Did you know most products you buy are designed to break after a certain amount of time, forcing you to purchase a new one? This reality is called planned obsolescence and is used as a business model all around the world. Because of this issue, electronic and textile waste is increasing at an alarming rate. Benjamin decided to tackle this problem and with the support of his teacher, he created a Repair Café at his school to give a second life to everyday objects.

What is a Repair Café? It's a place where technology, mechanics and electronic enthusiasts get together to repair (for free!) objects that need a little attention. It goes from microwaves to irons, bicycles, coffee makers and antique radios. In addition to allowing objects that are sometimes thrown away too quickly to live longer, Benjamin understands that a Repair Café also has a particularly strong social aspect: people meet, exchange, dialogue, become loyal to the project and share a coffee together.

The impact of the Repair Café is multidimensional: young and old come together and forge new connections, people on a tight budget can repair their objects, students learn more about electro-mechanics, and the whole community benefits from the Repair Café as they see a new opportunity blossoming in their neighborhood.

Aware that the Covid-19 brought an halt to every social activity and that people had to adapt to a life in isolation during lockdown, Benjamin found pragmatic solutions to fight loneliness and discouragement. The young Changemaker first created anti-covid visors with a 3D printer. He then tried to become a volunteer in the vaccination center closest to his home. And finally, he participated in the reduction of circulation of fake news around the pandemic on social media by responding to citizen with proven and optimistic facts.

Noor has worked tirelessly for the causes dear to her heart. Collecting money for SOS Ghana? Check. Creating a mouth mask for her school’s Valentine’s Day? Check. Participating in the local Red Nose Day? Check. Being part of both the students board and the teachers board? Check. And now, her next mission is to normalize students' wellbeing discussion at school.

Noor knows well how it is difficult to open up to others. Having suffered from health issues when she was little, she had trouble interacting and playing with her peers. Thankfully, her teachers were a great help and restored her self-confidence. Learning from this and motivated by the certainty that young people should have a space to learn and be heard, she started to create different questionnaires regarding the wellbeing of students around her. She also began to train teachers to speak about those topics. As a true leader, Noor really emphasizes inclusion and is not afraid to start conversation on less known issues such as autism.

Noor is a well-rounded Changemaker: she coordinates operations, trains teachers and future trainers, and loves to embark other young people in her projects. She is also sensible to climate change and has developped direct actions to tackle environmental issues, like sorting and reducing waste at school. Moreover, she was elected as the winner of the Lion’s Club Young Ambassador Award for 2021.

What’s next for her? Continue to fight for what she believes in, to involve more and more young people in her movements and on the long run measure her impact. Overall, ensure and maintain a safe, healthy and happy school environment for everyone.

Shahad, Anaïs and Caroline have different background but were all raised in Belgium. However, they had to travel more than 5’500 km to find each other, meeting for the first time in Boston, MA thanks to the Women2Women program of the American Embassy in Belgium. Was it luck or fate? They don’t know, but they all believed in the same dream: a better world for young girls and women all around the globe.

They spent ten days in the United States trying to find a new idea to impact and improve the situation of women at their own level. This is where Needie Paddie was born. Caroline, Anaïs and Shahad started to realize that women, and in particular young girls, were facing a double sanction when it comes to their period: there's still a heavy taboo in our society, but above it all, pads are very expensive. This cost weighs heavily on young people's budgets.

Needie Paddie intends to bring a solution to this. The girls placed sanitary products collect boxes in strategic places, where people can donate hygienic products. They then distribute the products to people in need.

In addition to providing a practical solution, the girls are also raising awareness on social media among women and men, young and old, normalizing menstruation and breaking taboos. And it works: the movement is already underway!

Determined to shape the world for the better, Wannes has been active since a very young age, especially at school. The Covid19 has been taking on a toll on a lot of people's mental health. Wannes witnessed how students around him were slowly getting depressed and were having issues attending online courses. He found an answer to teenagers' need to socialize by organizing meetings with students using creativity to connect and share about wellbeing. Wannes’ motto? Everyone needs to feel at home at school.

He supports teachers and students in their interactions, tries to ease the communication between them and he also evaluates the students’ level of mental health to see how his project is actually impacting people’s lives. But the project got bigger and bigger and needs to persist once the pandemic is over (and after his graduation in two years). Wannes wants to support further development and the implementation of his project in school in order to improve the student’s motivation to go to school.

Deeply concerned by the environmental and social consequences of the textile industry and of fast fashion, Anceline and Anaïs decided to challenge fabric waste, micro-trends, impulsive purchases and mentalities. Inspired by the ‘hippie’ philosophy of ecology responsibility, non-violence, dialogue and recycling, the two girls started creating outfits made entirely from secondhand materials. With these creations, they want to show people fun and creative alternatives to fast fashion.

On the long term, Anceline and Anaïs want to reverse the norm, and make mass consumption out of fashion. With their Instagram page, they try to touch as many people as possible.