Alfred Sigo
2022 IVLP Impact Award Project: PlastSafiKenya
Alfred Sigo is the founder and CEO of Pwani Youth Network in Kenya. His focus is on advocating for better health and employment opportunities for women and youth in Kenya. Alfred is also one of the founding members of the Global Opportunity Youth Network Mombasa, a global initiative championing for systemic change in the area of employment. Through centering activities around sports, film, technology, and the arts, Alfred aims to provide a space for youth empowerment and education. In 2021, he was a Mandela Washington Fellow.
IVLP Impact Award Project: PlastSafi
PlastSafi, Alfred’s environmental awareness campaign, is a combination of the English word ‘Plast,’ which stands for plastic, and ‘Safi,’ a Swahili word for clean. PlastSafi aimed to save marine life and promote the blue economy through fighting pollution caused by poor plastic waste disposal in the environment.
By encouraging zero-plastic waste dumping within the marginalized areas and shores of Bangladesh slums in Changamwe, the project focused on promoting healthy living underwater and on land. PlastSafi also helped clear plastic waste materials on the coastal shores and convert them into useful eco-friendly products through implementing plastic recycling initiatives.
Alfred's campaign reached 2500 students from 5 different schools. Additionally, the project trained 20 young people on how to properly operate plastic recycling machines and involved over 1000 community members in community clean up events. Five jobs to aid the clean-up of plastic material were directly created because of this project.
"This project has created an opportunity for the community to learn about cleaning the world and mitigating the effects of climate change, as we from the Global South are facing the effects." - Program Participant
IVLP Exchange Experience
Alfred was a participant in the IVLP Project Volunteerism and Civic Action in 2021, organized by the U.S. Department of State and Meridian International Center.
His exchange experience led to the development of his IVLP Impact Award Project: "IVLP was a great platform to meet and network with other great changemakers from across the United States. I was inspired to do more and to make the world a better place. I can strongly say that I got new friends from the great pool of facilitators from this program."
U.S. Communities Visited Virtually
Sacramento, CA; Denver, CO; Washington, DC; Miami, FL; Orlando, FL; Chicago, IL; Louisville, KY; Boston, MA; Kalamazoo, MI; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO; Tulsa, OK; Corpus Christi, TX; Salt Lake City, UT; Milwaukee, WI