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.

Now in its 23rd year, students at UWC have really embraced the essence of the opportunity to make a difference in meaningful ways across the globe on issues they feel strongly about.

Keziah Bashon, from UWC South East Asia, here with her certificate (pictured), was thrilled to receive the award on behalf of the team who will deliver “Food on Wheels” – refurbishing food carts to fight under-nutrition in Manila, Philippines.

The quality of applications was very high, with so many well thought through plans, which clearly laid out the project concept, proposed timescales and budgets. So many plans outlined how, if students were successful, people would benefit from the projects.

Assessing the volume of projects was a challenging and interesting task. As always, applications were assessed against eight pre-determined criteria outlined on the website. Each project was assessed by co-founders Colin Habgood and Jill Longson (UWCA81), Ann Goodwin (GoMakeADifference admin coordinator) and where relevant, a representative of the students’ college.

The Winners

Having completed the assessment process, we are delighted to announce 22 projects will be receiving a total of approximately $40,000 to help them make a difference. There were some really innovative projects, where students would clearly be making a difference including:

• Utilising plastic bottles and cement to construct water tanks in Eswatini
• Integrating migrants into society, through a website in relevant languages with information on their rights, local cultures and norms to help them establish a life in Norway
• Helping the mental health of young men through a martial arts app being launched in the UK
• Empowering women with education and support in Afghanistan.

There is no doubt that some projects would have been awarded grants in previous years, but the quality and volume of applications this year has meant that many such projects have been unsuccessful. Students have raised the bar in their applications this year, in terms of the quality of their submission and innovative, creative ideas to making a difference.

Colin said, “We really do hope that despite not being successful in gaining an award, somehow students may still be able to make a difference. We very much hope that some of the plans submitted will still go ahead this year without our funding.”

Successful students will be receiving grants of up to $2,000 each to help them make a difference. Projects are being delivered across the globe during 2024 from Asia, Africa to Europe and the Americas. We look forward in coming months to hearing how the projects were delivered and how students were able to bring their projects to fruition.

As Jill said, “The awards provide an opportunity to allow students to live the UWC values and really make a difference to the issues and communities they feel passionate about. Assessing the awards this year has been a very difficult task and one we did not take lightly. We wish students the best of luck in delivering their projects and look forward to hearing how they went and importantly what the students learnt from their experiences.”

Could you be next?

Any current UWC students who will still be at college in 2025, should feel inspired by this year’s applications and hopefully will be motivated to apply for an award next year. It is never too early to start thinking about your plan!

We are delighted to announce that for 2024, GoMakeADifference grants will increase from $1,000 to $2,000 per grant. And our overall commitment will increase from $30,000 per year to $40,000 with 20 grants being awarded.

We hope that by increasing the value per grant, it will enable and encourage UWC students to submit even more exciting and innovative plans as to how they can make a difference.

The GoMakeADifference award programme, which is a UWCx initiative, was founded in 2001 by UWC alumna Jill Longson and her husband Colin Habgood, to help students live the UWC mission,.

We are proud that over 200 projects have now been delivered over the last 22 years, by approximately 900 students who have made a difference to thousands of people.

The awards are open to any student studying at any UWC school or college, however the projects must be led by either a UWC 1st or 2nd year student studying for their IBDP.

In keeping with the UWC mission applications from students with projects delivering sustainability, social justice and peace are more likely to gain success. I am hoping as in previous years, you can promote the award program to your students and make them aware that the application date closes on 31st January 2024. For students from Waterford, we have extended the deadline to 11th February 2024.

Be inspired, see what UWC students have delivered in the past, as they have made a difference - https://www.gomakeadifference.global/projects-awarded/videos/

Applications for 2024 awards are now open - https://www.gomakeadifference.global/apply/

It is important that students do submit a budget and timelines with their plan. Occasionally we get applications without any detail as to how and when students propose spending the money and it is important that they consider this as part of their project application.