A Bangladeshi has been selected as one of the winners of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award 2014, a unique initiative to honour young people in the Commonwealth countries who have made a positive difference in their communities.
Shamir Shehab, 26, has been selected for founding Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on Bangladesh.
Since it was found in 2009, the organisation has worked to train more than 500 young environmental activists and set up environmental clubs in 30 schools. It also runs the National Earth Olympiad to teach and raise awareness among the students about climate change.
Besides Shamir, a number of young leaders have been selected from other Asian Commonwealth member countries, namely India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Brunei.
A total of 61 young leaders from 35 Commonwealth countries have been selected for the 2014 Queen’s Young Leaders Award, the first of its kind. The winners will receive a one-week residential programme in the UK, during which they will also receive their award from Queen Elizabeth II herself.
To be eligible for the award, one has to be aged 18-28 years at the time of application and have the record of making significant changes to improve the quality of life in his or her community or country, which could be used as a model to improve lives across the Commonwealth.
The award was launched as part of the Queen’s Young Leaders Programme, which aims to enable young people to step up as leaders and improve their lives as well as the lives of people in their communities, countries and across the Commonwealth.
It was established by the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust in honour of the Queen’s 60-year contribution to the Commonwealth. The programme will run in partnership with Comic Relief and the Royal Commonwealth Society.
