Two Rwandans are among 60 young people from across the Commonwealth nations who have been selected to receive the prestigious Queen’s Young Leaders Award this year.

The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme announced the winners on Wednesday. 

The Rwandans were identified as Yvette Ishimwe and Kellya Uwiragiye. 

The Queen’s Young Leaders Awards recognise and celebrate exceptional young people aged 18 to 29 in the Commonwealth who are driving change within their communities and transforming people’s lives.

With the award now in its third and penultimate year, the 60 young people announced this week will become part of the growing Queen’s Young Leaders community, a unique network of influential young change-makers who are coming together and being supported to become an even greater force for good, according to a statement. 

They will receive the award from Her Majesty The Queen at a ceremony in London next year, organisers said. 

This year, award winners are leading projects tackling global issues, including education, climate change, gender equality, mental health and disability equality, the statement added. 

Ishimwe, 19, from Kayonza District, has been chosen in recognition of her work in reducing the burden on women and children responsible for collecting water and improving access to safe water supplies. 

25-year-old Kellya Uwiragiye, from Kigali, has been acknowledged for her work in improving access to services and education for deaf people. 

Uwiragiye said, "I am delighted to have been selected as a Queen’s Young Leader and this Award will help me to generate support for a pre-school centre for deaf children across Rwanda.” 

The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme was established in 2014 by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust in partnership with Comic Relief, The Royal Commonwealth Society and the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education, in recognition of The Queen’s lifetime of service to the Commonwealth. 

Each year for four years, 60 Queen’s Young Leaders receive bespoke training, mentoring and networking opportunities, and take part in a week-long residential programme in London, to empower them to build on the work they are leading in their communities which is changing the lives of others for the better.

Dr Astrid Bonfield CBE, the chief executive of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, said: "We are delighted that these incredible young people have been selected as Queen’s Young Leaders, and wish our warmest congratulations to each and every one of them.” 

The Queen’s Young Leaders Award is designed to inspire and nurture the talent of exceptional young people from all over the Commonwealth, so that they can create and lead others towards securing positive changes in communities.

"The work being undertaken by the latest cohort of Queen’s Young Leaders is addressing some of the most crucial issues facing the Commonwealth today. We cannot wait to see how their impressive endeavours grow and develop over the course of the year to come and beyond.”

Commonwealth is comprised of 54 nations, mostly former colonies of the former British empire.

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