“I encourage people to move through the world consciously building connection, knowing that who we become, and the world we collectively experience, is shaped by how deeply we stay connected to one another.”
Nyasha Guta
TOP 30 UNDER 30 HONOUREE | 2026
About
PROFILE SNAPSHOT
AGE: 27
PRONOUNS: She/Her
HOMETOWN: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ORGANIZATIONS:
- Atlantic Council for Global Cooperation
- Youth Challenge International
- World University Service of Canada
- Young Diplomats of Canada
- United Nations Association in Canada
GLOBAL IMPACT FOCUS (SDGs)
I am most passionate about:
What specific issue(s) are you working to address, and what motivates you to do so?
My work addresses the intersection of women’s wellbeing, youth leadership, and equitable development, especially in contexts affected by colonial legacies, economic exclusion, and unequal access to opportunity. In Canada and internationally, I focus on how development systems can better support women and young people as knowledge holders, leaders, and co-creators of lasting solutions.
My motivation stems from my lived experiences across diverse cultural and geographic contexts. I have seen global systems overlook the relational, cultural, and community-based aspects of wellbeing. Women facing economic precarity often bear significant responsibility while remaining excluded from decisions that affect their lives. These experiences drive my commitment to development approaches that prioritize connection, dignity, and locally led leadership over extraction or short-term results.
Currently, I support women-led and youth-driven initiatives through community facilitation, research, knowledge-sharing, and systems-level engagement. In Ghana, I have collaborated with young women to create inclusive spaces for learning, confidence-building, and economic opportunity, supporting local social enterprises and collective growth. In The Gambia, I focused on reproductive health education, helping young women and communities engage with health, well-being, and bodily autonomy in culturally responsive ways.
Alongside this community-based work, I have engaged in youth-led research and policy-oriented spaces that bring young people together across cultures. In Sri Lanka, I participated in a month-long collaborative research seminar that brought together Canadian and Sri Lankan youth to explore shared questions about sustainable development. I have also engaged in multilateral forums that connect youth voices with institutional and policy actors, supporting collaborative learning and global cooperation. Together, this work contributes to Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), 4 (Quality Education), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
A consistent thread across my past and current projects is the belief that lasting change happens through relationships between people, across cultures, and within systems. Whether working at the community level or engaging with institutional actors, I am motivated by approaches that build trust, value lived knowledge, and bridge grassroots realities with policy and decision-making spaces.
Recently, my writing and reflection have deepened my understanding of how cultural memory, embodiment, and historical knowledge inform leadership, especially among women. This perspective shapes my approach in development spaces, encouraging me to move thoughtfully, listen carefully, and view connection as a form of power.
Ultimately, my work is guided by a long-term commitment to relational and inclusive development, where women and youth are recognized not just for their resilience but for their leadership in shaping more just and sustainable futures.
What are the ways in which you curate connection?
I curate connection by creating spaces where people feel seen, heard, and able to learn from one another. My approach is relational rather than transactional, and guided by the belief that meaningful change begins with trust and shared understanding. In practice, this has taken many forms. Locally and globally, I have facilitated small-group workshops with women, supported youth-led research initiatives, and collaborated with peers across cultures through international seminars and delegations. These spaces may range from facilitated dialogue to a multi-week research collaboration, but the intention is always the same: to bring people into conversation in ways that honor their lived experiences and collective wisdom.
The stakeholders in this work are diverse and interconnected, including women and youth participants, community organizations, researchers, facilitators, and institutional actors such as development organizations and policy practitioners. I serve as a bridge, translating between grassroots realities and broader systems to ensure community voices are accurately represented.
I begin my work with communities by listening. I ask questions, observe group dynamics, and adapt my approach based on the priorities people identify. Balancing my passion with collective needs requires humility, restraint, and accountability to those I work alongside.
An experience that transformed my approach occurred while supporting reproductive health learning with young people in The Gambia. As their stories emerged, I realized facilitation is less about delivering information and more about creating space for guided exploration. Letting their stories lead reshaped how I listen and lead, reinforcing that connection is not just a precursor to the work but the work itself.
What role will connection play in your future work?
In my experience, development efforts often fail when people are seen as components of a process rather than as active participants. Genuine connection builds trust, shared responsibility, and care, enabling work to extend beyond projects and timelines into lasting impact. When individuals are connected to each other, their histories, and the systems influencing their lives, change endures because it is truly theirs.
Harnessing the power of connection requires slowing down and listening deeply. It means valuing lived experience alongside technical expertise, and recognizing that solutions often emerge through shared understanding rather than design. The connections that matter most are not only between institutions, but between women supporting one another, youth learning across cultures, and communities engaging with systems that have historically excluded them.
I believe connection can drive the future of sustainable and inclusive development precisely because it resists isolation. As a Zimbabwean-born Canadian, I grew up with the Shona understanding of Unhu, or Ubuntu, the idea that well-being is collective and that we become who we are through one another. This teaching has shaped how I approach my work and understand progress. In my future work, I aim to cultivate spaces where connection is treated as a form of power—one that restores dignity, strengthens local leadership, and allows development to be shaped together rather than imposed upon communities.
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