Courtney Gehle

I am a South African dedicated to creating and supporting community-led solutions that drive meaningful change to global challenges.

I have served in leadership positions in various international and local organisations, including as Director and Chairperson of the Board of Brightest Young Minds and as a manager of Global Changemakers, two organisations focused on developing the skills and capacity of young people to create and lead solutions to the challenges they face in their communities. Most recently, I completed a MSc in Global Affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing as part of the Schwarzman Scholars Programme after receiving first class honours in my Post Graduate Diploma in International Development at Maynooth University.

I am the Co-founder of The Better Tomorrow Movement - an award-winning organisation providing free interactive training programmes that help young people create, execute and scale social impact projects – and The Greenline - a youth led environmental organisation has worked with over 600 volunteers to raise awareness and take action on environmental issues.

Some of the ‘flashier’ highlights of my journey:

2015: Represented South Africa at the UNFCCC Conference of the Youth at the Paris Climate Negotiations, named a finalist of the South African Eco-Youth Award, named one of Africa’s 100 Brightest Young Minds

2016: Recognised as a high potential Southern African Student Leader by the U.S State Department, became a member of the Golden Key International Honours Society, named a Global Changemaker, awarded South African Green Student of the Year.

2017: Named a Young Leader for Development by the European Commission and had the opportunity to represent the voice of youth on a global stage, joined the GCIP-SA team at UNIDO

2018: Named Global Citizenship Education Youth Leader by UNESCO, had the honour of presenting a keynote address at the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice and the Midwest Conference on World Affairs.

2022: Awarded the Government of Ireland International Education Scholarship.

2023: Selected as one of the Schwarzman Scholars class of 2024 and awarded “one of the most prestigious post-graduate fellowships in the world”.

2024: Consulted for Walmart and Walmart China on a key operational challenge, led an in-depth study into strategies to raise impact investment as a social enterprise in China.

I am an avid reader obsessed with her pets that enjoys hiking, travelling, cooking, binging podcasts and singing.