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 MANASA UPPALA, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research | Tirupati, India | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 3
" Becoming a member of the Millennium Fellowship is an honour and an amazing opportunity to contribute to our society. This Fellowship will allow me to make a positive impact and difference in people’s lives. I am passionate about helping girls and women in rural areas of India obtain sanitary napkins and help them gain knowledge about menstruation and reproductive health. I am looking forward to working with many like-minded peers to develop and strengthen my leadership skills, and more importantly, make a positive change! "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Vimukthi
In many societies, women are discriminated against due to socio-cultural factors. We come from India, where menstruation is considered a social taboo, and menstrual hygiene is often ignored in rural societies. Just talking about periods raises a lot of stigmas. Project Vimukthi focuses on raising awareness about women’s health and providing them medical services through health camps. These tasks will be achieved through a series of interactive workshops for local schools, orphanages, and rural communities in Tirupati. The workshops will include information about growing up, the physiology of menstruation, and hygiene that can help girls. Our project hopes to make girls and women be able to freely express (hence the name: Vimukthi-be freed) and talk about their reproductive health, as many women do not feel safe talking about their health and are afraid of judgement. Through self-funding and proposed collaborations with organisations with the help of the outreach club in our college, we hope to provide factual education on menstrual health combined with the supply of sanitary products. The interactive workshops and health camps will run parallel to ensure the maximum benefit.
About the Millennium Fellow
Manasa Uppala is from Bangalore, India. She is a second-year student pursuing a BS-MS Dual Degree in Basic Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research(IISER), Tirupati. She is interested in biological sciences and hopes to pursue research in the medical field.
She actively participates in clubs and activities and loves meeting and interacting with new people. She believes that it is important for everyone to contribute to society and spread our knowledge to others. Her past volunteering experiences at various organizations such as VT Seva, AIM for Seva, YMCA, to name a few, taught her many skills such as patience, teamwork, leadership skills, communication skills, and many more.
Manasa is an art enthusiast who loves to explore various art forms and is passionate about Classical Carnatic Music.