A group of Ateneo de Manila University students bagged a major social venture award in New York City.
Justine Recio, Hannah Nolasco and Danielle Sianghio were named winners of The Resolution Project Social Venture Challenge 2016 on International Youth Day at the UN General Assembly Hall.
Recio, Nolasco and Sianghio are co-founders of Pamana (“heritage”), a nonprofit social venture that seeks to improve the crop selection, solid waste management and irrigation practices of indigenous farmers and small-scale farming communities in the Philippines through a combination of science and technology with local know-how.
Improved farming practices mean better yield, say the students, and, more important, sustainable lifestyle and agricultural practices.
Also named winners were Queens, New York’s Madel Beaudouin, whose Queens Entrepreneurship Fund will provide training opportunities to Queens College students so they may extend consultation services to small businesses in the district surrounding the Queens College campus; and Shanghai, China’s Xiaoyue Gong, whose foundation Aeo plans to address the dangerous health consequences of indoor air pollution through a network of air monitoring devices and an app that can give users access to air quality information.
The Resolution Project identifies and inspires young, promising leaders through its Social Venture Challenge (SVC), a competition among undergraduate students from around the world to pitch relevant, impactful and socially responsible projects that address pressing social issues.
This year, Pamana was one of the 22 teams to make it to SVC’s semifinals, one of seven to reach the finals and one of three winners.
