Youth Leadership Council

Adibeli Chidinma is a youth and adolescent health advocate. She promotes good health for young people in Africa by providing them with relevant skills and information through learning forums such as podcasts, media campaigns, and community outreach. Adibeli has two years of experience with nongovernmental organizations such as Nigerian Men Coalition, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and Natineee Empowerment for Sustainable Impact Initiative, and she is currently serving as a Youth Steering Committee member for MenEngage Nigeria. She holds a bachelor’s degree in human anatomy from Delta State University (Nigeria).

Ayuba Huudu is a youth advocate and social worker promoting access to opportunities for marginalized groups, mainly youth and children, in Ghana. In 2016, Ayuba founded Save Aid Project, a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for and enhances the living standards and educational prospects of young people and other individuals in underserved communities. Ayuba served as the Headmaster of Wisehouse International School for four years and was also an Academic Supervisor at the Firdaus Foundation for Social Services, a full-cost scholarship and leadership program for disadvantaged young people. Ayuba has an undergraduate degree in theater arts from the University of Ghana and is studying for a master’s degree in development communication from the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

Saro is a young transgender activist and entrepreneur dedicated to advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people, especially those from marginalized communities. She has worked in the fields of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender equality with various international organizations. She has taken part in the United Nations Universal Periodic Review process by contributing to reports on SRHR issues faced by young people in Pakistan, as well as on transgender issues in Pakistan. Saro has contributed to several research projects aimed at understanding and highlighting marginalized communities. Her projects have explored feminist representation in Pakistani cinema; understanding eunuchs through Pakistani television; and experiences of joining the transgender community. She has also worked with UK AID and UNICEF on advocacy-based research related to health services in Pakistan and youth development in South Asia. Saro has developed a community-based organization in her region, Activists Alliance Foundation (AAGAHE), which envisions a society where all transgender persons can live with dignity and self-respect, enjoying equal social justice and wellbeing.

Saru Khadka is a diversity and inclusion advocate. She is Executive Producer at Utar Chadhav, a mental health podcast based in Nepal that is hosted by two therapists and brings forward nuanced stories of mental health from the trenches in Nepal. From 2020 to 2022, Saru was the Executive Secretary for a nongovernmental organization named Girls Empowered by Travel (GET)-Nepal, where she contributed to strengthening the leadership skills and capacity of young girls from underprivileged backgrounds. For the past five years, she has been actively serving in several organizations that specialize in enhancing youth leadership. Saru is a social work and psychology student with a focus on youth engagement.

Solomon Ndondo is a member of GFC's Youth Leadership Council. He is a children’s rights activist and human rights defender from Zimbabwe and the Founder and Executive Director of the Africa Rise Foundation, where he is responsible for strategic decisions. Solomon is a Canon Collins Trust and Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS) scholar, an advisory board member for the African Network for Youth and Adolescent Development, and a member of Amnesty International South Africa. He is also a former Co-Chair of the Capacity Building Committee for Youth Against Slavery Movement's Youth Advisory Board and an alumnus of the Young African Leaders Initiative Regional Leadership Center Southern Africa. Solomon holds a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in human resources management from Great Zimbabwe University and is currently studying a Master of Philosophy degree in development studies at University of Cape Town.

Stephani Paliza is the General Coordinator at Fundación Multitudes, a Chilean nongovernmental organization, where she oversees funding and partnerships for the Women’s Observatory Against Disinformation, which seeks to counter gendered disinformation. Stephani was previously Secretariat of the Civil Society Pillar of the Community of Democracies, as well as Deputy Director of United Peruvian Youth, a youth organization that promotes the achievement of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development in Peru. In addition, she was a European Commission Peace Ambassador at the 2022 One Young World Summit and a Stage 4 Fellow at the Aspire Leaders Program, founded at Harvard University. Stephani holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from San Ignacio de Loyola University (Peru), with specialization in project management, public management, and fundraising. She is fluent in Spanish and intermediate in French and Portuguese.

Maria Veronica O. Papa is a Public Policies Researcher at Policy International, an all-women policy group advocating for competition in the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) sector, with a focus on Southeast Asia. She interned briefly in the Senate of the Philippines. A youth rights advocate, Veronica/Oni served as the Executive Director of Kilos Ko Youth, an organization that she co-founded in 2020 and that now has 18 local chapters across the Philippine archipelago to empower young people to take leadership roles and organize at the grassroots and national levels. Veronica/Oni works within the networks of various national and international socio-civic organizations like AIESEC, the World Youth Alliance Asia-Pacific, the youth wing of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, and the International Federation of Liberal Youth.

Paloma J. Paul is an activist in Disidencias en Red, a political advocacy organization that promotes LGBTQI+ rights in Chile and the world. She is also an active mentor to young people in vulnerable contexts during their university studies. She has been a cultural mediator in schools for three years, promoting access to higher education and support in crisis contexts through art and other activities. Paloma was also a UN volunteer at My World Mexico, where she worked on the promotion of cultural rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. She holds a degree in international studies from the University of Chile and in 2022 received a scholarship for the summer Global Leadership and Creativity program at King’s College London.

Milena Rusu is a feminist activist from Chisinau, Moldova. In 2020, Milena founded Feminismd, the first youth-led organization focused on fighting for gender equality in Moldova. Under her leadership, Feminismd has obtained over $30,000 in funds and has collaborated with UN Women Moldova, UNICEF Moldova, the National Coalition “Life without Family Violence,” Genderdoc-M, and Global Fund for Children. More than 1,000 teenagers have benefited from Feminismd trainings on diverse feminist topics ranging from gender-based violence to beauty standards. Milena is currently a Youth Ambassador in Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) and serves on the United Nations Youth Advisory Panel in Moldova. She graduated from Orizont Theoretical Lyceum in 2022 and plans to pursue a women’s and gender studies major in the United States.

Nojus Saad is the President of Youth For Women Foundation, a French multinational nonprofit organization. He is a multi-award-winning digital healthcare expert with over seven years of community research, capacity-building, and advocacy expertise in mental healthcare, gender justice, and digital inclusion. Nojus is the PMNCH (Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health) Vice Chair at the World Health Organization, where he represents the health and wellbeing of women and adolescents at the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women, WHO’s Global Conference on Health Promotion, and the International AIDS Conference. He is also an adviser on locally led development at Bond UK, where he focuses on investments in rural research and healthcare development, and a Senior Digital Policy Fellow at the ICANN77 Policy Forum in Washington, DC. Nojus holds a medical degree from an Iraqi medical university.

Rostyslav Semka has been working in the civic sector in Ukraine since 2019 and is the head of a nongovernmental organization called Inspiration Place. He has participated in various international conferences and trainings and has significant experience in active social work with children and youth in Ukraine and abroad. In 2021, Rostyslav was a panelist for GFC’s Spark Fund. Не has expert knowledge in the areas of education and youth engagement and is the author of scientific articles on fake news and media literacy. Rostyslav has a master’s degree in the management of foreign economic activity.