"The concept of mental health and wellbeing are not ones that are mainstreamed, and that's what we are trying to make a culture around – not just for beneficiaries of the different services and programmes that we offer but also for frontline workers"

"A society that holds governments to account, and preaches and advocates for its own peace, is what gives me the most hope, and we're starting to see that."

"[In Somalia] it’s considered weak or even ungrateful to ‘complain’ or speak of the trauma that one has encountered."

"Peacebuilding is a long-term investment, and we’re just at the beginning"

"Over the years it has become very clear to me that a range of actors in Somali society want to sweep sexual and gender-based violence issues under the rug."

"Human rights, now more than ever, are very much on the political agenda in Somalia. However moving beyond the proverbial international commitments and declarations has not yet been realized."

"So if you want to change the world, you need to first know and search within yourself with deep humility, zero egos, and profound clarity."

"Women human rights defenders in Somalia are reprised against, threatened, unlawfully arrested, privy to sexual and gender-based violence, kidnapped and even killed as a result of their work."

"I’m a fighter. I’m the kind of person that for better or worse runs towards a problem and tries to solve it even if it’s in a burning house."

"To achieve success in creating more peaceful, just and inclusive societies, we must create a world, an environment where every girl can choose her future"

"When considering how to engage and empower women for countering violent extremism, policy makers must understand the varied roles women play in this space."

"Traditional practices that go hand in hand with gender-based violence is an issue that women human rights defenders have met with unified opposition."

"Africa has the wealth to invest and the clearest path to reducing inequality is investing in African youth, our most important asset."

"It is my duty to make sure that young people hold governments accountable for the implementation of the frameworks they signed up for."

"I will always push for progressive, more inclusive and more empowered positions for young people across Africa."

"When injustice is perceived, young people look upon violent groups as legitimate fighters, not perpetrators of violence."

"There are a lot of young women now occupying spaces and challenging stereotypes every single day, from sport to technology to business to leadership, and all of this is necessary."

"We cannot shrink the future of Africa in accepting its reality."

"We clearly live in an era where we have the most unequal societies of all time. The rich are becoming richer, the poor are becoming poorer."

"Maybe you're this or maybe you’re that. I lead with, “You’re African first."

"We believe that it is critical to invest in children’s minds, equipping them with life skills that will help them become successful in life."

"Find your identity, your true self and live your mission … Your power is your radical self. Find it."

"We have our own voices. We just need you to listen."

"And with more and more women present in these spaces, it is creating an atmosphere and acceptance for more to join as well."

"As young people, you do not need permission to participate. You must occupy your space because there is no governance without citizen engagement and youth-led accountability."

"It's encouraging to see that women are fighting against so many different barriers to participate because they know what their participation means for other girls that are marginalised."

"I am a respected woman and I barely see any negative stuff about me in the media. I carry myself with dignity because I believe it’s us who give the media what to write about, if someone is bad they write bad stuff about them but if they are good then what is written about them is good too,"

"The ceiling disappeared, and I remember being woken up and feeling like I was drowning because of the rain."

"We engage with other youth through a series of events organised in schools; that is, capacity enhancement in different areas and elevating our country’s experience beyond our borders to advocate for proper youth inclusion in climate action."

"We work closely with the government on a vast level that allows us not only to augment our voice as active stakeholders but also by equipping us with a safe space to learn how to reshape our vision and engagement while receiving capacity enhancement platforms that help us contour an enhanced future."

"Through her unwavering determination and mobilization efforts, Ineza continues to inspire a new generation of environmental activists, empowering them to create meaningful change in their communities and beyond."

"UNCCD stepped forward in opening a door for the youth around the globe in order to mitigate and adapt to this by also protecting the environment for us and the future generation."

"I am working hand-in-hand with the youth who graduated from University of Rwanda to design the project which will have a positive impact on the environment and the agricultural sector. This is the starting point in the process, to have more youth fighting for suitable land management in the region"

"In rural areas, for example, people just know that Rwanda is a beautiful country but they do not know how to keep the land sustainable, and how to practice more in conserving the environment. This is a big challenge because rural people are more vulnerable to global warming but they don’t know how to protect themselves from that."

"During my course, I realised that in terms of land neutrality, Rwanda can do more, and that was my inspiration. The land environmental engineer is one that can take care of the environment and community because both of them can live in harmony in order to attain sustainable development."

"From my small research I realised that we do not have adequate information, like how desertification is affecting Rwanda, how we respond to this, how much are we saving or losing, the soil erosion going on and so forth."

"When I finished secondary school, I had the option to go for civil engineering or water and environmental engineering but when I searched the Internet and saw the global wars of climate change, I realised that environmental engineers are the ones able to find solutions and that is how I opted to be an environmental engineer."

"I am honoured and grateful because it is like a simple highlight and recognition of how much the world is ready to understand and take risks in investing in working with today’s generation."

"e are the generation that is past the phase of only blaming leaders because we are also pacing the solution."

"We are living in an era where climate change is interlinked with every sector, especially sustainable economic development sectors for communities, but then we are not having the same urgency of action in the political phase."

"Rwandan children need the Loss and Damage Fund because children are vulnerable. When you see what happened in Rwanda in May this year, schools were destroyed by disasters and children were much more affected. If the Loss and Damage Fund is there, they recover faster. The fund could help the country avoid heavy debt in rehabilitating the damages ."

"The future for us is going to be achieved if we address the climate crisis to the full extent of its magnitude, that it is happening right now."

"We realised that, although people were being recommended to stay indoors, for some of us it was not the case. That was the same year that Rwanda experienced serious flooding, and people were not able to stay indoors to protect themselves from Covid-19."

"Also, minor research I did in 2016 showed that girls graduating in hospitality and hotel management did not have jobs because they do not know where to turn to. I thought of a sustainable and reliable project that can connect the two parties and create an open platform for the youth and help working parents feel better at work."

"My community of 300,000 people depends on nature for livelihood. We find daily solutions in our forest and in our farmlands. But our natural resources face a lot of challenges deforestation, over-exploitation, encroachment and poor soil conservation. And these are made worse by gender inequality, cultural barriers and little or no knowledge about the goodness of nature."

"Nature remains our greatest ally to reach our climate mitigation targets. Planting trees is essential, but we need to raise a forest generation that will thrive and live in harmony with nature."

""Honey equals income, equals jobs, equals gender equality, equals conservation.”"

"“The Belo Monte Dam is literally drowning the lungs of the earth, the Amazon rainforest, and clogging its arteries, the great Amazon river that brings water and food to millions of people,”"

"" I dedicated my life to campaigning against this project, and though it has gone ahead, I will keep on fighting against what Belo Monte represents: a destructive, unsustainable and unfeasible development model.”"