Staff Reporter.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of UN Women: Photo Credit: Getty Images.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced former UN under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as the winner of the 2021 Global Goalkeeper Award.
As part of its yearly Goalkeepers campaign, the foundation also announced the winners of three additional Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards.
The 2021 Global Goalkeeper Award recognises a leader who has driven progress on a global scale toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This year’s award is being presented to Mlambo-Ngcuka for her global leadership on gender equality and continued advocacy to address the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women and girls.
Mlambo-Ngcuka, a former Deputy President of South Africa, has dedicated her life to advancing social justice and working with civil society organisations, notes the foundation.
During her tenure as executive director of UN Women, she led work to strengthen and expand partnerships with government, male allies, and the media, all in service of advancing SDG 5, which aims to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Mlambo-Ngcuka played a vital role in helping to spearhead and deliver the Generation Equality Forum in July, which helped mobilise more than $40-billion in commitments from member States, the private sector, philanthropies, and civil society to drive transformative change for women and girls around the world, notes the foundation.
This year’s three additional Goalkeepers Global Goals awards were given to Fairooz Faizah Beether of Bangladesh, Jenifer Colpas of Colombia, and Satta Sheriff of Liberia. Each awardee was recognised for their work supporting global goals in their local communities.