At WWF’s annual conference, held this year in Mombasa, Kenya, one of our traditions is to recognize the winner of the WWF-International President’s Youth Award.
This year’s winner, Monique Ntumngia from Cameroon, founded Green Girls, a social business that educates and engages young women from rural communities in the adoption of renewable energy. Since its founding in 2015, Green Girls has trained almost 800 women from 23 communities across Cameroon to generate solar energy and biogas from human waste. Monique was also recognized for her accomplishments as a champion for the inclusion of women and girls in the renewable energy sector in Africa.
After receiving the award, Monique addressed the minister of environment, who had just finished speaking. She said, “Your Excellency, I hope that you can provide a platform for younger voices in your country to be heard.”
The minister replied, “I don’t think you need us to contribute a platform for your efforts. You should create it.” He went on to say, “We will soon retire. And then we will expire. The future belongs to you.”