Muwanguzi Alex grew up in Uganda where he witnessed routine violence against women and girls that few questioned. Social and cultural norms that favor negative male masculinities often accept violence such as domestic abuse, female genital mutilation (FGM), marital rape and sexual assault as normal societal occurrences. This culture also places the blame and shame on the victim leading the majority of victims to suffer in silence, afraid to speak up or report incidents of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) to authorities.

Navya started a storytelling campaign called Tandem Tales that aimed to capture different narratives around conflict and peacebuilding. She came across stories of bullying, violence and hatred. She became even more determined to educate more people about conflict, peacebuilding and diversity. In 2020, and with the help of Peace First, Navya co founded Diversity Dialogue, a project designed to educate young people about conflict, countering hate speech and promoting the concept of peace and harmony. With the help of Peace First, Diversity Dialogue provided ten workshops to students between the age of 12 to 17 on peace education and plans to provide the workshop to 100 students in the first three months of 2021. The workshops are coupled with storytelling campaigns on social media and interactive games to build a culture of peacebuilding across New Delhi. 

In Warwick, UK, Eleanor Beckett became acutely aware of the amount of spare time she had during lockdown. She felt lonely, restless and anxious about the future, and she knew this was the reality for so many young people in her community too. A community that was once full of life, bustling with noise and chatter came to a standstill. Many small shops closed their doors for good, parks grass grew weeds and the streets were empty and silent. Eleanor and her neighbors were in total isolation and it was taking a toll on their mental health. 

Manu grew up in Virginia, where lead and heavy metal poisoning is one of the biggest health issues for children, causing developmental delays, lifelong cognitive issues and organ failure. And while he had access to  quality education and healthcare, Manu became deeply concerned about the disparate impacts of lead poisoning on BIPOC communities. Through his research, he discovered that lead and heavy metal poisoning were completely preventable and the first step towards a lead poisoning free environment must start with spreading awareness and educating families across America. Manu was adamant to make this happen. 

Amanda could hear the catastrophic explosion from her bedroom. That's how close she was to the devastation that happened on August 4, 2020, when a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded, causing at least 204 deaths and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless.

When the dust settled, Amanda watched as thousands of her fellow citizens took to the streets to clean up the rubble, lend a hand to rescue missions, help victims and work to rebuild their country. It was a moment of both revelation and inspiration. Lebanese citizens, who for decades have been mired in sectarian conflicts and struggling with governments that fail to address the basic needs of the people, came together, despite their differences to build a better, stronger Lebanon.

Anais is a passionate young leader from Berlin, Germany, whose experience with education was anything but ordinary. While most children went to a school and received a ‘formal education’ that revolved around grades and exams, Anais spent most of her life in a circus. To her, education and learning often exist outside of the school system in a space that encourages individuality, promotes talent and accepts people as they are, regardless of their background, mental or physical ability or financial status. 

Rachana grew up in Gulmi, Nepal, where she attended primary school. Unlike most students her age, school wasn’t a place for learning, fun and friends. It was a place of fear and pain. Rachana was sexually abused by her teacher at the age of eight. Her teacher would tell her this was her punishment for misbehaving in class. Back then, Rachana did not really understand what was happening to her. She just knew it felt horrible but she couldn’t get herself to tell anyone about it. That feeling stayed with her through her adolescent years. It was only after she moved to Kathmandu as an adult that she started questioning what had happened. She started thinking about what eight year old Rachana could have done differently.

This is when Sketch A Peace was born, a safe and vibrant space for children to learn and create art. Sherif and his brilliant team of volunteer artists would provide the children with all the tools and training necessary for them to create the art they want. There is to be no limits to what their imagination could create or to how they choose to express themselves through art. Sherif would then take their artwork and sell it for display at nurseries, schools, coffee shops and restaurants as decorative pieces. The money will go directly to the children so they don’t feel like this is another charity trying to make them feel better about themselves and their situation, but rather something they earned for creating valuable art. 

Sanah is a Peace First accelerator winner and the founder of The Love Your Natural Self Foundation. The Love Your Natural Self Foundation has impacted 50,000 students and 150 schools. She applied for a Rapid Response grant after she saw the opportunity for COVID-19 submissions on social media. Sanah’s project was created to address the lack of social and emotional learning programming in K-12 campuses. She believes that every student deserves the resources to thrive and celebrate who they are. This is Sanah’s story.

Cynthia is a Peace First grantee and creator of the project: Helping the Overlooked NHS Workers. She is fighting to help cleaners and hospital laborers. She applied for a Rapid Response grant after her mum told her about the opportunity to create change. Cynthia’s project was created to address the treatment of overlooked key workers within the NHS. She believes everyone deserves respect, especially those who put their lives on the line to save others. This is Cynthia’s story.