New Delhi, India---UNESCO MGIEP is delighted to appoint Grammy-Award winning musician from India, Ricky Kej as a Global Ambassador for Kindness. Ricky Kej who is a strong advocate and champion of environmental consciousness and sustainability received critical acclaim for the album Shanti Samsara.  The album itself  was launched by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande in the presence of World Leaders at the United Nations COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015.

Since then, Ricky’s career has only been scaling new heights; he was awarded the United Nations "Global Humanitarian Artist",  Producer of the year at the South African Music Awards (S.Africa), Album of the year at the Zone Music Awards (New Orleans), , Centre for Conscious Creativity ‘FutureVision’ Award (Los Angeles). Ricky has also been conferred with the title "Pride of Karnataka" and “Youth Icon of India".  Most recently, 27 of his songs on sustainability are featured in more than 2 million school textbooks to teach young students the importance of environmental consciousness.

With his high calibre of music, his interest in supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and his large youth following, Ricky Kej is the ideal Ambassador for UNESCO MGIEP’s #KindnessMatters Campaign which was launched globally on October 2, 2018. The #KindnessMatters which aims to create a culture of peace and kindness and highlight the critical power of Acts of Kindness in bringing about transformational change. The purpose of this Campaign is to mobilise the world's youth to achieve the 17 SDGs through transformative acts of Kindness.

“I am thrilled to be a part of the #KindnessMatters Campaign by UNESCO MGIEP. Along with showcasing acts of kindness in our own lives, it is important for us to recognize acts of kindness by people around us. As the Global Ambassador for Kindness, I hope to highlight global acts of kindness, especially the youth. I believe that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals provide us with the best guidelines to define an act of kindness,” he said.

In his role as Kindness Ambassador, Ricky Kej will amplify the message of the campaign globally at UNESCO MGIEP’s key events such as the International Youth Day 2019 celebrations, the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO General Conference.

He will also collaborate with other fellow musicians to create the ‘Kindness Anthem’  which will encapsulate the power of  transformative acts of kindness.

UNESCO MGIEP hopes that accomplished high-calibre youth such as Ricky Kej cutting across different walks of life will not only] promote the Campaign, but also further the core values of UNESCO through the work that they do.

For more information and to submit a story of kindness:  

http://www.mgiep.unesco.org/kindness 

For more information, contact youth.mgiep@unesco.org