Global Citizen announces winners of Global Citizen Prize and Cisco Youth Leadership Award

Six young, trailblazing changemakers will be celebrated with a dedicated award ceremony during the Global Citizen NOW summit in New York on 1 May 2024. Global Citizen Prize will be hosted by CBS News national correspondent and featured co-host CBS Mornings Vladimir Duthiers.

The awards will feature appearances by the Honorable Philip Davis, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, media personality and entrepreneur Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, media personality and Global Citizen Advocate Berla Mundi, CEO of EIB Network and Empire Group Nat Kwabena Adisi (Bola Ray) and Latin superstar and Grammy-nominated artist Rauw Alejandro. The ceremony will feature live musical performances by four-time Grammy-nominated country superstar Mickey Guyton, and violinist and composer Ezinma.

By keeping the world's poor at the forefront of their campaigns, the Global Citizen Prize honours individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to defeating poverty, defending the planet, and demanding equity. The awards celebrate activists who champion and elevate their communities most vulnerable, taking actions to end extreme poverty, while fostering social change across the world.

This year, the Global Citizen Prize recognizes advocates across five categories: gender equity, civic space, climate change, food and nutrition, health and vaccines. The recipients will each receive a year-long programme of support from Global Citizen, together with a cash grant for their organization. Proud global partners of the Global Citizen Prize 2024 include Cisco, Citi, with support from the Ford Foundation.

The Global Citizen Prize 2024 awardees are:

• Andrew Ddembe, health lawyer, founder and executive director, Mobiklinic Foundation, from Uganda;
  
• Lydia Charles Moyo, founder and executive director of Her Initiative and Panda Digital, from Tanzania;
  
• Olivier Bahemuke Ndoole, environmental rights defender and lawyer, co-founder of Alerte Congolaise pour l’Environnement et les Droits de l’Homme, from Democratic Republic of the Congo;
  
• Sophie Healy-Thow, founder, Act4Food, Global Youth Campaigns Coordinator for the GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), from Ireland; and
  
• Vishal Prasad, campaign director, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, from Fiji.

Andrew Ddembe

Lydia Charles Moyo

Olivier Bahemuke Ndoole

Established in 2018 by Cisco and Global Citizen, the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award honours an individual aged 18-30 who has contributed meaningfully to global problem-solving. The prize winner will receive a $250,000 grant to their organisation to enable its continued growth.

Candidates were judged, by a panel including representatives from Global Citizen, Cisco, esteemed activists and leaders in the international development field, against five equally-weighted criteria, including impact, vision, catalyst, global citizenship, and technology innovation.

This year’s Cisco Youth Leadership Award recipient is Ricardo Enrique Alba Torres, environmental engineer, cofounder and CEO of the social enterprise Eko Group H2O+, from Bogotá, Colombia.

Through his Eko Group H2O+ Ricardo provides environmentally sustainable technologies to address global water access issues. His expertise has sensitized over 150 communities, with 15,000 active users benefiting from the 350 Ekomuros H2O+ tanks installed across Colombia and LATAM, reaching over 85,000 indirect beneficiaries. Ricardo's commitment to environmental sustainability and social impact underscores his powerful leadership in tackling one of the world's most pressing challenges.

“If we are to address the world’s most pressing issues, we need to support young leaders who are taking action now,” said Liza Henshaw, president, Global Citizen. “It is an honour to celebrate these inspirational trailblazers, who are dedicating their lives to uplifting the most vulnerable in their local communities, and advancing the fight against ending extreme poverty across the world.”

“Cisco is deeply committed to the belief that the world needs innovators like Ricardo to lead the way in global problem solving,” said Fran Katsoudas, EVP and Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer of Cisco. “Through the creation of environmentally sustainable technology, Ricardo’s solutions aim to address the water supply issues impacting thousands of lives across Latin America. We are honored to help accelerate his vital work as over two billion people are living with an inadequate water supply.”

The Global Citizen Prize is part of Global Citizen NOW, a two-day summit taking place in New York City on 1 and 2 May, convening government leaders, private sector executives, grassroots activists, cultural innovators, philanthropic experts, and leading journalists to set a global agenda for action on the most urgent issues facing humanity and the planet.

Global Citizen NOWis supported by our partners Authentic Brands Group, Bridgewater Associates, Cisco, Citi, Delta Air Lines, P&G and Verizon.

Global Citizen is grateful for the support of leading media companies across the world including: AIM Group, Arena Holdings, Bella Naija, Captivate, EIB Network, The Guardian US, Intersection, OkayAfrica, Vanguard Media, Wall Street Journal and Zikoko.

For more information about the Global Citizen Prize and Cisco Youth Leadership Award, visit www.globalcitizen.org/prize.