Winner
Jennifer Mohammadi
Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience BSc, 2020
Jennifer moved between eight different foster care placements from the ages of 14–19. She co-founded the Strengths & Resilience group when working with the Barnet Leaving Care team. Group sessions included art therapy and mindfulness to explore difficulties experienced by care leavers. When COVID-19 hit, the group transitioned online with virtual cook-along sessions and self-care practice. She then started a group for young parents involved with social services to have a safe space to discuss their struggles.
Jennifer worked as a healthcare assistant at the Children's Trust in the rehabilitation ward during lockdown. She completed the London to Brighton Cycle Ride and the virtual London Marathon to fundraise for Live Unlimited. She is currently putting together a buddy scheme, so care leavers can have someone to cheer them on when others are celebrated by their families at graduation.
Finalists
Suhail Algosaibi
MBA, 2000
Bahrain was left divided between Sunnis and Shias after the 2011 crisis. Seeing this, Suhail and some friends launched the non-political, non-partisan Bahrain Foundation for Dialogue. The BFD conducts events, community outreach programmes and 'dialogue dinners' to encourage civil dialogue and social cohesion. Since 2012 they’ve had over 100 events attended by over 9,000 people, and conducted learning trips to Northern Ireland, South Africa, the US, and Lebanon.
In July 2015, a joint Sunni/Shia Friday prayer was held after the terrorist attacks against Shia mosques. They held one prayer in a Shia mosque, and another in a Sunni mosque. The prayers were attended by members of the BFD, regular people as well as clerics, members of parliament and high-ranking officials. Today the BFD conducts its own civil dialogue training programmes and has been approached by other countries for assistance.
Edmilson Angelo
Politics and International Relations BA, 2016
Edmilson is the Founder and Director of Change 1’s Life CIO, an international charity which was created as a society while studying at Westminster. Edmilson has managed to impact the lives of more than three million people since 2014. He was named in the One Young World Annual Impact Report 2021 as a young leader creating an impact through the different projects he has implemented across sub-Saharan Africa to help people access quality education, good health, clean water and electricity while promoting the protection of the environment.
Some of the projects Edmilson has implemented include a Digital and Ecological Village that aims to turn rural areas into smart and green areas to promote sustainable development in less privileged communities. Edmilson has been recognised by the United Nations under Kofi Annan and Akon Lighting Africa under the Give1Project.
Olbin Antonio Mejia Cambar
International Commercial Law LLM, 2020
Since graduating, Olbin has focussed on two judgments from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. One refers to the death of a transgender woman killed during the 2009 coup d'état in Honduras. Olbin coordinated with the victims the first international responsibility recognition act in a Latin American country for the tragic death of an LGBTQ+ person in Honduras. Olbin is working to enable within domestic law the recognition of gender identity of trans people in Honduras, a historical process for the country.
The other judgment explores the vulnerability of the Honduran Miskitu indigenous population who fish lobsters in the Caribbean. Olbin is cooperating for the recognition of indigenous rights and the UN Guidelines for Business and Human Rights in domestic law with a commission dedicated to protecting the Miskitu population in Honduras, which has led to reforms now being enforced.