UWC Maastricht Student wins Funding for her Project
Olena has always been involved in youth organizations in Ukraine. Thanks to the funding of Go Make A Difference and the skills in entrepreneurship she has learned at UWC Maastricht, she is able to even reach more people!
Her project started small and very personal, but gradually turned into the initiative to empower the Ukrainian youth, especially in the villages! It’s called Youth Academy of Leadership Makhnivka (YALM) and focusses on bringing the knowledge she has learned at UWC Maastricht, like entrepreneurship, to her community back home. Olena does this through workshops, meetings with local activists and talking about her experiences.
In these workshops participants enquire skills that enable them to build up projects of their own to support their community and be advocates for youth in the future! Olena’s project caught on and gained recognition. When word spread, youth from neighbouring villages were commuting to also take part and local politicians came and shared their experiences in governance. Also, the community council saw Olena’s project as socially important, granting her access to their resources, like a school bus, so transportation would be more efficient for participants
Olena is happy with what she has accomplished, “I saw some positive changes and I’m really proud of what we did.”
Further funding
After the successful first year, Olena wanted to continue. That’s why she applied for the Go Make A Difference program. This funding is specially designed for UWC students all around the world who are passionate about bringing positive change. Olena is one of very few who received the support this year! She received a certificate to celebrate the achievement.
With this financial support, she will complete her objective of going to all the schools in her neighbourhood and make a difference there as well. She also plans to make her project self-sustainable, making sure participants can take over and continue on, creating more opportunities for the youth in Ukraine.