ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT ABDOUL AZIZ IRAKOZE, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
African Leadership University Rwanda | Kigali, Rwanda | Advancing SDG 4, SDG 5 & UNAI 9
" I do this work because I know what it feels like to lose opportunity—and what it means to get it back. As a Millennium Fellow, I'm excited to turn my experiences into solutions that empower women and youth to rebuild their futures through education and entrepreneurship. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Back2Bloom Initiative
Back2Bloom Initiative is committed to empowering refugees, young people in marginalized communities, and host communities by giving them access to education, mentorship, and leadership opportunities. The initiative aims at eliminating systemic barriers, which undermine education, economic independence, and social inclusion, bringing into being a generation that is self-reliant, capable, and confident. The programs involve at-risk girl mentorship, financial and vocational literacy, and community involvement programs to enhance inclusion and gender equity.
All in all, Back2Bloom Initiative aims to ensure that o refugee and youth from marginalized communities fall through the cracks.
About the Millennium Fellow
Abdoul Aziz Irakoze is a dynamic changemaker and Program Director at the Raise Them Foundation, driven to uplift marginalized communities through education, gender equity, and inclusive innovation, especially people from underprivileged backgrounds. He strongly believes in "go-back and give-back." he channels his leadership into initiatives empowering African refugees and youth.
Abdoul Aziz Irakoze is currently pursuing his bachelor's degree in Entrepreneurial Leadership at the African Leadership University. At ALU, Abdoul Aziz has cultivated a transformative leadership mindset, honing his visionary thinking, conflict resolution, and strategic communication. This program of creative and critical problem-solving also illustrates his commitment to ongoing education.
As the Assistant Community Engagement Lead at Alliance4AI, he fosters artificial intelligence literacy and collaborative efforts between students and professionals in Africa, advocating for ethical and inclusive development in AI. His advocacy reaches the grassroots level, where he has collaborated with Kirehe District leaders and the Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe organization to tackle gender equality and education-related challenges. He also claims his position as a GXAfrica Ambassador, where he champions causes related to leadership, opportunity, and youth development throughout the African continent.
Abdoul Aziz's research draws its source of inspiration from the belief that survival in transformation comes from members of society exercising positive engagement, shared power, and an active pursuit of balance. He significantly envisions a world where everyone's dignity is respected and all obstacles are presented as opportunities to create innovative solutions.
