Shehzad Roy, Founder & President, Zindagi Trust

Shehzad Roy is one of Pakistan’s most prominent cultural figures and a committed social entrepreneur whose work through Zindagi Trust has transformed education for thousands of underserved children. Through a model of adopting and reforming government schools, Zindagi Trust has demonstrated that public education infrastructure can be made to work even in contexts of resource scarcity and institutional weakness. His connection to the climate agenda runs through the recognition that the children most vulnerable to climate change are precisely those whose education, health, and futures Zindagi Trust works to protect. Extreme heat is already disrupting school attendance in Pakistan, and the social disruption caused by floods, displacement, and economic stress falls heaviest on families least equipped to absorb it. His participation at this conference speaks to the importance of civil society, public engagement, and youth voices in building the social consensus for climate action that policy alone cannot create.