G20 - Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

06/30/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/30/2022 10:18

20 Finalists of Y20 Awards have been selected, IT’S TIME FOR GLOBAL YOUTH TO COLLABORATE AND TAKE REAL ACTION!

Among 60 applicants, 20 global youths who work and have real projects based on Y20 Indonesia priority areas, have been selected as Finalists for the Y20 Awards 2022, the first Y20's Presidency event award. This award was initiated with the aim of capturing and discovering various activities and initiatives of global youth (both from G20 and non-G20 countries) related to social entrepreneurship, digital economy, circular economy and a sustainable planet, as well as cultural diversity, inclusive education, and creative economy. Y20 Awards 2022 has been opened in December 2021 with 2 categories: Youth Individual Leaders and Youth Groups. 5 winners of Y20 Awards (4 winners in the Youth Individual Leaders category and 1 Best Youth Group) will be invited to participate and share their work/projects at the Y20 Summit 2022, which will take place on 17-24 July 2022.

The finalists of the Y20 Awards are also diverse and come from various parts of the world. Half of the finalists (Maulana Muhammad Ramadhan, Alvian Wardhana, Yohanes Sugihtononugroho, Zagy Yakana Berian, Yolla Miranda, Gayatri, Culture Academy, Indonesian Youth for SMEs, Jabar Digital Service, Rekosistem) come from Indonesia, and the other half from abroad, namely: Angela Zhong (United States), Ally Zlatar (UK), Kyoka Costantini (France), Henaka Rallage Chiranthi Thavisha Senanayake (Sri Lanka), PAK Mission Society (Pakistan), Ladakh Basket and Global Shapers Community (India), Joel Christoph (Germany), Emil Kharisov (Russia), and Eidos Global (Argentina). Nine of the finalists were young women, some of whom are even still studying at the Ursuline High School in Surakarta, namely Gayatri with the Nawala Project (a free reading park and education club in the Surakarta square).

The judges are also a mixture of experts in international organizations such as Budi Mario from the International Labor Organization (ILO), Qing Ye from the World Trade Organization (WTO), Wafa Taftazani and Vincent Tjendra as alumni of the Indonesian Delegation to Y20, young leaders from Friends For Leadership/FFL

(Roman Chukov, Baljinnyam Chinzorigt, Dr. John Aggrey, Bhushan Dahalgt, David Okpatuma), Gracia Paramitha (Co Chair Y20 Indonesia), Nanda Noor from the World Resource Institute (WRI) Indonesia, and Vina G. Pendit from the Value20 (V20) Indonesia team. "The selection of the Y20 Awards is based on the application documents and the 3-minute videos about their work activities/initiatives and projects. The documentation of the work and projects of the Y20 Awards finalists will be a concrete deliverable of the Y20 Indonesia. We hope that this Y20 Awards initiative can show that youth are able to partner with the government or G20 leaders and take real action," said Gracia as the initiator and judge of the Y20 Awards 2022. The implementation of the Y20 Awards can't be separated from the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports as the mother Ministry of Y20 Indonesia, and the Y20 Awards partners (Plan International Indonesia Foundation, ILO, WRI, FFL, V20, WTO).

One of the interesting projects is the 'Anak Benua Literacy' which was initiated by Alvian Wardhana and has helped 1800 illiterate children in South Kalimantan in 17 villages and assisted by hundreds of volunteers. Meanwhile, Eidos Global, which originates from Argentina and has branches in the UK and Uruguay with 23 member teams and 50,000 people made some social entrepreneurship projects called 'Social Innovation Warehouse'. "With digitalization, Eidos Global strives to develop the skills of young people who have more social impact on the society through innovative education and training", said Marina who represents Eidos Global. The topic of circular economy and a sustainable planet is the most favorite topic with the highest number of applicants. Particularly, in the Individual Youth Leader category, Angela Zhong from the United States created a sustainable food campaign on her Harvard University campus and Joel Christoph who founded Endeema (a software company based in Germany that synergizes energy consumption with the production of renewable energy using electricity and solar power).

In addition, there is also Zagy who founded the Society for Renewable Energy and has built many solar panels in rural Indonesia and Yolla Miranda who made an environmentally friendly mask called 'Maskit'. On the topic of cultural diversity and inclusion, Chira from Sri Lanka has a youth empowerment incubator project called the Hype Sri Lanka. "My project specifically wants to meet the 10th target of the SDGs and promote youth inclusiveness in the systemicdevelopment process. One of them is empowering youth with disabilities in policy and research spaces", said Chira. The finalists of the Y20 Awards interact with each other and can collaborate on some projects to create a sustainable economic and social transformation and global development recovery.