The next generation: How these three young leaders are transforming their communities

From championing sustainability on the global stage to building education nonprofits and advocating for safer communities, the next generation of leaders is creating a better tomorrow for today’s children.  

This month, as we honor World Youth Skills Day, we're celebrating three extraordinary young people whose courage, vision and determination are transforming their communities and inspiring the world.  

Their stories remind us that with the right skills, support, and opportunity, young people don't just inherit the future—they shape it. 

Championing youth-led sustainability: Iqra takes climate action to the world stage 

For more than one billion children, the global climate crisis is a daily reality.   

Environmental degradation, water scarcity and increasingly severe natural disasters are shaping the world in which they grow up.   

Children under five continue to face 90% of all climate-related health risks. In many countries, droughts and floods are displacing families, disrupting education and destroying homes. For children without parental care, or at risk of losing it, the risks are multiplied.   

Through the Eco Champions program—implemented by SOS Children’s Villages—young activists are calling on governments to prioritize young people’s voices in climate policy. 

“Climate change is stealing our childhood,” said Iqra, an Eco Champion from Somalia. “But together, we can make it give us back our future.”  

Learn more about how climate change and crises shape children’s lives.  

At COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Belém, Brazil, Iqra joined a delegation of Eco Champions leading discussions on climate justice, adaptation and children’s rights.    

Read more about how SOS amplifies young people’s voices, so they can advocate for their rights, contribute their expertise on policy reform and be leaders in shaping their own futures.   

“In Somalia, children are the first to feel the pain of climate change,” said Iqra, explaining how recurring droughts and sudden floods are eroding children’s safety, health and education. Through her project, Eco Visionary, she works with students to restore local ecosystems by planting trees, building environmental awareness and mobilizing schools against deforestation.   

Iqra and other young climate advocates are paving the way for a climate-just future where every child grows up with the safe, loving, healthy childhood and livable world they deserve! 

From idea to impact: How Hoang founded a world-changing education nonprofit 

When Hoang’s parents passed away, the 24-day-old baby boy was left alone and malnourished. 

With no other family to care for him, neighbors brought him into their home. But they—like 3.6 million other people in Vietnam—were living in extreme poverty. Unable to afford milk to nourish Hoang, the couple fed him drops of saltwater in a desperate attempt to keep him alive. 

Hoang’s story might have ended here—another heartbreaking victim of childhood hunger. But compassionate supporters like you saw a child who needed their help, and took action—before it was too late.  

SOS connected with the neighbors and welcomed Hoang into an SOS Children’s Village in Vietnam! With the support of his sponsor, Hoang experienced what every child deserves: a safe, loving family and everything he needed to thrive—like nutritious food, professional healthcare and a quality education. 

“Every time I received support, it reminded me that kindness travels without a passport,” Hoang said. “Sponsorship wasn’t just money—it was proof that somewhere in the world, a stranger believed I was worth investing in.” 

Motivated to remove educational barriers for children, Hoang returned to the Tây Ninh province, where he was born, in 2017 to teach—and he noticed a distressing trend. 

Many of his students were orphaned and growing up alone, without the safety or support of a loving family. And when they turned 18, they would be suddenly thrust into independence with no guidance or safety net to help them navigate housing, finances, education or other major life decisions.  

Learn how you can be the safety net a young person needs to transition to independence. 

As someone who lost parental care as an infant, but then had the opportunity to grow up in a safe, loving home where education was championed, Hoang refused to let his students fall through the cracks of society.  

“Education is a fundamental right,” Hoang said. “Not a privilege reserved for the few.”  

In 2020, he founded Your-E, an organization dedicated to providing education to disadvantaged students. Today, Your-E serves students across 48 provinces in Vietnam and has expanded to four other countries! 

Hoang’s story highlights a powerful truth: investing in children’s education creates a ripple effect that doesn’t just change a child’s life—it transforms entire communities. 

Creating safer communities: Emmanual advocates to end violence against children 

In Tanzania, more than 70% of children experience violence before reaching the age of 18.  

For many children, this violence comes at the hands of close relatives or caregivers—sometimes in the form of corporal punishment.  

Parents, relatives and caregivers may use corporal punishment—physical force to discipline a child—because they were disciplined this way and believe it’s an effective method to use with their own children.  

But child development research highlights the opposite. 

Data shows that corporal punishment actively harms children’s development, violates their rights, erodes trust in their parent or caregiver, and damages their long-term well-being.  

Read more about the negative effects of corporal punishment. 

Many parents who use corporal punishment aren’t acting out of cruelty or a desire to harm their child—they may not have access to positive parenting knowledge, successful discipline alternatives or information about their children’s rights. 

Ten-year-old Emmanuel* is determined to change that. 

As the president of his school’s children’s council, Emmanuel met with the adults in his community and petitioned for them to create child protection committees.  

“Many cases of violence happen because parents and guardians neglect their responsibilities,” Emmanuel said. “Parents need education about their duties to protect their children.” 

By creating policies and educating about children’s rights—like the right to grow up without violence or neglect—child protection committees help keep children safe and break cycles of violence in families. 

With the help of SOS Children’s Villages, the adults in Emmanuel’s community created child protection committees—and Emmanuel’s leadership transformed his community, helping ensure that more children can grow up safe, protected and loved! 

A future where every young person thrives 

These three young leaders are proof that when young people are equipped with the right tools and opportunities, there is no limit to what they can achieve.  

But stories like theirs don't happen by chance—they happen because people like you choose to invest in the next generation of leaders.  

The SOS Independence Fund exists to deliver the comprehensive support, skills, training and opportunities that young people need to become the changemakers of tomorrow.  

Will you help another young person reach their full potential and make your life-changing gift to the SOS Independence Fund today?  

Today, you can transform the life of a young person ready to change the world! 

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