World Future Council and the erstwhile ‎Global Coordinator for UNEP’s Major Group for Children and Youth.‎