Since 2020, the initiative has supported Young Leaders worldwide with Samsung Galaxy technology, mentorship and networking opportunities to amplify their stories and advance solutions across all 17 Global Goals.

When devastating floods submerged her home state in Brazil, Renata Koch Alvarenga questioned whether her work was making a difference. Instead of retreating, she doubled down, launching an ambitious program to prepare women and youth for the climate crisis ahead.

The 17 Global Goals refer to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. They cover interrelated areas such as quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, climate action, life on land and below water, among others.

The images still haunt her. In May 2024, the state of Rio Grande do Sul faced the worst flooding in its history, submerging Renata Koch Alvarenga’s hometown of Porto Alegre under record-breaking floodwaters. Nearly 600,000 people were displaced, streets disappeared, and the airport remained closed for months.

▲ The 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, affected nearly 2.4 million people and caused widespread damage across 478 municipalities, including Porto Alegre, shown here.

“My heart was definitely breaking,” she recalls. “I saw so many places that I grew up going to, such as parks and museums, destroyed.”

What happened in Brazil reflects a growing global threat. Climate change is heating oceans and shifting rainfall patterns, intensifying extreme weather events like floods. By 2100, coastal flood risk is expected to increase fivefold, threatening more than 70 million people worldwide, according to UNDP. 

After years of climate advocacy and educational outreach, the devastation – some of it in the very communities Renata had worked to protect – left her questioning if her efforts were enough. “I like to say that I’m a climate optimist and always like to see the glass half full, but that was a key moment in which it was very hard to keep being an optimist,” she says. “It was very hard to keep going.”

For Renata, the choice became clear: give in to doubt, or double down on her mission.

Discovering Climate Justice

Renata’s path to climate activism began in college when she received the opportunity to attend COP21 – the 21^st United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties – held in Paris in 2015, where world leaders negotiated the landmark Paris Agreement. “I saw multiple diplomats say, ‘I don’t really understand why we’re talking about gender. This has nothing to do with climate change,’” she says.

This dismissive response sparked something within her. Renata’s studies had shown that the climate crisis impacts people differently based on gender and economic status – with women often facing the harshest consequences while being excluded from decision-making. This imbalance lies at the heart of climate justice. According to UN Women, by 2050, climate change may push up to 158 million more women and girls into extreme poverty, compared to 16 million more men and boys.

Renata left COP21 determined to change things.

▲ Inspired by what she witnessed in Paris, Renata worked to create pathways for marginalized voices in climate advocacy.

Leveraging Technology for Impact

 Following years of advocacy and study, Renata founded EmpoderaClima, a climate and gender advocacy and education organization with a simple principle: knowledge is empowerment, and empowerment is equality. It originally launched as a website in 2019 using technology to democratize climate information.

“Technology is essential for EmpoderaClima because it allows us to reach people we otherwise couldn’t,” says Renata. “The scale and multiplying effect of social media and our digital database is incredibly powerful,” she adds.

By translating resources on climate and gender equity into French, Spanish and Portuguese, EmpoderaClima broke down language barriers that excluded communities from international climate discussions. And social media enabled the organization to scale rapidly, reaching more than 60,000 people across the world.

▲ The EmpoderaClima website features climate change resources in multiple languages, making them accessible to communities across Latin America and beyond.

Expanding Beyond Digital

 As EmpoderaClima grew, so did its initiatives. The organization now runs student workshops, offers climate and leadership mentorship programs for women, and leads advocacy efforts that bring young women to global stages.

Through school visits, Renata’s team takes climate education to youth in vulnerable communities, highlighting the United Nations’ Global Goals with a focus on quality education (Goal 4), gender equality (Goal 5) and climate action (Goal 13).

▲ Students in flood-impacted São Leopoldo, Brazil, learn how their climate experiences connect to global policy.

Brazil’s floods last year exposed gaps in emergency response, including services that address the needs of women and children. In response, Renata launched the Women for Climate Resilience program, where local leaders gain skills in disaster preparedness, mental health and climate adaptation, then carry the knowledge back to their communities. So far, the initiative has reached women from three regions of Brazil.

“Today I feel empowered, strengthened, renewed,” said Janaína dos Santos, a social worker in Porto Alegre, at a recent Women for Climate Resilience workshop.

▲ Women leaders participate in EmpoderaClima’s climate resilience workshop, learning skills and strategies to better prepare for future climate disasters.

Building an Inclusive Climate Future

As climate disasters become more frequent and intense, Renata says her work has never felt more important. “My dream for the future,” she says, “is expanding our reach globally and building an even bigger network of women who are empowered and ready to take action for climate justice.” Technology, she believes, has been vital to EmpoderaClima’s evolution and will be just as critical in scaling impact in the years ahead.

For Renata, the flood marks in her hometown represent not only loss, but also resilience and an opportunity to rebuild with justice at the center. Her vision is clear: a world where women and youth don’t just endure climate challenges but shape climate solutions.

Priscilla Efe Johnson is a member of Generation17, a partnership between Samsung and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), empowering young people around the world who are contributing to the Global Goals.

The first time she got her period, Efe Johnson was scared, even ashamed. “I did not know what was happening to me because nobody ever told me what to expect,” says Efe, now 24. “It was a very traumatic experience.”

Like many young girls born and raised in Kaduna State, Nigeria, she had questions about her body while growing up. But she lacked access to basic information around women’s health. It was taboo, which perpetuated a stigma across generations of women.

According to UNESCO, two out of three girls in sub-Saharan Africa lack comprehensive health knowledge and skills. As she got older, Efe became determined to break this dangerous and painful cycle of silence and shame for young girls — and she knew education through storytelling and innovation was the key.

Efe teaches girls about menstruation and feminine hygiene while leading a Xari Africa school tour in Kaduna State.

Shattering Stigma, Opening Access

Efe began visiting local schools to distribute free sanitary pads. That’s when she discovered that many girls had never used feminine hygiene products and didn’t have a safe space in their communities to talk about their experiences and ask questions.

Keeping girls in the dark about these topics can contribute to sexually transmitted diseases, gender-based violence and teen pregnancy, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where the adolescent birth rate is more than twice the global average. It can also impede their schooling and economic advancement. In 2021, 23% of Nigerian girls missed school because of menstruation.

The more girls Efe met early on, through her visits to local schools, the more she connected with their experiences. “I see myself in them,” she says. “I see girls who have no one to help them understand their bodies. I see girls who desperately wish they had someone to talk to. I tell them, ‘I get it, and I’m here for you.’”

That’s what inspired Efe to start her own organisation, Xari Africa, a nonprofit that provides girls with access to reproductive and sexual health education and resources. Her mission: helping young women and girls feel empowered about their bodies and be able to make informed decisions about their health and future.

During a community event, Efe discusses her support for the Global Goals

Harnessing Innovation for Educational Equity

The organisation began on a mobile platform in 2017 where Efe connected with other young people in Kaduna State working on gender equity. This online community was empowering for her as a young entrepreneur, and it enabled her to garner the volunteers, resources and funding to officially launch Xari Africa the following year.

Today, technology continues to amplify the nonprofit’s efforts by spreading awareness about its school tours, educational materials and events through social media.  It powers their efforts to support the United Nation’s Global Goals, including ending poverty (Goal 1), delivering quality education (Goal 4), achieving gender equality and stopping violence against women and girls (Goal 5).

The school workshops cover everything from birth control to sexual boundaries and disease prevention – a first for the girls. These engaging events are also building a greater sense of community among girls and creating a supportive environment for asking sensitive questions and sharing personal, and sometimes painful, experiences. The workshops have reached more than 4,500 Nigerian students so far.

Crystal, a 15-year-old workshop participant, describes Xari Africa’s visit to her school in 2021 as transformative. “Efe was able to create a space where I could say things that were haunting me inside that I couldn’t say to anyone,” says Crystal. “Now I feel I can inspire other young girls to speak up.”

Despite her organisation’s success in Kaduna State, working in conservative and at times in hostile environments, Efe dreams of supporting more girls throughout Africa and beyond. Technology continues to extend Xari Africa’s reach. In 2023, her team launched an online academy to bridge critical gaps in health education worldwide. The growing digital library of interactive courses and imaginative animations allows parents, teachers, advocates and girls to learn about the female body privately without embarrassment or fear.

“The dream is to reach at least a million girls across Africa,” Efe says. “With technology, we can make reproductive and sexual health education more accessible, and we’ll be able to achieve our goal much faster.”

At home in Johannesburg, South Africa, a girl learns about period health using Xari Africa’s online academy.

A Creative Catalyst for Change

To make sexual health education and knowledge accessible to more adolescent girls, Xari Africa published a free menstruation guide, “Just Period It,” that covers pregnancy prevention and hygienic period practices. The nonprofit has distributed 3,500 copies of the book, which uses easy-to-follow storytelling coupled with vibrant, educational visuals to destigmatise and simplify complex topics.

Efe wanted “Just Period It” to be illuminating but also relatable for girls– taboo topics needed to be accessible, as they are an important part of growing up. So, she drew on her personal experience with period shame and touched on common misconceptions about women’s health. She worked closely with a designer on the artwork, blending informational drawings with empowering female imagery.

Xari Africa’s guidebook uses bold, inspiring imagery and an approachable, conversational tone to teach girls about their bodies.

Despite the inherent risks to her and her team’s personal safety while breaking barriers in traditional communities, Efe remains committed to the Global Goals and making the world safer and more equitable for future generations of women and girls. And, in particular, she’s ensuring that the journey from childhood to womanhood is better understood and embraced.

“This fight, this passion, is personal,” Efe says. “I advocate for health education because it’s something I never received, and I’m making a safe space for kids and teens because I didn’t have one. I want better for girls like me.”

To learn more, visit Xari Africa.

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