ELEVEN YEAR old humanitarian launches year-long campaign encouraging young people to engage in sustainability and social justice projects.
Social activist and founder of the World Food Challenge, Ayrton Cable, today announces a new global initiative, which will use gaming to encourage young people to take an interest in social activism, ahead of his appearance at todays’ Humanitarian Water and Food Awards in London.
Ayrton Cable is a well-known food and humanitarian activist and is behind the launch of the inaugural Humanitarian Water and Food Youth Awards that will take place in Milan, Italy next year. Ayrton has previously addressed the UK Parliament to propose a new law on food labelling and created an award-winning film calling for an end to factory farming, all by the age of eleven. He is also the grandson of the Liberal Democrat MP and Business Secretary Vince Cable MP.
The initiative will be launched on Wednesday using Skype in the Classroom lessons hosted by Ayrton, which will be part of a series of lessons offered to 84,000 teachers worldwide who use the Skype in the Classroom service. As part of the Skype in the Classroom lesson, Ayrton will challenge pupils from all corners of the globe to come up with ideas for how to gamify the recruitment of children to take on social projects.
The ideas that are crowd-sourced through the lesson will then form the basis for an international multi-channel game. Young people across the globe will be encouraged to take part in at least one social aid project and document their experiences through the game to put themselves forward for consideration to the 2015 World Humanitarian and Food Youth Awards judging panel. The most outstanding efforts by young people will be considered for next year’s prize.
Ayrton will make this announcement as part of an appearance at the fifth annual Humanitarian Water and Food Awards. Founded and held for their first four years in Copenhagen, Denmark, the awards are being held in London for the first time with the Central Hall, Westminster the venue. This year’s event will see business leaders, politicians, NGO’s, academics and students come together to discuss the latest humanitarian issues around universal global access to fundamental life basics such as food and water.
As well as Ayrton, panellists will include HRH Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan, founder of the Royal Botanic Garden in Tell Ar-Rumma and Brian Son derby Sundstrup , Senior Advisor Social Responsibility at COOP. There will also be a number of musical performances throughout the evening, with pianist Martin James Bartlett, the recently-crowned BBC Young Musician of The Year 2014 the star turn.
Tina Lindgreen, Founder of the Humanitarian Water and Food Award said: “We are delighted to bring The Humanitarian Water and Food Awards to London for the first time. We have contributed to creating real momentum around universal access to clean water and food since we launched the award in 2010. Hosting our annual awards in London will drive this on further. To have Ayrton on board communicating our message to the next generation of humanitarians and social activists is invaluable. We look forward to him addressing the masterclass, outlining our vision for the youth awards in Milan and formally launching our youth initiative which will engage young people globally.”
Ayrton Cable commented: “Last year I went to Malawi and spent time with a boy about my age called Mapangano. And I learned that he was one of the 1 in 8 people around the world who go to bed hungry every day, despite there being more than enough food to feed everyone. I think this is unfair and we need to solve this. I am excited about the new WAF Youth Award because kids are energetic, creative, and idealistic, and people tend to think of us as the future generation, but why not be the NOW generation, and be a key part of solving hunger and lack of safe water ourselves?”
The awards start at 1400 at the Central Hall, Westminster on Wednesday 18th June. Attendees can register for attendance at www.wafaward.org.
