The lucky finalists were Waterford Kamhlaba UWC of Southern Africa in Swaziland, UWC Robert Bosch College in Germany and UWC Mahindra College in India, and the representatives of all teams were greeted warmly by Christof Bosch, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. He pointed out that first half of the day was dedicated to the proposals of his generation and stipulated that it was high time the audience finally heard from the young people.
“I just want to add that this competition, it leads to what I would call the junior Aurora Prize, even though it’s not the official term. It’s not so much a competition as it is a cooperation,” declared Bosch.
The team of the UWC Robert Bosch College in Germany and its members Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Ravindra Mahapatra (UK) were the first to present their project, the DoGood.shop. The project aims to support social organizations by providing a non-profit online marketplace to sell upcycled and handmade products made by refugees and other vulnerable people. In the long term, the project also aims to empower refugees by providing them with IT training to work on the project themselves and by helping them get the education and qualifications to find jobs.
Maya Dayan (Israel), Ella Roy (Germany) and Kathryn Delgado (USA) from UWC Mahindra College in India then took the stage to tell the audience about their Kriyā Iron initiative. The project has three goals: addressing the pressing issue of anemia in the rural areas surrounding the college, raising awareness of micronutrient deficiencies and other nutritional concerns, and empowering women to improve their own health.
This was followed by the presentation of BraveGirl Camp project of the Waterford Kamhlaba UWC in Swaziland, led by Ella Pang (USA), Ike Njoroge (Kenya) and Kate Doyle (South Africa). A student-led gender equality initiative, it targets academically competitive girls completing secondary education around the capital city of Swaziland. BraveGirl takes a holistic approach to women’s empowerment, moving from a focus on personal goals and health towards the outside context of empowerment in Swaziland.
After the Jury deliberated, all participants of the Aurora Humanitarian Project for UWC Schools and Colleges were invited onstage for the announcement of the winner. Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and member of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, named UWC Robert Bosch College as the winner and recipient of €4,000 towards the further development and funding of the project, but that was not all.
Noubar Afeyan then took the word to surprise the audience and delight two other teams, announcing that they will also receive the funding. “The judging was extremely close so while we congratulate the winning team and they’re receiving four thousand euros, we were also informed there has been an anonymous donation so the other projects will also receive €4,000 each,” said Afeyan.
Veronika Zonabend, Chair of the UWC Dilijan Board of Governors and Co-founder of the IDeA Foundation, put to words what everybody was feeling. “This magic happens in Dilijan,” she declared. She commended the jury for “their wisdom and commitment” and the student teams for their hard work.