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Daily Maverick
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Maverick
Future leaders headed to Cape Town in 2026 as global youth summit returns to SA
'One Young World exists to identify young leaders in 196 countries to connect and promote them,' said CEO and co-founder of One Young World Kate Robertson, in announcing that the 16th summit returns to Cape Town in 2026. One Young World, an initiative that empowers and develops young leaders across 100 countries globally to build a fair and sustainable future, is coming to South Africa in 2026 for the second time since 2013. At the summit, hosted in Cape Town, young leaders will confront the biggest challenges facing humanity in South Africa and globally. Making the announcement in Cape Town on 5 June 2025 – in front of influencers and leaders including director of Stellenbosch University's Centre for Social Justice Thuli Madonsela, former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Miss SA 2020 Shudufhadzo Musida – summit co-founder and chief executive Kate Roberston said One Young World was established to look for young leaders in different countries to connect them and promote them. 'I say with a lot of emotion, we have learnt in our community of 18,700 young leaders all over the world that heroes move among us. Among that group of young people I have seen leadership that we dream of. It's real. It exists. It is in every single sector, and some of them are in the room tonight,' she said. One Young World was launched in 2009 and has turned into a major forum for governments, NGOs and businesses to engage young people and partner in tackling global challenges with the next generation of socially responsible entrepreneurs. Two young South African entrepreneurs, Cheyenne Fernanda Miller and Kagisho Masae, who are beneficiaries of the programme, were at the event and gave testimonies of their journeys. Ideas brought to life Daily Maverick spoke to Miller and Masae. Miller is now an owner of Ferna Tech, which helps start-ups, corporates and venture partners bring ideas to life through technical innovation. She said it was a difficult journey to start the business after quitting her job as a senior venture adviser, but went to Belfast in 2023. 'Our youth unemployment rate is ridiculous. Ferna is that home for founders that don't necessarily know where to go, but we will nurture them to help them with MVP, which is your minimal viable product. We'll essentially nurture the different phases that they're at and introduce them to things like Wonderworld, introduce them to investors and give them a soft landing when it comes to actually building a company,' Miller said. Masae is a CEO and founder of Matric Live, a mobile app designed to help high school pupils, particularly in grades 10 to 12, prepare for matric exams. He said he started the app to help children from his township in Itsoseng, North West. He attended the One Young World Summit in Ottawa in 2016. 'The inspiration was to help the kids in my township. I got a scholarship at 12 years old, so my life is significantly better than people I grew up with, and every time I go home I am reminded of that. I never thought about a business model and how it can grow… [after] I went to Canada for One Young World; that session showed me the design principles of bringing a problem solution to life. There are thousands of young people who are doing amazing things, and it is inspirational,' he said. The 2026 summit and impact on young South African leaders Madonsela, a former Public Protector, told Daily Maverick the summit will be a big boost and a gift that is needed in South Africa. 'We need an injection of hope. One Young World is a platform that shows that young leaders need not beg for jobs. Every young person will tell you that they saw a problem and they solved it for their community. I see over 1,000 young people feeling affirmed in terms of the little things they have been doing,' she said. One Young World will take place in Munich, Germany, from 3 to 6 November 2025, where more than 2,000 young leaders from more than 190 countries will gather around the city. Hill-Lewis said next year's summit will be most memorable, and Cape Town is ready. DM
Herald Malaysia
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Herald Malaysia
Pakistan passes landmark Minority Rights Law
Pakistan's parliament passed the National Commission for Minority Rights Bill 2025 on May 13, creating a long-awaited independent body to protect the rights of religious minorities. May 23, 2025 Activists hold placards as they march to mark National Minorities Day in Lahore, Pakistan, on Aug. 11, 2021. (Photo: AFP) ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's parliament passed the National Commission for Minority Rights Bill 2025 on May 13, creating a long-awaited independent body to protect the rights of religious minorities. The commission will have the authority to conduct inquiries, inspect detention facilities, summon witnesses, and issue binding recommendations. It will operate with its own budget and report directly to parliament, signalling a shift toward rights-based governance. Christian leaders and rights activists, who campaigned for over a decade for such a body, welcomed the move as historic but cautioned against complacency. 'This is the beginning of a long journey toward justice and equality,' said Peter Jacob of the Centre for Social Justice. Concerns remain about the commission's ability to function independently and avoid political interference, a challenge that plagued earlier government-appointed minority panels. --
Daily Mirror
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Powerful mental health campaign spearheaded by rugby legends hits home
Moving video 'We're all Wigan. We're all Warriors' marks the start of Mental Health Awareness week. RUGBY legends have bravely opened up about their own 'greatest pain' as they try and encourage other men to speak up. The top flight players from Wigan Warriors have talked about the domestic abuse they saw as a child, the racism they suffered and how they faced the heartbreak of bereavement. They have released a moving video - called 'We're all Wigan. We're all Warriors' - to mark the start of Mental Health Awareness week. The Rugby League World Champions said 'some feelings are too heavy to carry in silence…' In the powerful video, winger Liam Marshall, 28, talks about the bereavement he felt after losing his mother Debbie just days after his daughter Elsie was born. 'It was the greatest pain and sadness that I have ever felt. In the space of three days we had experienced the highest high and the lowest low,' he said. 'The day my daughter was born was the happiest and most proud I have felt in my life. Less than 48 hours later, my mother sadly passed away after an 18-month battle with cancer. I had a reason to carry on when it could have been so easy to stop. ' Teammate Junior Nsemba, aged 20, spoke about childhood racist abuse he had suffered: 'I was so young, feeling so isolated and so confused as to why they were excluding me and treating me differently. Singled out simply because of the colour of my skin.' But the towering prop, who was born in Wigan after his parents emigrated from Cameroon, added: 'I have always been proud of who I am and where I came from, nothing anyone can say can change that.' The player's mum runs an orphanage in Cameroon's capital city of Yaounde and he has praised his teammates for helping 'massively'. Prop forward, Tyler Dupree, 25, from Halifax told of the domestic violence he saw as a boy: 'I was a young boy, just trying to comprehend what was happening. I knew it was wrong. I knew he was wrong. I knew this wasn't how you treat a woman. And Brad O'Neil, 22, from Leigh, who is a hooker for his team, told about the stress and nerves he had about becoming a father so young four years ago. 'Am I ready for this? How am I going to provide? I couldn't explain how I was feeling in that moment, apprehensive and nervous. Worried that I wouldn't be enough. I was 18-years-old and I was going to be a father. " But he added: I wouldn't change nothing for the world. I am a provider The club said the video was a direct response to rising rates of male loneliness in and around Wigan. According to a Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank, 15% of men have no close friends and no one to confide in, with only 1-in-5 men receiving emotional support from a friend per week, compared to 40% of women. Suicide being the biggest cause of death among young men.'We're all Wigan. We're all Warriors.' reinforces that Wigan Warriors are your teammates on-and-off the pitch, with a shared commitment to support the growth and development of the next generation of men. Professor Chris Brookes, Chairman: 'Wigan Warriors is deeply embedded in our community with our players seen as positive role models. 'I know from my many years working in our NHS how much men bottle up their feelings. 'These authentic accounts from our players will therefore be hugely impactful in breaking the stigmas which keep so many men from opening up on their true emotions. 'Rugby League has highly positive values, attitudes and behaviours with the sport such a powerful vehicle for kick starting conversations about mental health. ' I am so proud that our Club is leading the way in making a difference and providing a pathway to improve lives, particularly mental health and wellbeing.'
The Herald Scotland
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
High streets dying as butchers, bakers and candlestick makers close
The problem is that a lot of these traditional mom-and-pop joints have pulled down the shutters for good. Or they have rebranded as an upscale, artisan facsimile of the traditional fixtures, their till areas decorated with Torres Jamon Iberico crisps and Perello Gordal Piccante olives (which I love, don't get me wrong). It's just too expensive to be a heritage retailer these days. Sky-high energy bills, soaring rents, the general cost of food products. The same factors that affect our own wallets and make getting the weekly shop from the new artisanal independents so cost-prohibitive. A couple of days ago, I was in Partick in Glasgow speaking to a recently retired butcher, Billy Bishop. We met at his former shop, W. Bishop Quality Butcher on Merkland Street, and stood in the sun-drenched doorway talking about what led to his decision to close the business after sixty years. The price of doing business just got too high. It was too hard to compete with the huge Morrisons five minutes away. Most of his trade was in small sales, his customers needing only to cook for one. READ MORE MARISSA MACWHIRTER Every ten minutes during our conversation, a passerby would stop to greet him and ask if the shop was open. Sweet elderly women offered to bring round biscuits or made sure he had a cup of tea. 'I'll miss the people,' he told me. He was the only person that a lot of his customers spoke to in a day; most of them were older and living alone. Much of his shifts were spent sitting back on the counter, listening to the idle daily gossip of the area long after orders were fulfilled. He also told me he rarely had a customer under the age of 30 come in. Us youngsters are missing a trick, I thought. There are plenty of days when I do not speak to another human being face-to-face, skirting the silent ache of isolation by ferociously voice noting my friends. If a Gen Z punter did wander into Billy's shop, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the only person they spoke to in real life that day. I actually bet the old dears, the regulars, are speaking to plenty of folk while getting their messages. When we talk about loneliness, stock images of grey-haired widows and widowers come to mind. Heartbreaking, aged hands pressed against a heater, or narrow shoulders wrapped in blankets. The real tear-jerking stuff. But actually, according to research by the Centre for Social Justice, young people are more likely to feel lonely than older people. Older people were found to be the least lonely age cohort in Britain. The researchers suggested this could be down to their involvement with their communities and the fact that they are more likely to speak to their neighbours. I fear sometimes we don't even realise how lonely we are, lulled into a false sense of social connection over text. Only in those quiet moments does the emptiness crawl quickly up the back of the throat and choke us. As the local traders pack up, they leave behind a hole in the community. And that hole is typically filled with hair salons, nail salons, barber shops or beauty parlours. And vape shops. The changing face of the high street says a lot about where our priorities are, where we stretch our paychecks at the end of the month. We look good in pictures, but we don't feel good in the flesh. We are a society of beautiful, anxious, lonely wrecks, so to speak. The other reality, as Billy pointed out, is that people are time poor these days. We are working longer hours and taking home less. One of the overwhelming trappings of modernity is the importance of efficiency, hence why our supermarket shelves are stocked with ready meals, and everything is pre-cut, pre-cooked, pre-portioned and ready to go. I'm guilty of it, having recently praised the discovery of frozen pre-diced onions and garlic as one of the best things to happen to me so far this year. But I remain steadfast that there is a romance to ambling along your own high street and seeing familiar faces, smiling and chit-chatting with the shopkeepers. The allure of slowing down and taking the time to assemble the food shop from different establishments. All while getting a kick out of the low-stakes local gossip, retold in a dozen different ways like a game of neighbourhood telephone. It's sad to watch the decline of our butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers. So let this be a rallying cry to support yours, if you're still lucky enough to have one. Spend your Saturday getting acquainted with your local independents. And if you're stuck with a soulless chain supermarket lined with insufferable self-checkouts, keep an eye out for a manned till. If the cashier isn't too busy stocking shelves (because the overnight stock positions were axed), take the plunge and say hello. I often feel powerless under the weight of the cost-of-living crisis and the constant corporate race to the bottom line. And if boycotting the self-checkout is what it takes to combat our alienating present, so be it. To the fishmongers! Marissa MacWhirter is a columnist and feature writer at The Herald, and the editor of The Glasgow Wrap. The newsletter is curated between 5-7am each morning, bringing the best of local news to your inbox each morning without ads, clickbait, or hyperbole. Oh, and it's free. She can be found on X @marissaamayy1
Telegraph
04-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Young women have no role models
In the wake of the hit Netflix TV series 'Adolescence ' and the 'Lost Boys' report by the Centre for Social Justice, there has been much discussion about the importance of good male role models for boys. In the absence of a father – all too common in Britain – boys too often turn to online role models such as self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate. Some are drawn into a destructive virtual anti-culture of violence and pornography, with serious real-world consequences. But girls spend a lot of time online too, and while there is no coherent 'femosphere' to mirror the 'manosphere', the world of digital female influencers is none too wholesome either. Popular female influencers are almost solely focused on appearance. Peddling makeup brands or showing off their 'work' – cosmetic surgery – one could be forgiven for thinking that the only purpose of being female was to obtain the perfect 'look'. And that ''look' – pouting lips, heavy makeup, barely-there clothing – bears more than a passing resemblance to the 'performers' in the now ubiquitous online porn. Though unspoken, the message is clear: female perfection is about being sexually available. Many girls go one step further, recruited into actual porn performance. OnlyFans, the online platform where millions of young women prostitute their bodies to paying clients, markets exploitation and degradation as 'empowerment'. The relentless focus on body image has unsurprisingly led to an alarming rise in anorexia and self-harm among teenage girls. Platforms like TikTok use algorithms to send users more and more of the content they view. This is harmless if you like baking or kittens; much more dangerous if you show an interest in being thin. Many female influencers exploit girls' natural tendency for internalising unhappiness, encouraging them to 'self-diagnose' with autism, ADHD or gender dysphoria, pathologising the everyday ups and downs of life. Toxic female influencers and the likes of Andrew Tate have a lot in common. Both promote a narrow and exaggerated 'ideal' of what it means to be a high-status man or woman. Both caricatures have some relationship with the truth about sex differences, but both are pale imitations of manhood and womanhood, stuck in a permanent adolescence where a shallow interest in looks and status never matures into the real virtues of masculinity and femininity. Online role models, who are highly selective in the areas of their lives and bodies that they share with the world, are no match for the real thing. Boys and girls need real life relationships with real life warts-and-all mothers, fathers, grandparents, teachers and friends if they are going to develop into successful and virtuous men and women. There is a live discussion about what makes a good role model for boys. But what do good real-life female role models look like? In recent years we have become just as confused about the nature of female virtues as the masculine ones. The last half century has marked a huge change in the role of women in society, but this has been characterised by a drive to move women into traditionally male roles – provider, soldier, even father – rather than an attempt to value the contributions of each sex more equally. It is fascinating, if disturbing, that online female influencers have reacted to this shift with a superficial femininity that rejects not only the 'girl power' message but also the best of the feminine strengths. Just as with the 'manosphere' for boys, female online influencers too often appeal to feminine vices rather than its virtues, such as patience, empathy, wisdom, courage and nurture. We must get our kids off screens, but we also need to provide girls with real life role models of positive womanhood. The question is, in 2025, what does it mean to be a good woman?
