In addition to marking World Elephant Day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex also took to Instagram to celebrate International Youth Day, highlighting young leaders helping communities at both a grassroots and global level – and the royal couple’s fans are absolutely on board.
Harry and Meghan are president and vice-president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT) an initiative that champions, funds and connects Commonwealth youth leaders working to change the world, and in the post to Sussex Royal they explain they hope to shine a light on a few of those change making young leaders of the QCT who are doing amazing things.
“Not because they have to, but because they want to – a choice we all have in life,” the caption reads.
“We are proud to introduce you to some of these individuals whose stories leave us inspired by the potential of our younger generation. This is a select few, but there are so many of you taking impactful steps every day – and for that, we say thank you… and keep going!”
The couple’s Instagram post has been applauded by their followers who expressed their gratitude to Harry and Meghan.
“Young leaders the future of this planet, hence why I so deeply admire how much faith and belief you have in the younger generation 💖,” one follower wrote.
“Thank you for inspiring us to keep going, and believing/listening to our voices to attentively.”
Another follower commented: “YES. Youth are so important (and the future!). Thanks for keeping us informed with some awesome organisations that empower and inspire the youth of the world.”
“These posts always encourage me and inform me of the good that is in the world,” said another.
“These young people featured are amazing. 😍❤👏”
Harry and Meghan have highlighted three Queen’s Commonwealth Trust-funded, youth founded initiatives in celebration of International Youth Day. (Image: Instagram/@SussexRoyal)
The young people in question include Elizabeth Wathuti, the founder of Green Generation Initiative (GGI); GirlDreamer, a UK-based female empowerment platform; and Andrew Bownds of Eco Brixs.
The post explains Elizabeth Wathuti is a 23-year-old Kenyan who started GGI in 2016, a community-based initiative focusing on deforestation, climate change and pollution.
“GGI has trained over 10,000 school children in being environmentally conscious and facilitated the planting of over 20,000 tree seedlings in schools, to help secure local school feeding programs,” Sussex Royal shares.
The second initiative Sussex Royal highlights is GirlDreamer, founded by Amna Akhtar and Kiran Kaur and created with female empowerment for the next generation of women of colour in mind.
“It has become a reliable platform to many, providing leadership development and community initiatives focused around social inclusion, delivering 12 leadership programs in 6 schools, training over 300 girls in valuable leadership skills.”
Finally Harry and Meghan chose to highlight Eco Brixs a closed-loop recycling system providing employment opportunities and creating a positive environmental impact in Masaka, Uganda.
Founded by Andrew Bownds, the community based system starts with local people collecting plastic waste, which they deposit at local satellite collection stations in return for payment.
Harry and Meghan speak to young delegates at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in April 2018. (Image: Getty)
Prince Harry is also a Commonwealth Youth Ambassador and in January this year attended and spoke at the Commonwealth Youth Roundtable in London.
At the time he was eagerly awaiting the birth of his first child Archie, and revealed in his speech that preparing to be a father had made him “more passionate than ever” to help youth lead change to build a better world for future generations.
“As someone who is about to be a father, I am acutely aware of our shared responsibility to make this world more resilient and its inhabitants more accountable for the next generation,” Harry said.
“The only way to see real progress is not by chance, it’s by chance. Let’s get to work.”
