Youth Initiative Goes Global With Green Public Welfare Drive

"Rebound for Earth," a youth-led initiative in Shanghai, has evolved over three years from community gender equality efforts to a global green public welfare campaign, with its outcomes set to be exhibited at the United Nations.

Started in 2024 in local communities, the project founded by Winston Ding and Zijia Amy Niu focused on gender equality through public basketball training camps. Leveraging major local competitions such as MAGIC3, the initiative expanded its reach across Shanghai in 2025.

This year, it partnered with girls' basketball teams recently to launch a "Green Basketball" public welfare campaign, integrating environmental sustainability with gender equality and climate action.

It features public training sessions, environmental awareness talks, and creative sustainability workshops.

The initiative aligns with key United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on gender equality, responsible consumption and production, and climate action.

Most significantly, a major plan has been confirmed: The project's public welfare outcomes and youth creative works will be exhibited at an UN showcase, bringing youth leadership, gender equality, and environmental values from Shanghai communities onto the global stage.

Ding said "Rebound for Earth" began with a simple idea – that sport can be a powerful force for social change.

"Over the past three years, we have seen how basketball can break down gender barriers, bring young people together, and inspire action beyond the court," he noted.

"As the project evolves, our goal is not only to create opportunities for participation, but to build a platform where youth can lead, innovate, and contribute to global conversations on sustainability."

Co-founder Niu highlighted that young people are not merely participants in global governance, but increasingly its drivers.

She pointed out that the project's core concept, "circular green diplomacy," relies on translating local action into global influence, and on building networks that allow ideas to travel across borders. The project's three-year trajectory, she argued, demonstrates how youth-led initiatives can move beyond isolated efforts to achieve resonance on the global scale.

In a major milestone, the project officially appointed its first international chapter leaders, establishing a global youth public welfare network. They are the USA chapter leader Zhang Yuexi, from Veritas Collegiate Academy, and UK chapter leader James Yang, from Radley College.

Zhang said she will bring green basketball and environmental awareness to campuses in Virginia, connect with local girls' basketball teams, and use sport as a bridge for cross-cultural exchanges, encouraging youth overseas to engage in climate action.

Yang added that sustainability and equality are universal responsibilities for youth and help Chinese youth-led public welfare initiatives take root overseas.