About the Awards
The Waislitz Global Citizen Awards, are annual cash prizes totaling $200,000. The grand prize is $100,000 with two semi-finalist prizes at $50,000 each. The awards are presented by Alex Waislitz and Global Citizen and recognize the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty.
Finalists for the 2018 Waislitz Global Citizen Awards
Amrita SeRVe
Anju Bist, Co-Founder
Ms. Anju Bist works in remote villages adopted by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math where women are taught to make reusable menstrual pads with banana fiber, a natural absorptive material. Through sales of this eco-friendly product in Indian cities and internationally, rural women now have an additional means for income generation.
Love Mercy Foundation
Caitlin Barrett, CEO
Cents for Seeds is a sustainable and scalable micro loan agriculture program that empowers women to break the cycle of poverty in their communities in northern Uganda after suffering through two decades of civil war. Over 13,800 women have received a start to loan of seeds, tools, and education to begin earning an income and providing for their families.
SPOUTS of Water
Seul Ku, Co-Founder
SPOUTS of Water is a social enterprise that manufactures and distributes affordable and effective ceramic water filters in Uganda where more than 50% of the population lacks access to clean drinking water, and waterborne illnesses remain one of the leading causes of death for children under the age of five.
Living Positive Kenya
Mary Wanderi, Director & Founder
Living Positive Kenya (LPK) is a Community Based Organization in Ngong, Kajiado County in Kenya. LPK aims to empower and support women facing challenges like poverty and HIV/AIDS.
They do this through community engagement, building self-empowerment, and business development.
myAgro
Anushka Ratnayake, Founder & CEO
myAgro is a award-winning social enterprise that increases farmers’ income by 50%. myAgro has pioneered a mobile layaway savings model that enables farmers to invest their own funds in high-quality seed, fertilizer, tools and training to significantly increase their harvests and income.
Water Access Rwanda
Christelle Kwizera, Managing Director
Water Access Rwanda (WARwanda) is a social led company that provides simple, affordable and durable water solutions in East Africa. WARwanda pioneered 13 INUMA groundwater solar kiosk projects which is a new model for sustainable provision of water to rural and semi-urban areas that sells purified groundwater in local communities.
Ujuzi Kilimo
Brian Bosire, Founder & CEO
Ujuzi Kilimo builds modular sensors which are used by farmers with non-technical knowledge to monitor soil moisture content, fertility content and pH levels. Farmers make fast accurate and information based decisions on the best crops to plant, required fertilizer rates and general crop husbandry while reducing use of resources like water and fertilizer.
Amandla.mobi
Koketso Moeti, Founder & Executive Director
Koketso Moeti saw the potential of cell phones to amplify the voices of poor women to hold government to account. Working to turn every cell phone into an active citizenship tool, Koketso founded amandla.mobi, a movement of over 200,000 active citizens across South Africa who campaign against poverty.
EDJA Foundation
Tabitha Mpamira-Kaguri, Founder & Executive Director
EDJA combats sexual violence and domestic abuse in Sub-saharan Africa, by providing FREE medical, legal, and counseling services to survivors. Tabitha (Founder/Survivor) is continuously challenged by that still voice that got her to start EDJA “Why do you get the luxury to wait, when they are hurting now?”
Operation ASHA
Shelly Batram, President & Co-Founder
Operation ASHA is a non-profit organization that provides last-mile delivery health solutions for the poor. Its focus is Tuberculosis. It serves 16 million people in India and Cambodia. It has a low cost, high impact scalable and replicable model, hiring local people and using technology, giving measurable impact.
Past Winners
2017
Wilma Rodrigues, founder and CEO of Saahas Zero Waste believes in persistence and practicality. Wilma has had a diverse career path – from being a tour guide and German language translator in the eighties, to a business journalist in the nineties, and for the past 16 years a pioneer in the Waste Management Industry. When not at work, Wilma likes to spend her time planting and nurturing trees, making compost and being around family.
2016
Clarisse Uwineza, whose Environmental Protection and Organics organization focuses on converting organic waste into fertilizer in Rwanda, said that her project will “help reduce waste and empower farmers to produce more food.” Her BIORGOFERT project converts bio-organic waste into an environmentally friendly and clean fertilizer.
2015
Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, the director of Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project, won the 2015 prize for his work in making education more accessible to AIDS orphans in Uganda. This includes developing schools but also helping the women - or “grandmothers” as he calls them - who raise these orphans.
2014
Anoop Jain, the founder of Humanure Power, won the 2014 prize for his work in rural India building sanitation facilities. Anoop believes that building toilets addresses the underlying causes of poverty, which affect broader health, social, and economic change desperately needed in India.
FAQs
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