- Teenage sisters Tala and Farah Mousa appeared on CNN International’s Connect the World with Becky Anderson on 21 October 2026.
- Their project, Build Hope – Palestine, upcycles building rubble into reusable blocks for garden beds, pavements and partitions.
- The sisters were named The Earth Prize 2026 Middle East Regional Winners, receiving $12,500 to develop and scale their solution.
Tala and Farah Mousa, teenage sisters from Gaza and The Earth Prize 2026 Middle East Regional Winners, were recently interviewed by Becky Anderson, a prominent British journalist and anchor of CNN International’s flagship news and current affairs programme, Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
The four-minute segment aired on 21 October 2026 as part of the programme’s coverage ahead of COP31, the United Nations climate conference. With circularity and resource reuse central to the upcoming COP31 discussions, Build Hope was selected as a powerful example of youth-led innovation, demonstrating how waste materials can be repurposed.
Pre-recorded through CNN's studio connection in Abu Dhabi, the interview gave Tala and Farah opportunity to share their story with CNN’s international audience, with an estimated potential live audience of more than 200,000 viewers.
Tala and Farah's project was developed after their family home was bombed and they witnessed widespread destruction across Gaza. Build Hope offers a practical way to reuse building rubble - the sisters crush the debris, mix it with locally available materials such as clay, ash and glass powder, and mould it into reusable, non-load-bearing blocks. These can be used to build garden beds, pavements and partitions. By using accessible materials and simple techniques, the project aims to make the process possible for communities with limited resources.
Beyond making the blocks themselves, a key part of the project is teaching other young people how to reproduce the process and share their skills with others. Through hands-on workshops, Tala and Farah hope are already extending the project’s reach and helping more people turn rubble into useful materials for their communities.
In May 2026, the sisters were named The Earth Prize 2026 Middle East Regional Winners, receiving $12,500 to develop and scale their solution. Their CNN appearance represents another step in bringing Build Hope’s work to a wider audience and sharing their vision of creating practical, sustainable solutions that communities can take part in as they rebuild.