Keynote
Address at the United Nations General Assembly
Youth recommendations and deliberation on sustainable development. UN Headquarters, New York, 2017.
Watch on YouTubeKanchan Amatya
Kanchan Amatya
Architect of systems-level change across global policy, catalytic investment, and grassroots resilience.
Her work moves between the resolution room and the field, translating youth advocacy, institutional strategy, and women-led enterprise into durable public outcomes.
An editorial preface tracing how policy memory, institution-facing credibility, and field-built action cohere into one public narrative.
Kanchan Amatya is an award-winning international development leader, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and an architect of systems-level change. She designs and scales solutions that reshape policy and rewire institutions to build people-centered resilience in equity, sustainability, and peace.
She currently serves on the Advisory Board and the Global Leadership Council of UNICEF's Generation Unlimited, launched by the UN Secretary-General at the UN General Assembly, where she catalyzes private-sector investment in sustainable, inclusive growth by bridging innovation, investment, and impact. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Fish Farming Initiative (SFFI), a groundbreaking social enterprise that has assisted more than 50,000 rural women farmers in combating extreme hunger and poverty through training, micro-loans, and support for sustainable enterprise development in South Asia. Kanchan has worked extensively with grassroots leaders in the region, connecting their social justice agendas to development processes. She is also the co-author of the Global Girls Bill of Rights unveiled by UN Women on the International Day of the Girl.
Her leadership contributed to United Nations General Assembly Resolution 70/1 and the Sustainable Development Goals, including the inclusion of Goal 16 on Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, influencing policy and budget priorities across 193 countries.
She has co-led the Youth Assembly at the United Nations' Resolution Committee, addressed the UN General Assembly, and mentored young delegates from more than 80 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Her work has been recognized with the Presidential Honor Roll Award presented by President Bill Clinton, the Rice Award for Excellence in International Development, the Diana Legacy Award, and Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition in social entrepreneurship.
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FORBES 30
The Strategist
Capital as a Catalyst
$150k+Global investment mobilized
Orchestrating finance and partnership models that connect institutional capital to durable local enterprise.
View the impact overview“Sustainable finance becomes transformative when it reaches women building resilience closest to the ground.”
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YOUTH COMMITTEE
The Policy Advocate
The Architect of Youth Engagement
1.2BYouth represented in the global conversation
Representing youth interests at the highest levels of governance, from ECOSOC deliberations to United Nations General Assembly interventions.
See policy milestones“Governance should be judged by whose futures it is willing to structurally protect.”
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IMPACT
The Catalyst
Resilience Through Grassroots Movements
50,000+Women reached through enterprise support
Scaling hyper-local innovation into national and international frameworks through field-built evidence, women-led enterprise, and community ownership.
Read the grassroots work“Change does not trickle down; it gathers force from the foundation.”
The Dialogue
Insights, Talks, and Public Record
Featured PerspectivesOpen the media archive
Selected keynote addresses, UN interventions, and public appearances.
Speaker and Honoree
Honor Roll Award Recipient Address with President Bill Clinton
2017 Clinton Global Initiative University. Northeastern University, Massachusetts, 2017.
Watch on YouTubeNominated Civil Society Speaker
United Nations Post-2015 Intergovernmental Negotiations
Representing the Major Group of Children and Youth at UN Headquarters, New York.
Watch on YouTubeNominated Civil Society Speaker
Youth Assembly Address at the United Nations
General Assembly appearance at UN Headquarters, New York, 2016.
Watch on YouTubePanelist
UN ECOSOC Youth Forum, SDG Media Zone
United Nations Headquarters, New York, 2017.
Watch on YouTubeII
Women at the Table
Monthly dispatches on inclusive leadership, systems change, and the strategic work of moving from advocacy to institutional adoption.