It’s been a great week for EIL Explorer Nikki Chatham who received the Maynooth University Student Achievement Award, AND the Gold Global Citizen Award at the Mansion House in Dublin last Saturday.

Nikki Chatham GAP Explorer

Nikki traveled to Mexico last year on an EIL Travel Award, where she worked on a variety of volunteer projects in Oaxaca. Nikki’s actions during and following her time in Mexico earned her the Gold Global Citizen Award, and contributed to her success in receiving a Global Awareness Programme (GAP) award to Thailand this summer.

The Global Awareness Programme focuses on four of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and involves the following:

– 2 days of training in Development issues and awareness raising
–  Volunteering for 8 weeks on a SDG project of choice
–  Implementing an awareness raising campaign around the chosen SDG once back in Ireland
–  Completion of a GOLD Global Citizen Award to raise awareness about critical global issues

Nikki chose the Gender Equality Goal and will be working on a women’s empowerment volunteer project in Chiang Mai, Thailand this July. We look forward to learning more about her journey and wish her all the best during her time in Chiang Mai. Safe travels Nikki, we’ll see you in September!