Photo: U.S. State Department
Pakistani teenage Dania Hassan, an activist working to raise the quality of education, will be among recipients of U.S. State Department’s Emerging Young Leaders Award for this year.
The Emerging Young Leaders Award program recognizes ten young people (ages 18-25) from around the world for their courage in resolving conflict, promoting security, and creating economic opportunity in challenging environments, the State Department said Monday.
The State Department will host the awards ceremony Wednesday on May 2. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Marie Royce will present the awards.
Here is a description of Dania’s work as released by the State Department:
‘Dania Hassan of Pakistan, 18, seeks to raise the quality of education throughout Pakistan. After attending summer school at Johns Hopkins University via the U.S. Summer Sisters Exchange Program in 2016, Dania established an organization called “Fun to Learn,” through which teams of volunteers conduct extracurricular programming in underprivileged schools. Dania and her team discuss pertinent topics regarding Hygiene and Health; Environmental Awareness and Going Green; School Safety; and Emergency Preparedness and Self-Defense. Dania has won various speech competitions, including first prize at the All Pakistan Bilingual Declamation Contest in 2017 and hopes to one day join the United Nations. She is the youngest high achiever of the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network’s #30under30 series. Dania plans to enroll in university in the fall of 2018.”
The 2018 awardees are:
Sara Abdullah Abdulrahman, Iraq
Zina Salim Hassan Hamu, Lithuania
Isasiphinkosi Mdingi, South Africa
According to the State Department, these 10 remarkable young people will visit the United States for an intensive program, April 29 to May 12, specially designed to expand their leadership capacities, strengthen their knowledge of management strategies in the non-profit, government and private sectors, learn and share best practices, and broaden their networks of resources and support.
The exchange program provides skills training to set awardees on paths for increased collaboration on global issues affecting youth, particularly those involved in building peace, combating extremism, and empowering youth, the Department said.
