Two Tanzanians win The Queen’s Young Leaders of 2015
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awards two young Tanzanians first ever Queen’s Young Leaders Award.
Angel Benedicto receiving her Queen's Young Leaders Award from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Her Majesty The Queen presented the inaugural Queen’s Young Leaders Awards to two young people from Tanzania at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Monday 22nd June.
Angela Benedicto Mnagoza and Given Edward were among 60 exceptional young people from across the Commonwealth who were recognised by The Queen for taking the lead in transforming the lives of others and make a lasting difference in their communities.
Following the death of her mother and her aunt, Angela worked in domestic service where she was abused and exploited by her employer. She now promotes the rights of child domestic workers, educating this marginalised workforce and attempting to change attitudes towards them.
Given realised that gridlock on the roads was cutting into valuable lesson time for students. So he created MyElimu.com, an online discussion forum where commuting pupils can continue discussing subjects. More than 500 students have registered so far and Given wants to carry on making education accessible for as many young people as possible in his country.
Before receiving their Award at Buckingham Palace the winners met the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron at 10 Downing Street. They also visited the headquarters of global social networking company, Twitter, and met with senior executives at the BBC World Service.
Speaking before the award ceremony, Given Edward and Angela Benedicto Mnagoza said:
“We are so happy to be two of the first recipients of the Queen’s Young Leaders Award. To be recognised for our work and be presented with Awards by Her Majesty The Queen at Buckingham Palace is such a huge honour. We can’t wait to meet all the other Award winners in London and get involved in all the exciting activities that are taking place throughout the week.”
This year’s Award winners are aged between 18 and 29 and are working to support others, raise awareness and inspire change on a variety of different issues including; education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality.
Following the ceremony on the 22nd June, Award winners spent four days in the UK taking part in a residential development programme as part of the Award prize. The programme included workshops at Cambridge University, meetings with UK businesses leaders, and visits to life changing social action projects.
To see a full list of Award winners and Highly Commended runners up, and read more about their stories please visit Queen’s young leaders
2016 Queen’s Young Leaders Award- Nominate someone special now!
If you or someone you know is doing inspiring work like this year’s Queen’s Young Leaders, you can apply or nominate someone for a 2016 Award at Queen’s young leaders