Saskia Troy MacIntyre

Saskia Troy is a Social Corporate Responsibility (CSR), strategy and marketing Expert. Next to her studies in business administration (global business and stakeholder management) economics and business (international economics) and philosophy (philosophy of management) she has been working and doing internships for various companies and institutions which are amongst others Shell International, ABN Amro, KPN, the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the University of Amsterdam, the Ministry of Finance (Supreme Auditing Court) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has been active for the United Nations in several boards and commissions (UNDP, CSD, UNICEF), as well as for the Liberal Democrates (Defence and International Security, Higher Education and Science). In the past she has won the Hans Wiegel Grand Prix (named after a former Deputy Prime-Minister) for the best contribution to the political debate within dutch Liberal Youth Politics (JOVD). Before she has been a member of the marketing delegation of the Nuon Solar Team that became world champion within the World Solar Challenge which is a race through Australia for cars that drive purely on solar energy. Recently she has been adjudicating at the BBC Public Speaking and Writing Awards and the NS Publieksprijs for the dutch Book of the Year.

“Business leaders can create wealth while at the same time they can positively add value to the conservation and protection of the ecological world, having respect for other human beings and building on positive change in their own life. For that reason we need to start teaching the youth of today already at a very young age about how to become a spiritual, environmental and social engaged leader within politics, business and society.“

International Peace Day Ambassadors for the Netherlands and Europe

Ruba Mimi

Ruba Mimi is a young journalist who started her media activities at the age of 15 as a reporter for the youth times, and a TV presenter for a youth TV program on Palestine TV, where she highlighted children and human rights for Palestinians. Later Mimi obtained her BA degree in Journalism and political science from Birzeit university and started  working as a news reporter for the Lebanese channel Future News.

She is experienced in blogging and also working with children in Presenting a kids TV show called "Katakeet".

At the age of 18, She started producing and presenting a documentary show from Jerusalem titled " Tallat Maqdisyeh" , this program has been very successful and famous for 7 years. IT has been a creative idea to break the Israeli borders and let all Arabs and Palestinians enjoy Jerusalem with its culture and stories!

Beside working on TV, Ruba succeeded in leading a national advocacy campaign that calls for tolerance within the Palestinian society as part of her work in PYALARA- Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation. After that, she has been promoted as Advocacy officer.

Demi (Dimitra) Smoloktou

Demi (Dimitra) Smoloktou has been involved for many years in international affairs and peacekeeping. She is from Greece but for the past 8 years she has been living in various countries for studies and work. She holds a Master's degree in Economics and she is currently living in Finland, studying Development and International Cooperation at the University of Jyväskylä.

Demi has been an active volunteer at Earth Charter International and a leader of its International Youth Task Force. Sustainability and peace are of high interest to her and as a Peace Ambassador she is comitted to consistenlty promoting peace, intercultural dialogue and tolerance.

“Coming from Greece, an ancient country with rich history and many war incidents, I feel almost obliged to celebrate Peace since freedom should not be taken for granted. Who could imagine that in 2013 there would be still people living under slavery and war conditions. Conflict resolution has become a major need if we want to thrive towards a better and sustainable world with stable economies and peaceful inclusive societies. Let's devote one day of the year to celebrate Peace together.”

Ebrima S. Dem

Ebrima S. Dem is a social justice activist, blogger and entrepreneur from Gambia. His areas of specialisation includes women’s rights, youth development and climate justice advocacy.

He is the co-founder and National Coordinator of Global Unification The Gambia youth-led research and development organisation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and Biology from the University of Gambia. He graduated in 2008 after which he worked as a teacher until 2009. He is widely travelled, outspoken and a charismatic youth leader. He speaks fluent English, French, Spanish, Pulaar and wollof. He has made several presentations on climate change and human rights issues in various international fora. Ebrima has also written a series of articles on climate change education, adaptation and sustainable development. His vision of the world is that of a world where all people embrace diversity and live together peacefully. To him, peace is paramount to sustainable development. The prerequisites for peace are tolerance, respect and accepting pluralism and diversity, including diversity of religions and cultures.

Maayke-Aimée Damen

Ever since Maayke-Aimée Damen was a little girl she has been passionate about creating a just, caring and sustainable world for all. Over the years she worked for many NGOs, the Dutch government, The United Nations and multiple companies to pursue that vision. She has been very proactive and in all the positions and official functions she has held has been an advocate for peace. She combines entrepreneurship for sustainability with a striving for human empowerment and compassion. Currently she works amongst others as Director of Empowerment at Metabolic where she designs and implements holistic and replicable systems for agriculture, cities, and industry, and is a founder of Reciclata, a company addressing resource scarcity by changing the way recycling works.

She earned her Master’s (Cum Laude) in Sustainable Development at Utrecht University with the thesis ‘A Resources Passport for a Circular Economy’. Also she is a graduate from Singularity University, where she entered by winning the Dutch innovation contest with the idea of a ‘Google for Materials’.

Pro Bono Financial Advisor

Fehmina Choudhry

Fehmina Choudhry is a Financial Economist who lives in the multicultural and cosmopolitan city Rotterdam. She is the eldest of 5 siblings with whom she grew up in a very cozy and sheltered environment. After high school, she decided to study Business & Economics at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. Currently, Fehmina works as a SAP Consultant at Capgemini. During her study, she did a variety of courses in Financial Economics, Entrepreneurship and Accountancy because of she has always had a wide variety of interests.

Before joining Capgemini, Fehmina was working at AkzoNobel, where she got introduced to ‘Sustainability’ in the widest areas. For her, Sustainability did not only mean producing more environment-friendly products (paint) but also taking Sustainable decision-making to a higher level within her company and society. During that time, she joined the Leaders for Nature (LFN) Commission, which is a Commission of young Professionals working at different Multinationals who try to take Sustainability to a higher level within their own companies. This main task of the LFN Commission was to organize events where LFN members of the member companies could meet, share ideas & thoughts and of course have fun networking. For Fehmina, Sustainability did not only deal with Green Economy, but also with the future of the inhabitants of Mother earth who are our children, the future of this world!

The reason to join Children of the Earth is because she strongly believes we have to guard our children in all possible ways. She gets stunned when she hears what kind of horrible and awkward situations children go through in their childhood. But at the same time she was extremely amazed to see how some of those people have become amazingly good parents, coworkers and influential people when they grow mature. It really takes a lot of courage, strength and determination to pick yourself up and get going again. I really hope that for the individuals who have difficulty pick themselves up, Children of the Earth can really make a difference.

Because children, no matter how strong they are, need to be protected. Always! Fehmina would love to be work for a commission which is determined to make this difference. Because she strongly believes, that the world can be changed by giving your own, good example.

Partnership Coordinators

Alison Leonard

Alison Leonard was born in Ireland, and has lived, studied and worked in England, Germany and France over the past 15 years. Her Bachelors and Masters degrees focused upon International Affairs and specifically delved into the theme of Identity Politics in relation to Middle Eastern countries. She has a keen interest in the topics of diversity- especially the representation of women in business, where in her former position in Germany was responsible in setting up the first European women’s affinity group.
She was part of a small team of young people who co-created the first EuroPie Festi-Forum in Toulouse, France. This international team was made up of young people from Germany. Romania and France who worked in a horizontal and democratic manner over the course of the one-year it took to organise this event.

This was an event created by young people for young people aiming at strengthening solidarity in youth actions. The basic idea of EuroPie was to provide a platform to empower young people, to invite various Organisations and young people from around the world to share experiences and ideas, to discuss alternatives and solutions to the societies we live in and to connect with others helping to make us the youth a more visible group as a whole.

For three days youth came together in a self managed space in Toulouse, France. Activities ranged from workshops to theatre, from debates to concerts, informal discussions in the camping space to collective cooking in the self-run kitchen. The themes of these activities fell under 10 main topics: Reclaim democracy!, Transition, Social justice, Hack n’ Wiki, Fair-play economy, Water, Education, Climate, Artivism, re-Generation.

This process was about the development of a more visible youth dynamic across countries and aimed to facilitate the connection between youth groups and initiatives. Over 70 associations were represented from over 10 countries, with 80 workshops taking place over 3 days. http://europie.org/en/

Marie-José Oomen

Marie-José Oomen was born in Breda, living in Rotterdam. She was born in a loving and caring family and has two younger brothers. Her first 18 years she lived in and around Breda. Already in primary school she was very aware of equality among people and she cared also about the environment (acid rain, saving water). When she was 18 she moved to Eindhoven to study Building Technology and became an engineer. She felt she should use her talents in math and physics. Besides that, building is, in her opinion, a social thing. During her studies she worked for a certificate in sustainability (TDO; technology for sustainable development). Also she was involved in university politics, and she tried to make the university itself more sustainable.

Her first job was to inform secondary school students about her university. A side goal for her was already to attract more girls to the engineering studies as well. Unfortunately she saw many parents telling their daughters that it was not for them to become an engineer. It made her angry, as she could see the girls were interested. There is the free choice, but also the influence from young age that put woman and men in different boxes. Thinking and acting out of the box is very important to her. In her career she tried to be a role model for girls in technical jobs and combine communication with her technical knowledge, to inform people about their choices in sustainable building and sustainable energy.

She believes that education shall be directed to the full development of the individual personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights whereby it shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship, as well as promote excellence (and encourage greatness) in each and every person. Especially girls should be provided with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable growth. Remembering herself being a young girl and motivated already to improve the world within her possibilities at that time, she thinks every child should have the opportunities. Educating young girls is the way to a just, sustainable, peaceful future for all of us.

Already during her study years, she became a member of la Tuniña, a Dutch student music organization, of which its activities are based on an old Spanish tradition. They play Spanish songs, dress up like Spanish medieval minstrels and bring serenades and enjoy people with their performance (much more than just playing songs). Later on she became an ambassador for the organization of couchsurfing, a worldwide network that enables people to travel and exchange cultures for which she travelled to many countries. Couchsurfers envision a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection. They share their lives with the people they encounter, fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect. She support the goals of these organizations while encouraging international exchange and promoting values such as diversity is necessary for managing worldwide problems like climate change, extreme poverty, economic crises and inequality.

She believes that “Whether you are red, brown, yellow, black, or white Man with a husband, or a woman with a wife We can debate until the end of time who is wrong or right Or we can see ourselves as one Cause it all comes down to love.” (India.Arie – “One”)