ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT PALLAK SINGH, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture for Women | Pune, India | Advancing SDG 12 & UNAI 1
" A sense of responsibility towards my team, either as a team member or a leader, enthusiasm, restlessness to create something new and critical thinking are all aspects which will help me contribute towards the Millennium Fellowship and also help me enhace them overtime. The refined and new, both set of skills that I carry back with me from the Millennium Fellowship will be positively used in the upcoming social work that I lead or participate in, with regards to the UNAI principles and SDGs. I am excited to contribute, learn and take back as much as I can. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Project Agroscape
The project ‘Agroscape’ deals with landscapes interspersed with agriculture. The pandemic situation has shown the rise in concern over food security and interest in healthier diets and quality lifestyles. Thus, it has become crucial to develop ecologically sensitive urban landscapes which integrate food rather than just aesthetics. To put this concept into practice, our project "Agroscape" has focused on developing urban farms in the form of edible landscapes that can be cultivated at the home, institute, and corporate levels.
1. Under Project Agroscape, a small-scale organic farm has been set up in the college campus of ‘Dr. B.N. College of Architecture, Pune.’ Agriculture based landscape has been designed which includes plantations of vegetables such as ‘Eggplant (Solanum melongena), chillies (Capsicum frutescens), Potato (Solanum tuberosum), Curry leaves (Murraya koenigii), Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum), Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), Spinach (Spinacia oleracea)’. This produce is readily available and is planned to be utilized for food requirements in the college canteen. In order to set this farm, site visits to Urban farms and Biophilic projects in the vicinity were conducted to gain prior knowledge.
2. To increase our outreach, awareness in community and gain insights from experts in this domain, we have successfully conducted four online webinars under our ‘Organic Farming Techniques’ series. Speakers widely focused on topics such as the Importance of Bees in farming, Urban farming and Understanding an Architect’s role in SDGs.
3. An ‘SDG day’ event was also organized to educate and create awareness among fellow students through fun activities and quizzes. It held a crucial role in team bonding, communication amongst fellows and strengthening intra-team relations.
4. The project will further focus on expanding with Hydroponics (sustainable plantation technique to optimise water usage), Vertical gardening modules and Biophilic installations (with upcycled material) campus-wide.
5. An SDG Student hub has been set up on campus to gain participation of interested students which will ensure there’s no dead end to this initiative.
6. Along with this, we have also launched an outreach program by partnering with the regional Rotaract club. Within this program, our fellow mates are coworking with the Rotaract members to set up urban farms within old age homes and orphanages.
About the Millennium Fellow
Pallak Singh is a young, vibrant and high-spirited architecture student at Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College Of Architecure, Pune. She was born in Chandigarh and has been brought up in various parts of the country (India), due to her dad's occupation. She has experienced various cultures and traditions prevailing in India and always carries along a sense of responsibility and discipline along with her. Moving from place to place every 2 years, she emphasized on managing her own garden which in turn always turned into a kitchen garden for the people who would later come. This makes her self relient and is a small step towards sustainibility. She believes in giving back to nature from a very young age and hence has been participating in a lot of plantation drives. Throughout her schooling, she has given importance to participating in philanthropic activities, either be HelpAge India, food or clothing drive, etc. Pallak feels its necessary to participate in any social cause if she feels she is in a position to provide and she will continue to contribute her bit towards the United Nations Sustainable Goals.
