BERLIN, Germany – Mathias Charles Yabe is awarded the first prize of the Young Global Changers Recoupling Award. The founder of the Ghana-based startup AkoFresh receives the first prize for developing solar-powered cold storage facilities that can drastically reduce food loss in rural Africa.
The refrigerated warehouses extend the time between harvesting and eating fruit and vegetables from five days to three weeks. At the same time, this increases farmers’ incomes because they are in a better position to negotiate prices with buyers.
The cold storage facilities are rented out to cooperatives on a daily or weekly basis. A high-level panel of speakers at the Global Solutions Summit recognized this project as a contributor to five UN development goals: Hunger and Poverty Alleviation, Economic and Sustainable Development, and Climate Protection.
The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros.
Website: https://www.akofresh.com/
Video: https://vimeo.com/689422371
Brianna Kerr from Australia receives the second prize for her project “KUA” (Fully Circular Coffee). It addresses three typical problems of coffee cultivation and consumption at the same time: coffee farmers receive a fair wage for KUA coffee, the project ensures that cultivation and processing are adapted to the changes caused by global warming, and it has set up a recycling system to recycle coffee grounds and packaging. This second place in the Young Global Changers Award is worth 2,000 euros.
Website: https://kuacoffee.co/
Video: https://vimeo.com/689410851
Finally, the third prize is awarded to the project “Origin Learning Fund” by Tania Rosas (Colombia). She has set-up a non-for-profit learning app that gives rural communities access to digital learning opportunities. The prize is endowed with 1,000 euros.
Website: https://www.originlearningfund.org/
Video: https://vimeo.com/689407108
Information and videos about all projects can be found here: https://www.global-solutions-initiative.org/young-global-changers/awards/
