The Zuri Project
1301. Ross Young
Ross Young, from Solihull, is the co-founder of ‘The Zuri Project’, a charity supporting and enabling community-led projects in Uganda.
Ross set up the charity with Martin Hewell after they both met in Uganda carrying out charity work and saw an opportunity to take on an approach to international development that puts the community at its centre. ‘The Zuri Project’ is working to redefine the relationship between UK charities and international development across a range of fields including education, agriculture and health, working closely with an NGO in Kanungu district in South-Western Uganda, ‘Opportunity Africa’, to support projects delivered directly by Ugandan people.
In a personal letter to Ross, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
“I know you do this with no thought of praise or reward, but allow me to offer my own recognition of how you have enabled and enriched community projects in Uganda and have made an innovative contribution to international development through the ‘Zuri Project’.”
Ross said:
“I am thrilled to receive the award, but the credit for the success of ‘The Zuri Project’ goes to our Ugandan team – Monica, Bright, Jims, Moses and everyone else that works tirelessly to support the development of locally-led projects.”