Education for Sustainable Development
Basu is a youth leader focused on empowering vulnerable communities through climate action and sustainable development. She is also dedicated to amplifying the voices of young people, women, and girls in decision-making climate action processes. Through her work, Kehkashan combines grassroots action with high-level, policy advocacy that targets issues including climate justice, social upliftment, land degradation, clean water & sanitation, sustainable consumption and production, gender equality, biodiversity conservation, peace and nuclear disarmament, clean energy, and rebuilding better through the creation of local circular bio-economies.
Basu’s Green Hope Foundation, of which she is the founder and president, uses education for sustainable development as a transformative tool to empower youth and adults alike, and provide them with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors to act for a sustainable future. The Green Hope Foundation hosts interactive workshops and conferences through many mediums including art, music, drama, sports and STEM education. It also supports ground-level, action campaigns that target accelerated, sustainable development.
Winner of the 2016 International Children’s Peace Prize, 20-year-old Kehkashan Basu is an iconic youth leader, global influencer, environmentalist, champion of women and children’s rights, TEDx speaker, Climate Reality Mentor, author, musician, peace and sustainability campaigner. A Forbes 30 Under 30 and the first-ever Winner of the Voices Youth Gorbachev-Schultz Legacy Award for her work on nuclear disarmament, Kehkashan is a United Nations Human Rights Champion, a National Geographic Young Explorer, a UN Habitat Young City Champion, the Regional Organizing Partner for North America for the NGO Major Group and one of Canada's Top25 Women of Influence. She has spoken at over 200 United Nations and other global fora across 30 countries. She is the youngest Trustee of the Parliament of the World's Religions, Council Lead of the Toronto-St. Paul's Constituency Youth Council, Canada, a member of the World Humanitarian Forum Youth Council and a Co-Leader of the UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Feminist Action for Climate Justice.