Divine is honoured with The Diana Award for going above and beyond in his daily life to create and sustain positive change.
Divine Kporha aged 25, from Ghana has been recognised with the highest accolade a young person can achieve for social action or humanitarian efforts – The Diana Award. This year The Diana Award celebrates its 20th anniversary year.
Established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Award is given out by the charity of the same name and has the support of both her sons, The Duke of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex.
Divine is a volunteer taking action to support those less privileged. As young community service volunteer, Divine supports communities to tackle the stigma associated with mental health through public workshops on healthy living and suicide prevention. He and his team has also worked on a water project which have supported those in dire need, providing shelter for person with disabilities, whilst raising funds to support other community projects such as orphanages, child basic education, and leprosy sufferers have access to good water and sanitation.
Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award, says:
“We congratulate all our new International Diana Award Holders who are changemakers for their generation. We know by receiving this honour they will inspire more young people to get involved in their communities and begin their own journey as active citizens. For over twenty years The Diana Award has valued and invested in young people encouraging them to continue to make positive change in their communities and lives of others.”
Award Holders have been put forward by adults who know the young people in a professional capacity and recognised their efforts as a positive contribution to society. Through a rigorous nomination process, these nominators had to demonstrate the nominee’s impact in five key areas: Vision, Social Impact, Inspiring Others, Youth Leadership, and Service Journey.
There are 13 Diana Award Judging Panels representing each UK region or nation and a further two panels representing countries outside of the UK. Each panel consist of four judges; Two Diana Award Holders, an education or youth work professional, and a business or government representative. The panels have an important main purpose: to determine which nominations from each UK region/nation will receive The Diana Award.
Nominations are judged using the Criteria Guide and Scoring Guide which have been created to measure quality of youth social action.
The Diana Award develops and inspires positive change in the lives of young people through three key programmes which include; a mentoring programme for young people at risk, a youth-led anti-bullying ambassadors campaign and a prestigious award which publicly recognises young people.
One would recall that Divine Kporha was honoured with the Kofi Annan Youth Inspirational Award in 2018 at the 4th National Mental Health and Well-being conference organized by the Mental Health and Well-being Foundation and later in same year was the first recipient of the Foundation Vice Chancellor’s Award: Prof Fred Binka Prize for the Best Graduating Student Dedicated to Community Services.
Divine’s passion for making a difference is clear in all that he does and has instilled the spirit of volunteerism in those around him.