An all-female team of third year St Anthony’s College, Shillong students have qualified in the top 15 across India and South East Asia to compete in an international community driven innovation programme, it was announced today.
The four students – Farhina Choudhury, Ananya Gogoi, Prerna Jain and Natalya Lyngdoh (Team FAPN) – are competing in the Futures+ Challenge, which is organised by Sustainable Living Lab of Singapore and NIT Warangal with a goal to develop more than 100 environmentally sustainable pilot projects addressing challenging areas, such as livelihoods, food security and community health.
Team FAPN came up with an eco-friendly solution to develop paper from organic waste, such as fruit and vegetable fibres along with betel nut husks, which are free from harmful chemicals and bleach, a press release from Kyrshan Foundation said.
Their aim is to develop the eco-friendly product to become a source of livelihood for the rural unemployed community in Meghalaya. This idea won a special mention in the final round yesterday, where they were declared as one of the top five teams internationally.
For around two months the team attended workshops conducted by Futures+ and worked remotely from different locations amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The students were mentored by consultants Akash Paul Lakra and Ankit Vyas and Kyrshan Foundation founder Badapbiang T Dkhar.
