The world consists of the good and the bad. When it is struggling with war, climate breakdowns, pandemics, and extreme levels of injustice and inequality, on the other hand, it also produces peace makers, scientists and activists who would try hard to protect humanity and nature from those disasters.
Definitely, without those unique people the world will no longer survive. Recently, an international advocacy organization, Global Citizen, honoured eight of those remarkable people with an award titled Global Citizen Prize.
The awardees are recognized for their efforts in shaping the world and the sustained impact they have created towards their pivotal work of fighting for social justice.
The winners
The eight winners are Anuscheh Amir-Khalili of Germany, Barbie Izquierdo of the USA, Brianna Fruean of Samoa, Khanyisile Motsa of South Africa, Mitzy Violeta Cortés Guzmán of Mexico, Payzee Mahmod of the United Kingdom, Yemi Adamolekun of Nigeria, and Nidhi Pant of India.
When selecting these changemakers for the award, three categories were considered by the judge panel: Defend the Planet, Defeat Poverty, and Demand Equity, with a focus on climate change, empowering adolescent girls, and breaking down systemic poverty barriers.
The winners were honoured at a private dinner in New York’s iconic Gotham Hall recently, and they also attended at the Global Citizen NOW, a two-day summit in New York City, from May 22, to May 23 – Global Citizen NOW brought together 200 leaders across the private sector, advocacy, entertainment, government and philanthropy. The ceremony was presented with Global Citizen partners Cisco, Citi, and Procter & Gamble.
The Prize is different from other awards. There, each winner will receive year-long support from Global Citizen and a donation to their organization to enable its continued growth.
And among the winners, only the Indian, Nidhi Pant, received a somewhat different award.
It is the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award — which was established by Cisco and Global Citizen in 2018 to celebrate an individual aged 18-30 who has contributed meaningfully towards the goal of ending extreme poverty in their community, through their leadership, dedication, and innovation.
The eight winners are from eight countries, and their roles are also different from each other. Following are some details about them:
Mitzy Violeta Cortés Guzmán
Guzmán is a Mexican, and she has established her project named Futuros Indígenas Network & Milpa Project where she works for climate justice and the environmental defense of her territory in San Sebastián Tecomaxtlahuaca, Oaxaca.
In 2021, she attended COP26, and there she advocated for intersectional climate action with a delegation called the Last Defenders of the Earth. She is the winner of the 2022 Global Citizen Prize: Citizen Award Mexico.
Brianna Fruean
Fruean, a Samoan, got her start in climate activism at 11 years old.
It was when she became a founding member of the Samoan chapter of the climate advocacy group 350.org. Since then, she’s emerged as a powerful advocate for climate justice and has earned a spot on the Council of Elders for the Pacific Climate Warriors as its youth representative. She is the Global Citizen Award Oceania winner.
Anuscheh Amir-Khalili
Anuscheh Amir-Khalili’s life was shaped by conflict ever since her family fled the Iran-Iraq war when she was 8. Now in Germany, Amir-Khalili spends her time empowering refugee women and helping them gain independence as part of Band of Sisters, an offshoot of the NGO Flamingo. She is the Citizen Award Germany winner.
Payzee Mahmod
Citizen Award UK winner Payzee Mahmod is a Kurdish Iranian who strives to protect girls and end conditions of poverty as part of her work with the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization, where she focuses on ending child marriage, female genital mutilation, virginity testing, and hymenoplasty. Payzee's advocacy earned her the UK Parliament Volunteer of the Year 2021.
Khanyisile Motsa
Citizen Award South Africa winner, Khanyisile Motsa has been protecting girls from sex trafficking in the Berea and Hillbrow neighborhood of Johannesberg, since establishing the Home of Hope for Girls 20 years ago. The safe haven not only shields children from exploitation but also facilitates their education and development into adulthood.
Yemi Adamolekun
The Citizen Award Nigeria winner, Yemi Adamolekun, is a determined advocate for good governance. Her organization Enough is Enough seeks to root out corruption in government affairs in Nigeria, organize an informed and active citizenry, and encourage transparency in the public sector.
Barbie Izquierdo
Citizen Award USA winner, Barbie Izquierdo, is a food security activist and consultant. She knows that the voices of people living in poverty need to be elevated and included in policy discussions. She’s dedicated her life to sharing her story about struggling with hunger and advocating for marginalized communities. Now the community empowerment manager for Hunger Free America, Izquierdo is working to make sure people get the resources they need to survive and thrive.
Nidhi Pant
The 2022 Cisco Youth Leadership Award winner, Nidhi Pant, is a chemical engineer by profession. She co-founded S4S Technologies in India for the use of solar technology to help smallholder farmers minimize loss and improve their profits.
S4S trains landless women farmers to become micro-entrepreneurs by equipping them with the right combination of technology, finance, and market access. In 2019, Pant received the Unilever Youth Entrepreneurship Award.
Pant's organization increases family incomes and empowers women to be climate champions and decision-makers by transforming women farmers into micro-entrepreneurs through access to app-enabled market linkage, solar technology, bancarization, and financing. S4S Technologies works with over 24,000 farmers and 800 female entrepreneurs to prevent 40,000 tons of produce from being wasted and saves 37,000 tons of CO2 annually.
Views of the Global Citizen partners
At the award ceremony, Fran Katsoudas, EVP and Chief People, Policy and Purpose Officer of Cisco, said about Nidhi Pant:
“Addressing the world’s most pressing issues will require the innovative, passionate efforts of young entrepreneurs like Nidhi, leading the next generation of global leaders who will help usher in a more inclusive, sustainable future. Cisco is proud to recognize and support Nidhi’s incredible work leveraging innovative technology solutions to reduce waste and empower women farmers and families across India.”
President of Global Citizen, Liza Henshaw said, "Global Citizen is honoured to recognize these remarkable changemakers who have the vision, foresight and persistence to make meaningful strides towards building a better future through their pivotal work. Given the urgent need for innovative solutions to deal with the challenges of defending the planet, defeating poverty, and demanding equity, we need individuals like our awardees who are ready to take immediate action."
Global Citizen Prize is an award which fills a gap in the field of activists. All the above mentioned awardees are not only international activists who keep the world’s poor at the forefront of their campaigning, but also are celebrated for their exceptional commitment to achieving the United Nations’ Global Goals. And the Global Citizen is the world's largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty NOW.
