The Voice of 1.2 Billion People – Shomy Hasan Chowdhury

The Bangladeshi flag in her bag and its ideals in her heart-Shomy Hasan Chowdhury captured quite a lot of attention on social media when she spoke at the Global Citizen Festival in New York. She was introduced on stage by Priyanka Chopra, who later posted a picture on social media with Shomy proudly hoisting the Bangladeshi flag.

Shomy Hasan Chowdhury is an activist, and a youth advocate at Global Citizen. She has recently been appointed as the Asia Representative of the Commonwealth Students' Association (CSA), and she will be representing about 1.2 billion people across 53 nations. The Commonwealth Secretary General, Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, inaugurated the newly elected Executive Committee during the Congress at the Integrated Partners Forum during the 20th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) held in February in Nadi, Fiji. "I am really grateful to be given this kind of responsibility," says Shomy, who returned from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London. As a representative of the CSA, Shomy now has a vast array of responsibilities: "My responsibilities include representing, advocating and building capacities of students and students' organisations across Asia. I will work to empower students in this region to contribute effectively to development in their societies." Shomy is also a Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Awareness 360, a youth-led voluntary organisation aiming to mobilise youth in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The organisation is now working in 16 countries including Bangladesh, Malaysia, France, Mongolia and China. "Through our projects, we have reached out to sex workers, sewerage workers, slum dwellers, street children, people with various disabilities, school students, rickshaw pullers, homeless people and many more. We want to continue our mission in impacting more lives in the coming years." Shomy Hasan Chowdhury continues to work tirelessly and unconditionally to make the world a better place to live in, through collaboration with like-minded young adults. When asked about what she would like to achieve in the future, Shomy prioritises her motherland: "I want to see myself at least halfway through achieving my mission of ensuring access to clean water and sanitation for all, particularly the vulnerable communities in Bangladesh." The youngster will keep hoisting her Bangladeshi flag wherever she goes, making the nation proud.