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About Global Citizen Prize

The Global Citizen Prize celebrates remarkable changemakers who are taking exceptional actions to end extreme poverty NOW.

These extraordinary activists keep the world’s poor at the forefront of their life’s work, take exceptional actions to end extreme poverty in their own communities, and foster social change across the globe.

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2023 Global Citizen Prize Winners

Nkosana Butholenkosi Masuku

2023 Cisco Youth Leadership Award

Founder & CEO | Phenomtech-Sciency Learning

Nkosana is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teacher with three years of experience at a rural school. Nkosana created Sciency learning in reaction to shortage of resources for teaching STEM subjects in rural schools. Sciency's ecosystem goal is to offer applied/practical STEM education to pupils across Zimbabwe at a low cost, which would help in decreasing dropout rates and advancing STEM development in poor communities. Nkosana is also an alumnus of the Mandela Washington Fellowship and an award-winning entrepreneur.

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Deja Foxx

2023 Global Citizen Prize: Citizen Award, USA

Founder & Activist | GenZ Girl Gang

Deja Foxx is 22 years old and leading thought at the intersection of social justice and social media. She is the founder of GenZ Girl Gang, a student at Columbia University, and a Digital Creator with Ford Models who got her start advocating for reproductive justice after experiencing homelessness in her teenage years. At just 19, she worked for Kamala Harris as the Influencer and Surrogate Strategist and became one of the youngest presidential campaign staffers in modern history.

Pashtana Durrani

2023 Global Citizen Prize: Citizen Award, Afghanistan

Social and Political Rights Activist & Executive Director | LEARN Afghanistan

Pashtana Durrani is an Afghan feminist, activist, and educator. At the age of 21, she became the head of her family following her father’s passing. By then she had already founded LEARN Afghanistan, the country’s first-ever digital school network.  As a human rights defender, she was forced into exile by the Taliban takeover in 2021, in order to continue her work in safety from abroad. She is currently a visiting fellow at Wellesley Centers for Women while continuing to provide education for hundreds of girls in Afghanistan despite the current ban on them attending school.

Known for her bluntness and courage, Durrani is a regular commentator on TV and radio and has been the subject of articles and profiles including PBS , BBC , Elle (in French), Der Spiegel (in German) and Wellesley College. 

During her time at Wellesley, Durrani is continuing her research on female education and maternal and newborn health.

Wangari Kuria

2023 Global Citizen Prize: Citizen Award, Kenya

Founder & CEO | Farmer on Fire Ltd

Wangari Kuria is Founder and CEO of Farmer on Fire Ltd. An organization based in Nairobi, Kenya ,that provides Access to Information for farmers in Africa. It also links established agribusinesses like AGRA, John Deere , Heifer international, Min of Agriculture to over 50,000 Small holder farmers that follow the brand through digitalchannels . Wangari is also passionate about the vulnerable single mothers from the pastoralist communities who are most affected by climate change and she incubates them in her model farms where she commercially produces mushrooms, BSFLarvae and Azolla. She additionally trains the ladies table banking and in the end of the three months, They go ahead and start their own mushroom farming businesses.

Ineza Umuhoza Grace

2023 Global Citizen Prize: Citizen Award, Rwanda

Global Coordinator & Cofounder | Loss and Damage Youth Coalition

Ineza is a Rwandan climate negotiator, researcher and ecofeminist who champions the empowerment of women, girls, and frontline communities as a means to achieving global climate justice. She is a Co-Founder of the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition, a global coalition of 600+ youth from 60+ countries urging governments and the private sector to take concrete action to address the negative impacts of climate change. She serves as its Global Coordinator.

Countdown to the Prize

Hosted by Scott Evans

The Countdown to the Prize digital pre-show, hosted by Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans, will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with the artists, special packages on the Prize winners, and a virtual red carpet, streaming at 7:30 P.M. ET on Facebook and Twitter. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Global Citizen Prize?

Global Citizen Prize is an awards program that shines a light on activists around the world who keep these world’s poor at the forefront of their life’s work. We bring together the winners from around the world to kick off a year of celebrating their incredible work at an awards reception and dinner in NYC.

Successful candidates will benefit from the Prize program of support, including a year-long schedule of activities to champion and progress their campaigns; Prize winners will also receive a USD $10,000 unrestricted grant in support of their work.

Unlike other awards, we do not garner nominations via the public. Instead open up the nomination process to Global Citizen partners across the sector to help us identify individuals.

What is the Cisco Youth Leadership Award? 

The Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award was established by Cisco and Global Citizen to recognize and lift up a young person positively impacting the world, demonstrate the impact that young people are having on achieving the United Nations’ Global Goals, and accelerate global problem solving.

The Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award honors an individual aged 18-30 who has contributed meaningfully towards the goal of ending extreme poverty. The award includes a US $250,000 prize paid to the organization to which the individual contributes.

What is Global Citizen?

Global Citizen is the world's largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty NOW. The voices of millions of Global Citizens around the world are driving lasting change towards sustainability, equality, and humanity by taking action every day. 

We post, tweet, message, vote, sign, and call to inspire those who can make things happen to act — government leaders, businesses, philanthropists, artists, and citizens — together improving lives. 

By downloading our app, Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards with tickets to events, products, subscriptions, and more. 

Global Citizens have taken over 30.4 million actions since 2009. Today, these actions, in combination with high-level advocacy work, have led to over $41.4 billion being distributed to our partners around the world, impacting 1.15 billion lives in the fight to end extreme poverty.

You can learn more about our impact here: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/impact/

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