26 April 2018,
Panel of respected international development experts select celebrated Mozambican as this year’s Laureate
The 2018 World Prize for Integrated Development is awarded to Mrs Graça Machel for her significant social justice achievements and tireless work on behalf of women and children. In particular, Mrs Machel is recognised for her leadership of the Graça Machel Trust, a Pan-African advocacy organisation focused on child health and nutrition, education, women’s economic and financial empowerment, leadership and good governance.
Sponsored by NIRAS, an international multidisciplinary consultancy that aims to be a catalyst for positive change, the World Prize is an accolade for outstanding contributions in the field of international development accorded to an individual or organisation exemplifying an integrated approach in the field. Mrs Machel is the second esteemed Laureate, following in the footsteps of the late Dr Hans Rosling, founder of Gapminder.
“Graça Machel is a remarkable human being and an outstanding example of the impact of integration in international development,” says Lindsay Falvey, Chair of the World Prize Selection Panel. “In addition to her humanitarian work, the Committee was impressed by her leadership of the Trust in integrating nations, programmes and people while fulfilling its mission of ‘multiplying the faces and amplifying the voices of African women and children’. In particular, the support given to women entrepreneurs and their Pan-African networks has delivered significant contributions to social and economic change across the continent.”
The World Prize for Integrated Development and its €20,000 purse will be awarded to Mrs Machel on the 12th of September at the South African Innovation Summit where the best of African and global innovators will showcase their exceptional talents, innovations and ideas. At the Summit, Mrs Machel will be the honoured guest of the Southern Africa Innovation Support (SAIS) programme, a regional initiative strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship in Southern Africa supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland together with governments of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia.
The World Prize is independent of multinational or national organizations, government, non-governmental organizations, universities, and private interests. An international Selection Panel highly experienced in integrated development assesses the nomination.
Owned by a Foundation and its employees, the NIRAS Group creates sustainable development solutions across the globe. With 2,200 employees worldwide and growing, NIRAS implements more than 7,000 projects in over 100 countries, working with everything from construction, energy, utilities, environment and infrastructure to development consulting, the process industry, architecture, GIS, geo-data and automation, as well as urban planning.
For more information:
Lisa O’Donoghue-Lindy,
NIRAS (Namibia)
Tel: +264 814190709/email: odl@niras.fi
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.