Waislitz Global Citizen Award
2021 Waislitz Global Citizen Award – Apply Now
Calling all entrepreneurs, innovators and changemakers dedicated to ending extreme poverty — applications for 2021 Waislitz Global Citizen Awards are open!
The Waislitz Global Citizen Awards are annual cash prizes totaling $250,000 that recognize the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty. The grand prize is $100,000 with three additional prizes at $50,000 each, for a total of four prizes.
Due to ongoing COVID-19 health crisis and its impact across the globe, we are once again inviting applications for the Waislitz Global Citizen COVID-19 Response Award. This award will be given to an extraordinary global citizen who has implemented a specific adaptation or new program that addresses the impacts of COVID-19.
Applications close on Sunday, June 13, 2021.
Empowering Individuals To Meet Their Full Potential
The Waislitz Foundation exists to create a positive social impact locally and globally through innovative projects that empower individuals to meet their full potential and make a measurable difference to the world.
Ending extreme poverty is not a choice, it’s an obligation. My hope is that it will inspire many thousands of people around the world to do what they can to improve the living standards of those in dire need.
The Waislitz Foundation Global Citizen Awards
The Waislitz Global Citizen Awards are annual cash prizes totaling $300,000 that recognize the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty. The awards are presented by the Waislitz Foundation and Global Citizen, and supported by the leading US and Australian based cellular medicines company, Mesoblast Ltd. and Unico Capital Holdings.
“Ending extreme poverty is not a choice, it’s an obligation. My hope is that it will inspire many thousands of people around the world to do what they can to improve the living standards of those in dire need,” Chairman and Founder of the Melbourne-based Waislitz Foundation, Alex Waislitz.
The Waislitz foundation exists to create a positive social impact locally and globally through innovative projects that empower individuals to meet their full potential and make a measurable difference to the world.
2024 Global Citizen Winners
Isabelle is the co-founder of Solid’Africa, revolutionizing nutrition security in Rwanda, a non-profit she founded in 2010.
Farhana founded Bhumijo in 2016 to address the country’s toilet crisis after witnessing the health risks of unhygienic public toilets when her aunt suffered UTIs leading to kidney failure.
2024 Waislitz Global Citizens Award applications are now closed. Winners will be announced August 2024.
The Waislitz awards are presented by the Waislitz Foundation and Global Citizen in order to recognize the excellence of individuals in their work to end extreme poverty. The Waislitz Global Citizen Awards are annual cash prizes totalling $300,000.
In addition to receiving cash prizes, the winners of the Waislitz Global Citizen Awards will be invited to New York City to receive their award and attend the Global Citizen Festival during the week of the UN General Assembly this September.
Recent media coverage of the Waislitz Global Citizen Awards can be found below by clicking one of the media outlets below:
2023 Waislitz Global Citizen Award Winners
In 2023, hundreds of applicants applied for the Waislitz Awards, all with a deep commitment to ending the injustice of poverty and improving the living conditions of people globally. With so many incredible individuals having applied, our team of judges evaluated applicants based on five areas: global citizenship, proof of concept, disruption, scalability, and adaptability.
After months of analysis, we we’re excited to announce that three winners had been selected, receiving cash prizes, along with networking support, which will help them accelerate and scale the impact that they’re already having.
Media Gallery
Past Waislitz Award Winners
Oluwafunke Adeoye
Oluwafunke Adeoye is the winner of the Waislitz Glbal Citizen Choice award. She is the founder of Hope Behind Bars Africa, an organisation closing the justice gap by providing free legal services and direct support to low-income incarcerated individuals while promoting criminal justice reforms through research, evidence-based advocacy, and technology.
Bina Shrestha
Bina Shrestha, the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Waislitz Global Citizen Awards, was selected for her excellence in all five areas of the award’s evaluation criteria.
Bina founded Build Up Nepal, an organization that helps rural families build homes with environmentally friendly materials and offers entrepreneurial opportunities to people in need for long-term income stability.
Image: Courtesy of Bina Shrestha
Tania Rosas
Founded Fundación el Origen (Origin Learning Fund) to not only expand education but make it more effective in helping students learn and adapt to the 21st century. This is achieved, in part, through utilizing digital learning tools so students can become well-versed in digital education.
Jimmy Pham
His social enterprise Know One Teach One (KOTO) has grown from a small sandwich shop employing teenagers to an organization that provides training in hospitality, life skills, English, and IT literacy, as well as board and welfare support. Jimmy also received a letter of congratulations from the Embassy of Australian Vietnam which can be viewed here.
Dr. Abiodun Adereni
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Abiodun Adereni focused his efforts as the founder and CEO of HelpMum on providing pregnant women in rural areas with the resources they need to make childbirth as safe and sterile as possible.
Haroon Yasin
Haroon Yasin, co-founder and CEO of Orenda, an educational tech company that creates content for children.
To find out more more about Haroon Yasin and Orenda click here.
Muzalema Mwazana
Muzalema Mwazana won the Covid Response award in 2020.
For more information visit the Safe Motherhood Alliance
Farhad Wajdi
Farhad Wajdi is a young social entrepreneur who defied opposition to implement the most impactful project in Afghanistan, The Solar Powered Women-Run Food Carts.
Charlot Magayi
Charlot Magayi founder and CEO of Mukuru Stoves, is an eco-entrepreneur on a mission to eradicate household air pollution in Africa. With over 5 years’ experience in the cookstove industry, Charlot believes in a world where every household is smoke-free and has dedicated her time, skills and knowledge to work towards achieving this dream.
To find out more about Mukuru Stoves click here.
Qabale Duba
Qabale Duba from the Qabale Duba Foundation won the Citizen's Choice award in 2019.
For more information click here.
Yogesh Kumar
Yogesh Kumar from Even Cargo won the Disruptor award in 2020.
For more information click here.
Koketso Moeti
Koketso Moeti saw the potential of cell phones to amplify the voices of poor women and hold government accountable. 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.
To find out more about amandla.mobi click here
Tabithia Mpamira
Tabitha Mpamira from Mutera won the Citizen's Choice award in 2018.
For more information, click here.
Caitlin Barrett
Caitlin Barrett from Love Mercy won the Youth Innovation Award in 2018. For more information, click the winners nameWilma Rodrigues
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.
To find out more about Saahas Zero Waste click here.
Clarisse Uwineza
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.
To find out more about BIORGOFERT click here
Elise Kendall
Elise Kendall from KinoSol won in 2016.
To find out more about KinoSol click here.
Melissa Kushner
Melissa Kushner from Yamba Malawi won in 2016.
To find out more about Yamba Malawi click here.
Twesigye Jackson Kaguri
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.
To find out more about Nyaka AIDS orphans project click here
Anoop Jain
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.
To find out more about Sanitation Rights in India click here
2019 Waislitz Award Winners
See the winners of the 2019 Waislitz Awards
Qabale Duba Foundation
2019 Waislitz Global Citizen Award Winner
Sanitation & Health Rights In India
Waislitz Global Citizen Award Winner
Environmental Protection & Organics
Waislitz Global Citizen Award Winner
Saahas Zero Waste, India
2017 Waislitz Global Citizen Award Winner
The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project
2015 Waislitz Global Citizen Award Winner
Meet humanitarian and gender advocate, Nurse Anna Qabale Duba, Aster Guardian’s Global Nursing Award winner
Nurse Anna Qabale Duba is the first Kenyan to win the prestigious Aster Guardian Global Nursing Award. Shortlisted from an initial pool of 24,000 nominee nurses worldwide, she shone through because of her service to vulnerable girls in Northern Kenya.
