A 25-year old Nigeria, Victoria Ibiwoye has been selected among outstanding young people presented with the Princess Diana Legacy Award.
Victoria Ibiwoye created OneAfricanChild foundation to address the inequality in education, particularly for children in underserved communities in Nigeria. OneAfricanChild began as a grass-roots project reaching out to two children in Victoria’s immediate community. Today, the foundation has worked with over 4,000 children teaching them critical soft skills as well as the importance of taking active roles in their communities.
On a personal level, Victoria overcame struggles with dyslexia and financial difficulties in order to continue her studies. Despite these challenges, she tenaciously pursued her education.
Today, she shares her experiences to inspire and encourage other children to follow their own path of education.
All the Legacy Award recipients – who come from across the UK, Nigeria, Canada, Malaysia, Tanzania, Nepal, and India – have had a monumental impact on society.
Many of them only know Princess Diana as a historical figure but they carry the honour of the award with pride and admiration for whose memory it was set up in. This year marks the 20th Anniversary year of the charity, The Diana Award.
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Tessy Ojo, Chief Executive, The Diana Award says: “This is a landmark event for The Diana Award as we celebrate our 20th anniversary year. This ceremony is about celebrating young people for their selfless contribution to society, their courage and bravery, and demonstrating to young people that we value them.
“We believe that valuing young people means investing in them so we are delighted that our Legacy Award recipients will have access to our unique development programme ensuring they continue to be positive trailblazers for their generation.”
In addition to being presented the award by Princess Diana’s brother Lord Spencer, the Legacy Award recipients will have access to a unique development programme. The programme aims to provide them with the opportunity to enhance their skills in four key areas: leadership, community development, social entrepreneurship and technology for good.
The winners were selected from a poll of nominations by an independent judging panel which includes Baroness Lawrence OBE, Holly Branson and British Airways CEO and Chairman Alex Cruz.
Companies who have helped to support the Legacy Award and development programme, which includes a three-day residential experience, include Gilead Sciences and British Airways. Alex Kalomparis, Gilead Sciences, Vice President, Public Affairs, EMEA, said:
“Gilead are incredibly proud to be supporting The Diana Award and we congratulate the well deserving recipients of The Legacy Award. At Gilead, we understand the need to look to the future and drive progress through social and humanitarian work, and we have been impressed by the inspiring contribution these young changemakers are already making to society. It has been a privilege to partner with The Diana Award and support these future leaders who will continue to make a positive impact on people’s lives.”
The Legacy Award was introduced in 2017, to celebrate the life of Diana, Princess of Wales in the 20th anniversary year since her death. Taking place every two years, this unique accolade is the highest honour presented by the charity and celebrates the achievements of 20 exceptional young change-makers from across the world, who have demonstrated their ability to inspire and mobilise others to serve their communities, as Princess Diana herself did.
The Diana Award was set up in memory of The Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and her belief that young people have the power to change the world.
The charity fosters, develops and inspires positive change in the lives of young people through three key programmes which include; a mentoring programme for young people at risk, a youth-led anti-bullying ambassador campaign and a prestigious award which publicly recognises young people – The Diana Award.
