Footsteps Co-Founder and President Shah Rafayat Chowdhury has received the Global Citizen Youth Leaders Award. He is one of 32 recipients of the award from the Asia-Pacific region. 

Shah Rafayat Chowdhury is an environmentalist and social entrepreneur. He co-founded Footsteps – a development-based social enterprise addressing social challenges and working across the health, environment, and education sectors in Bangladesh. Since 2013, Footsteps has been helping marginalised communities overcome different social challenges by building their capacity and potential.

Shah and the other recipients of the Youth Leaders Award are young innovators and advocates working to address issues surrounding climate, gender equity, and human rights. Each of them will be receiving funding for their organisation to expand upon their work. They will be travelling to Melbourne to attend the Global Citizen NOW Melbourne programme, and engage in peer networking alongside many global business, philanthropic, and change-making leaders. 

Headquartered in New York, Global Citizen is an action platform empowering millions across the world to achieve the end of extreme poverty. The platform also rallies around issues like climate change.