Silke Bölts

Age: 26
Location: Germany

Silke studied Environmental Sciences in Lüneburg and Global Change Management in Eberswalde. She has interned in the office of a member of the German Parliament in Berlin, in the German Federal Environment Ministry in Bonn, at the European Commission in Brussels and at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in Geneva. In the context of her YOUNGO activities, she founded the Food@COP-campaign, an initiative for climate-friendly food at climate conferences. Being a member of the World YMCA’s Resource Group on the Environment since 2015, Silke has served as the co-lead in the working group for Environmental Initiatives, for Climate Education and is currently Head of YMCA’s Delegation for COP26. In this context, she is facilitating an intensive preparation course where participants develop the necessary skills for the climate conference. She has previously attended COP22, COP23 and COP25.

Atallah Danoon

Age: 19
Location: Bethlehem, Palestine

Atallah is a student at Birzeit University studying mechanical engineering. He is an engaged attendee
of international and local Model United Nations conferences and has a passion for environmental issues. Atallah acted as Secretary General of the YMCA MUN this year overseeing a project that he started for his local MUN. He has been working with YMCA since 2016 when they reached out to him as President of his Student Council to help encourage people to join the local YMCA youth club. After engaging young people to take part, the youth club was integral to positive change locally, from planting trees and helping vulnerable people in the area, to cleaning up key outdoor areas in Palestine. His motivation to attend COP26 stems from his passion to help an environment in crisis, and his determination to provoke debate and inspire real change.

Rachel Nixseaman

Age: 31
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Rachel is a passionate youth and community worker with particular interests in youth participation,
climate action and democratic processes. Rachel has been involved with the third sector for more than 16
years through a range of volunteering and employed roles, and has led youth engagement programmes on local, national and international platforms. Rachel is currently the Project Operations Manager with YMCA Bellshill & Mossend, overseeing the delivery of their youth engagement programmes as well as supporting national work led by YMCA Scotland. Rachel is keen to support communities to engage with their citizens to co-produce innovative initiatives to tackle the climate crisis. Rachel joined the 2050 Climate Group Leaders Development Programme in 2019 to enhance her knowledge and understanding, and has used this knowledge to support local climate initiatives including delivering awareness raising
workshops for young people and communities. As a facilitator, Rachel supported the delivery of Scotland’s Climate Assembly, and has delivered learning events for local climate action networks (ACT Now North Lanarkshire) bringing together local businesses, charities and residents to work towards positive climate action together. Rachel is also involved in local initiatives working towards a Green Recovery.

Mair Kelly

Age: 22
Location: Cork, Ireland

Mair is from The Mizen Head in West Cork, Ireland, a very rural area with a strong reliance on
farming and fishing communities, which is where her interest in climate justice, ecology and a just transition stems from. This instilled a strong sense of community in her and is a key motivation in everything she does. She is currently in her final year of studying International Development and Food Policy in University College Cork (UCC). At UCC, Mair works on their University of Sanctuary Initiative, ensuring support for refugees and asylum seekers, and is also the Vice-President and Public Relations and Media Officer for the Societies Department. She recently interned online for five-and-a-half months with the Human Rights Centre Uganda, working on promoting human rights and supporting Human Rights Defenders in their work.

She is now working with YMCA Ireland on their Future Generations Climate Justice Project
and Special Olympics Ireland as an assistant table tennis coach. She’s passionate about
ensuring every member of every community – whether West Cork or across the world – has
the resources to be happy, healthy and thriving.

Alicia O’ Sullivan

Age: 20
Location: Cork, Ireland

Alicia O’ Sullivan is a Youth Activist from Skibbereen in Cork, Ireland. She is a Second Year Law Student, a Quercus Scholar for Active Citizenship at University College Cork, and the Environmental Officer at the Students’ Union. Some of her many accomplishments include being Ireland’s Youth Representative at the First UN Youth Climate Summit, working alongside US Climate Envoy John Kerry as a Co-Founder of ‘World War Zero’, and successfully advocating for a Climate Youth Council for Ireland. Alicia is a recipient of many awards including the ESB Techspacer of the Year Award in 2018, the Irish Business Women’s Award for Outstanding Contribution, and the Lord Mayor of Corks Youth Award. She was also Ireland’s Lions Club Youth Ambassador in 2019 when she founded her own Youth Mental Health Event ‘GenZ’. Alicia works on many projects and committees including with A Lust for Life, UNIC and Corks ETB Young People’s Committee.

Cedric Dzelu

Age: 34
Location: Ghana

Cedric Dzelu is a graduated Change Agent of the World YMCA with over 11 years of experience in
youth empowerment, project implementation and management, public speaking, community service,
advocacy and volunteerism. He is currently the youth focal point officer for the African Youth Commission working to implement a €2.4 million five-year grant on climate change advocacy projects
from the Netherlands government. He also serves as the Executive Director of a not for profit organization that is leveraging the power of sports to empower young people. He holds a Master’s degree in Development Finance and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing.

Shakil Karim

Age: 30
Location: San Francisco, USA (studying in London)

Shakil is an international consultant with experience in community relations, youth advocacy and organisational change management. Originally from California, Shakil received his diploma in International Relations from The University of San Francisco and culminated his career to advocate and
promote critical thinking towards solving vicious poverty systems in relation to Climate Change. Recently, Shakil has worked alongside the YMCA of San Francisco and Y-USA to promote youth-led solutions around the world, and actively consults with NGO’s on their sustainability model for climate mitigation. Shakil currently lives in London pursuing a research degree in Social Demography and is a part of an independent think group known as the Northern Operative Resource. Shakil sees COP26 as a pivotal opportunity to listen, to learn, and to understand how we can take accountability and step up as leaders in a world of reform in order to tackle this planet-wide threat.

Rebecca Nkunde

Age: 31
Location: Zambia

Rebecca is a qualified teacher of art and physical education, with three years’ experience in
teaching young people from Year 8 through to Year 12. She developed an interest in creating artefacts
from recycled material while in secondary school, and from 2009 to 2011 she was involved with a project
called Stop the Spread, which focused on teaching less privileged women how to repurpose plastic
waste into bags and baskets for sale, as well planting moriga for environmental purposes and nutritional
supplements. Rebecca is passionate about climate action, and attending COP26 will not only allow her to share ideas around recycling and repurposing with her fellow delegates and the wider world, it is an opportunity for her to share learnings with her local community and country. Rebecca is constantly striving to be the best advocate and ambassador for climate change in her own country, and is eager to utilise learnings from COP26 in order to do just that.

Rodrigo Puntriano Mendoza

Age: 25
Location: Peru

Rodrigo is a young leader from Peru. He studied Communication for Development in the Pontifical
Catholic University of Peru, and has worked as a Communications Intern for the British Embassy,
serving the UK’s priorities related to environmental sustainability. With this role further emphasising his life-long passion for tackling climate change, he then joined the professional staff of a sustainability consultant company in Peru, promoting social, environmental and governance criteria and responsible practices in the private sector of his country and other countries of Latin-American. Rodrigo volunteers with YMCA Peru and joined the grant-winning solution team of Sumaq Muru, which is implementing a project to tackle environmental pollution while providing better life conditions for its participants. He has also been a part of other solutions teams, participating in the design of projects aligned with the SDGs, such as the grant-winning Get It: Youth and Employability to address the impact of the pandemic over the youth, and the Move Up project promoting social entrepreneurship led by young people.

Diana Lopera

Age: 23
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Diana is currently working as part of the inaugural Climate Ready Hawaiʻi AmeriCorps VISTA cohort, helping Hawaiʻi adapt to various climate change impacts. As Climate Change Communications Specialist, she works with the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission staff based at the Department of Land and Natural Resources. She manages the Climate Commission’s website operations and social media presence, and assists in the creation of a communications framework to address climate change equity issues, with a special focus on anti-poverty objectives. Graduating magna cum laude from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a B.S. in Global Environmental Science, Diana also received the SOEST Undergraduate Award for Service and Leadership. She is originally from Saipan and is a first-generation college graduate, and began working with YMCA of Honolulu during her time in university, participating in and leading various student-led programs and initiatives. Diana is a strong advocate for the power of youth voices, and is keen for COP26 to offer the opportunity for world leaders to talk to rather than about young people, including them in the conversations that will dictate not only their present, but the future they will inherit.

Ylli Alija

Age: 25
Location: Kosovo

Ylli studied in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pristina and is a Regional Coordinator for YMCA in Kosovo. He participated in the inaugural Youth-Led Solutions Summit on Climate Action. He also undertook a year of European Voluntary Service in Torino, and is the project lead for the #TEAMTREES initiative, funded as part of the first Youth-Led Solutions Summit.

Tudor Rus

Age: 32
Location: Romania

Tudor has volunteered for various different organizations for more than 12 years now, and for the last
five years acted as a Youth Worker for YMCA, before more recently stepping in as a project manager for European solidarity corps. He is currently studying for a masters in resources and risks in the hydro atmospheric environment in Cluj Napoca, and is very passionate about climate change and the effects being reflected within weather patterns and trends. When it comes to championing environmental issues and activism, Tudor always raises his voice for injustices happening around him, whether in aid of young people, climate change or animal welfare. Coming from more of a scientific level of dealing with different climate data, he is eager to expand his knowledge into the environmental policies being discussed at COP26 and harness this into his existing passion for change.

Maria Timmann Mjaaland

Age: 20
Location: Oslo, Norway

Maria has been associated with YMCA for more than 15 years and national board member of ‘YGlobal Norway’ and leads on its climate justice goal as a volunteer. She has been one of the coordinators of Oslo’s Fridays for Future movement, and will be representing YMCA Norway in meetings with the Norwegian delegation on COP. She is studying Political Science at the University of Oslo, and was part of World YMCA’s Change Agent program. She will be following the negotiations on article 6.

Amy-Beth McCarthy

Age: 24
Location: Wales, UK

Amy-Beth has been working at YMCA Swansea for the last three years where she works on the Young Carers Service to support young carers aged 8-18 in Swansea. Leading on the School’s Awareness Programme, Amy-Beth works with the school’s staff to ensure young carers are identified, recognised and supported appropriately. She takes great pride in her involvement in the development and launch of the Welsh Government National Young Carers ID Card in partnership with her local authority and in implementing its use in schools and healthcare practices across Swansea. Amy-Beth has been a passionate advocate for addressing climate change within her local community and has recently joined her local action group for the rural development partnership; to implement decision making and to take a proactive approach to the allocation of funding to priorities agreed in the Rural Strategy based on the needs of the rural wards. In 2019, she hosted the UN Youth Climate Summit Global Watch and Do Party for Swansea as part of World YMCA’s partnership. She represented Wales as one of six young leaders in the first-ever YMCA Youth-Led Solutions Climate Action Summit.

Dwight Tomlinson

Age: 25
Location: Jamaica

Dwight is a creative and collaborative leader with more than eight years experience in leadership with Y’s Men International, serving the worldwide YMCA and its communities, he is currently its International Youth Representative 2020-2022. Dwight has mentored young people from 76 countries to tackle climate change and environmental preservation initiatives within their local communities. He is an expert in leadership development and brand awareness, focussing on global issues through the lens of the youth market. He has led climate change initiatives within the Caribbean Region as a Regional Service Director of Community Service within Y’s Men and local YMCAs. He most recently led countries across the Caribbean in providing Covid-19 relief to those in need.

Mary-Jane McNally

Age: 21
Location: Scotland, UK

Mary-Jane is a Digital Community Learning and Development Youth Worker for Paisley YMCA, Who is from Glasgow. She has a passion for using technology to improve lives and a background in STEAM and won the Venturefest Award for Innovative STEM solutions in 2017 to help the environment. She volunteers with organisations including DIFFERabled Scotland, Glasgow Life, Glasgow Disability Alliance and CoderDojo, and received the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Sofía Canessa García

Age: 18
Location: Uruguay

Sofía is the founder and leader of Fridays For Future Salto, and an organizer of Fridays For Future Uruguay, where she arranges activities such as planting, workshops and meetings with the government. She was part of the six young leaders who were selected to write a document on environmental topics to present to the national authorities. There, she was reunited with the President of the National Administration of Public Education and others. She is a Youth Ambassador at the US embassy. She is the founder and leader of an environmental project whose goals are to teach the children to be more eco-friendly, recycle with them, and also build with recycled bottles. Recently, she was the delegate for Uruguay in the Youth4Climate: Driving Ambition (PreCop26).

Magda Gana

Age: 28
Location: Philippines

Magda is the Program Secretary of the YMCA of Makati, Philippines. She finished a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing in Filipino from the University of the Philippines. As a YMCA scholar and part time staff back in college, she led the ‘Tree Musketeers, Soldiers of the Tree Program’ which engages young people to participate in preserving the forest of the Marines Camp in Cavite, Philippines. Her advocacy has included being the former head of the ecology ministry in Saint Andrew the Apostle Parish in Makati and conducting Ecology Camps for youth in various parishes. She was part of the design committee for World YMCA’s Youth-Led Solutions Initiative and leads a plastic repurposing project that aims to promote the 5Rs in reducing plastic pollution and repurpose plastic waste into functional materials for social enterprise.