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Championing Climate Action and Justice: Insights from Young Leaders in Brazil, France and Nigeria
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Daniel Calarco de Oliveira
President, International Youth Watch (Brazil)
Daniel is a youth advocate and community leader who empowers young people in favelas across Brazil. Growing up, Daniel saw firsthand how marginalization and exclusion prohibited communities like his from breaking cycles of poverty and violence. Today, he manages International Youth Watch, a youth-led organization that provides capacity-building training in employment, technology, and human rights advocacy for 10,000 youth. The organization’s Favela.LAB program trains young people on climate action in line with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, and its women’s economic empowerment program has helped 200 mothers in 15 favelas. Daniel aims to apply the skills gained from the Scholars program to expand the Favela.LAB program and train climate leaders in the urgent fight to protect Brazil’s Amazon and Atlantic Forest regions.
Daniel served as a National Youth Counselor to the Brazilian Presidency. He holds the title of Young Global Leader within the United Nations Development Program’s Generation17 and is recognized as a Young Peacebuilder by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Daniel participated in the Yale Young Global Scholars program and the American Consulate to Rio’s Leaders of Tomorrow program, and coordinated UNESCO’s Pact for Youth. He was a visiting student at Columbia Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the Rio de Janeiro Law School.
Vincent Touboul Flachaire
Founder, Goodeed (France)
Inspired by the work of Muhammad Yunus, Vincent Touboul Flachaire left school at 17 to found Goodeed, an organization that streamlines the donation processes for nonprofit organizations. Vincent’s innovative fundraising model invites young people to watch an online advertisement from a brand partner and transforms the advertising revenue directly into donations. Goodeed, a B Corp, mobilizes 1 million donors monthly and has raised almost €10 million since 2014 for more than 300 nonprofits, and is part of Vincent’s movement to accelerate social and environmental transformation . As a social entrepreneur, Vincent is looking to bridge the world of technology and social impact. Through the Scholars program, he hopes to develop a new framework to build a new generation of donors and to accelerate companies’ social and ecological transition.
Vincent is a TEDx speaker and he has been recognized as a Goalkeeper by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has also participated in the Paris-based startup accelerator NUMA.
Glory Oguegbu
Founder and Executive Director, Glow Initiative for Economic Empowerment and CEO, Renewable Energy Technology Training Institute (Nigeria)
Glory Oguegbu is a climate change activist working to advance a climate-smart Africa by promoting climate literacy and developing renewable energy projects that give Nigerians access to clean electricity. Since 2013, Glow Initiative has connected 4,352 households with clean electricity, educated 18,562 students and 470 farmers on climate action and trained climate fellows working in 160 schools across Nigeria. In 2021, Glow Initiative created the Climate Leadership Fellowship Program to invest in a new generation of climate leaders. At COP 27, Glory launched the School of Climate Action and its flagship project; Climate Data Policy to generate real-time global climate impact data, recommend solutions, and facilitate a need-based climate investment. Glow Initiative’s social enterprise, the Renewable Energy Technology Training Institute, has trained over 3,000 installers and designers and created Africa’s first online solar education platform, which has trained 1,450 individuals on solar design and installation and offset 840,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. Glory is eager to utilize the Scholars program to further develop her understanding of climate-action best practices and empower a new generation of renewable energy entrepreneurs who will create a zero-carbon Africa.
Glory has received numerous awards for her work including the Nigerian Star Award from the U.S. Mission in Nigeria, the Young Energy Professional of the year, the Climate and Energy Champion Prize from the Nigeria Energy Awards, and a recognition from the U.S. Mission to the African Union as a rising Africa female entrepreneur. For International Women’s Day 2023, The Economist celebrated Glory as a leading woman in global sustainability. She is an Advisory Council member at Project Drawdown, a U.S climate solutions organization. She was a Mandela Washington Fellow at the University of Delaware and an Enel Foundation’s Open Africa Power Fellow in Cape Town, South Africa. Glory holds a bachelor’s degree in geography and planning from Abia State University in Nigeria.
About the Obama Foundation Scholars Program
The Obama Foundation Scholars Program at Columbia University brings together rising leaders from the United States and around the world who have demonstrated a commitment to finding solutions to challenges in their communities and countries. Scholars complete a fully-funded 9-month residency on campus at Columbia World Projects, deepening their knowledge and skills, and building new capacities and networks to accelerate their impact.
Non-SIPA students can register HERE.
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Co-hosted with: MPA in Development Practice, Energy & Environment Concentration, Leadership, Innovation, and Design Specialization
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