Nepal

Bonita
Sharma

Innovator, believer

Bonita is the co-founder and CEO of Social Changemakers and Innovators (SOCHAI) – a youth-led non-profit organization in Nepal. Bonita founded SOCHAI to improve the nutritional health for nursing mothers and young children and to economically empower marginalised women through business opportunities. Bonita was listed by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential women in the world in 2019. She has been recognized by UNESCO as a Female Champion for educating women and girls in Nepal. She was also the winner of One Young World Lead 2030 Challenge and UNICEF Asia Pacific Youth Innovation Challenge 2016 for her idea of ‘Nutribeads’ bracelet – a low tech wearable nutrition education tool.

Nigeria

Hauwa
Ojeifo

Leader, activist

Hauwa is a sexual and domestic abuse survivor and the founder of She Writes Woman, a women-led movement giving mental health a voice in Nigeria. She Writes Woman is providing mental health support through a helpline, teletherapy and virtual support groups serving as a first point of contact to ensure that survivors of gender-based violence and those living with mental health conditions have access to confidential psychosocial support and counselling. Hauwa is championing "nothing about us without us" by advocating for the inclusion of persons with psychosocial disabilities in decision making on laws, policies and solutions that concern them. In February 2020, she became the first woman and person to testify before the Nigerian parliament on the rights of persons with mental health conditions and psychosocial disabilities in the country's bid to pass its first mental health law.

India

MASH Project
Foundation

Collaborator, change makers

MASH Project Foundation is a youth led social enterprise based in India that develops and implements support systems for people who work for social causes through partnerships, and with specific focus on Global Goal 17 Partnerships for the Goals. Their mission is to build a global community of social change-makers and they do this by bridging the gap between governments, civil society, corporate sector, youth, and media to drive social impact. They empower, educate, and mobilize like-minded individuals who are all working to progress social causes. Their work reaches over 20 cities, they have 500+ partnerships, and have enabled 300+ changemakers.

Cameroon

DR. JOHN
NKENGASONG

Director, africa, cdc

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Director Dr. John Nkengasong has become a central voice for Africa’s scientific community. He is a relentless proponent of global collaboration and evidence-based public health practices, and a champion for minimizing the social and economic consequences of COVID-19 across the African continent.

Through his role as the co-chair of the African CDC Consortium for COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trials Dr. Nkengasong is leading the securement of a variety of late-stage vaccine clinical trials on the continent by bringing together global vaccine developers, funders, and local facilitators for clinical trials. This work will be vital to ensure the most promising vaccine candidates for the African population are identified and scaled up. He was appointed by the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as Special Envoy on COVID-19.

Prior to his appointment with Africa CDC, he was Associate Director of Laboratory Science and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch at the Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Center for Global Health at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Nkengasong has been published in internationally revered journals and books and has received several awards for his work on HIV/AIDS.