Year of Youth 2023/24

Muberuka Amon is an MBA candidate at the Quantic School of Business and Technology, USA and the country representative of Rwanda Organization of Children Summit Alumni.

Before his role on the Commonwealth’s Youth Advisory Committee, he led the Youth Communication Taskforce responsible for covering the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and Commonwealth Youth Forum in June and COP27 held in Egypt in November.

Amon is also a national coordinator for the A4HPV Rwanda Chapter which fights against the spread of Human Papillomavirus, a leading cause of cervical cancer.

Christabel Derby is a lawyer and the CEO of the Derby’s Foundation Ghana – focusing on development, education, health and infrastructure. She is currently the Vice Chairperson of Inclusion and Engagement for the Commonwealth Youth Council. 

Franc Kamugyisha, from Uganda, was named Commonwealth Young Person of the Year 2022 for his work with Ecoplastile which sees plastic waste recycled into affordable building materials to help address the waste and housing crises in Kampala.

Franc has spoken at international conferences, including The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Rwanda in June, and the Stockholm+50 in Sweden.

He has been featured in international media including, Sky News, CNN International and the Voice of America.

Kendell Vincent is a youth development and strategic communications professional from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and currently pursuing a BA in communications at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. Kendell currently serves as the Chairperson of the Caribbean Regional Youth Council. 

Robin Lockhart is Vice Chair of the London Mayors Office For Policing and Crime Victims’ Reference Group. In 2018, he was made Global Youth Work Ambassador for the Commonwealth after receiving the Commonwealth Youth Worker of the Year Award in 2017.  Prior to that, in 2016, Robin was shortlisted for the Restorative Practitioner of the Year.

Divya Goyal is a young blind researcher from India and is currently researching on disability inclusive development in the Global South at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She holds an MPhil in Development Studies from University of Cambridge as a Commonwealth Masters Scholar. She has worked on inclusive social protection systems, gender, inclusive employment practices, and youth leadership and participation. 

Dr R.Bernice HLAGALA is the Chief Director for the National Youth Development Programme in the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in The Presidency, Republic of South Africa. She has more than 25 years working experience in the public service sector. She is an Expert in policy making and stakeholder management fields within the social, youth, and community development sectors at national, regional, and international levels. Dr HLAGALA is the 2014 overall winner of the Pan-Commonwealth Youth Workers’ Award as well as the recipient of the best Youth Workers’ Award for Africa Region of the Commonwealth.  She is currently South Africa’s National Commissioner for UNESCO and a part-time Marker and Supervisor for undergraduate and post graduate Development studies at the University of South Africa (Unisa). 

Emma D’Costa is a Programme Manager with the Commonwealth Foundation, the Commonwealth’s agency for civil society. She has many years’ experience of curating exhibitions, organising events and managing arts projects with a focus on world cultures. She has worked with the Commonwealth Foundation as a consultant since 1995, managing a range of cultural events and projects. She currently oversees the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, having previously managed the Commonwealth Book Prize and the Commonwealth Short Story Competition. She also oversees grant and translation initiatives and has organised writing workshops across the Commonwealth. As Visual Arts Officer at the Commonwealth Institute she curated a large number of international exhibitions. As Head of Project Development at London-based arts organisation Cultural Co-operation, she worked with artists from London’s national and faith communities, as well as putting together talks and spoken word programmes for the Music Village Festivals, and organising a major conference on diaspora literature in 2005. 

Helen Jones MBE has had a long career in international youth development and non-formal education, including as Head of Programmes and Director of Youth Affairs at the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS). Awarded an MBE in 2013 in recognition of her services to youth development and intercultural work in the Commonwealth, she has played a leading role in establishing and convening the Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) and developing innovative emerging young leaders’ programmes such as Commonwealth Changemakers and the inspirational Queen’s Young Leaders. She has led advocacy work for policy change, including campaigns to end child marriage and to improve child protection in the Commonwealth. She is active in Commonwealth affairs, currently serving on IFCO (Independent Forum of Commonwealth Organisations), the Commonwealth Consortium for Education (CCfE), the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network (CBWN) and as Commonwealth Adviser for the charity It’s a Penalty. 

Dr Balaji Venkataraman has been with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) since 2010. He is a specialist in learning technology with an interest in its innovative applications in developing countries for skill development. He is currently involved in a large project to promote open, distance and flexible learning in the developing countries of the Commonwealth in the Pacific. His recent publication on education and blockchain (December 2022) was jointly published with UNESCO. 

Kim Allen, from Papua New Guinea, has over 10 years of youth volunteer work and four years of experience in the development and conservation field across various reputable organizations such as the United Nations Development Program, USAID, and Cardno International Development. He initiated various community-led projects ranging from water and sanitation, school library books and classrooms, climate action awareness and school relocation, and youth leadership programs. He is currently doing a Master of Arts in International Development at Nagoya University, Japan. He serves as the current Chairperson of the Commonwealth Youth Council and a member of the Pacific Island Forum Secretary General’s Young Climate Leaders Alliance.  

Madiha Hussein is a Programme Officer at the Commonwealth Foundation, where she supports the People of the Commonwealth team on delivering online events and in-person forums on global issues, facilitating civil society engagement in policy spaces, nurturing the civil society community through various digital platforms, as well as supporting on the Foundation’s advocacy and outreach work. Prior to this, she has worked on projects in the interfaith and legal sectors. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights from University College London and a BA in Politics from Queen Mary University London.

Dr Amjad Mohamed-Saleem is the orchestrator (aka manager) of the Volunteer, Youth and Education Development Unit at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies based in Geneva, a global team focused on volunteering management, youth innovation and engagement, and education programming. He has worked in different perspectives of humanitarian work, interfaith engagement and peace building. He applies his extensive knowledge on peace building, humanitarian affairs and development work, and interfaith engagement in many domains, including as board member of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, People Beyond Borders and Eduspots. He is a research associate/ fellow of the Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia.

His publications include journal articles, several book chapters and a book on "Lessons from Aceh". Amjad is an alumni of the International Visitors Leadership Program and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and has an M.Eng from Imperial College London, an MBA from U21 Global Singapore/Manipal Global Nxt Malaysia and a PhD from Exeter University, UK.

Dr Henry Wallice Charles served as co-chair of the Year of Youth Advisory Committee from January 2023 up until his passing in July 2023. He was an internationally recognised Youth and Policy Development Expert, with over 30 years of practice in positive youth development. He provided technical support and advice to several multilateral organisations, governments, national youth organisations and other youth development stakeholders on youth and policy development strategy. As a former Director of the Caribbean Centre of the Commonwealth Youth Programme and Interim Director of the CYP at the Secretariat in London, he significantly influenced the strategic direction of the Programme and the philosophical foundations of youth development work in the Caribbean. 

At the time of his death, he was a Senior Programme Specialist on Child Resilience with UNICEF in the Netherlands and a part-time lecturer in the MSc in Child and Youth Studies for the Department of Behavioural Sciences at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.

On behalf of the Governments and peoples of the Commonwealth, the Secretariat expresses gratitude for his service and, as the work of the Advisory Committee continues, we intend to honour his legacy.