Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Appoints New Members to Goalkeepers Advisory Group to Accelerate Progress Toward Global Goals

SEATTLE (MAY 9, 2022) – The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced the appointment of new Advisory Group members to help shape the direction of Goalkeepers, an initiative dedicated to accelerating progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals). The Goalkeepers initiative uses powerful stories, data, and partnerships to highlight progress achieved and bring together a diverse range of leaders to address the world’s major challenges.

The Goalkeepers Advisory Group consists of nine leaders representing a diverse range of countries, including China, France, Germany, India, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. One member from Burkina Faso will join the group in the fall. Advisors will serve for a period of two years. This group follows the inaugural Goalkeepers Advisors, who served from 2019 to 2022.

“The Gates Foundation is honored to have these leaders join the Goalkeepers Advisory Group,” said Blessing Omakwu, Goalkeepers Lead, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “As an advisor emeritus, I’m excited to pass the baton to an intergenerational group of creative and inspiring changemakers working across countries, issues, and sectors, who share the same passion for driving progress on the Global Goals. I’m looking forward to what we can accomplish together.”

The Advisory Group will contribute to key components of the Goalkeepers initiative, including engaging the Goalkeepers community at events and online, elevating community voices across the Goalkeepers platform, and providing strategic advice to inform community objectives. The Goalkeepers community is a global collective of collaborative and diverse changemakers. Members live all over the world and represent an eclectic range of cultures, professions, and interests. As a community, they are committed to achieving the Global Goals; as individuals, they develop fresh ideas and drive innovative work to accelerate progress across their region.

Advisors also nominate community members from their regions and participate on the judging panel for the Goalkeepers Global Goals Progress, Campaign, and Changemaker Awards. The awards are an annual recognition of remarkable individuals who are taking action to help achieve the Global Goals by 2030.

Existing Goalkeepers community members were invited to join the Advisory Group based on their mix of skills, community focus, experience, and sector and issue areas. They were selected by the Goalkeepers team in partnership with the foundation’s regional office leadership.

The Goalkeepers Advisory Group members for 2022-24 are:

• Hervé Berville, member, French National Assembly
• Kathryn Finney, founder and managing general partner, Genius Guild
• Kristina Lunz, co-founder and co-executive director, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy
• Maryam Uwais, special adviser to the president on social investments, the Presidency, Nigeria
• Prajakta Koli, content creator and actor, MostlySane
• Shan Huang, deputy managing editor, Caixin Media
• Thoko Elphick-Pooley, executive director, Uniting to Combat NTDs
• Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, medical doctor, OurEquity

Visit https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/the-goalkeepers/advisory-group for more information.

Note to editors
Media inquiries should be directed to [email protected].

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Co-chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates and the board of trustees.

About Goalkeepers

Goalkeepers is the foundation’s campaign to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (or Global Goals). Goalkeepers publishes an annual report alongside hosting an event, facilitating a yearly awards program, and convening a global community of collaborative and diverse changemakers who believe that progress is possible, but not inevitable.

About the Global Goals

On September 25, 2015, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, 193 world leaders committed to the 17 Global Goals. These are a series of ambitious objectives and targets to achieve three extraordinary things by 2030: end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and fix climate change.