Hunger prize award
The Africa Prize for Leadership annually honours a distinguished African who has exhibited exceptional leadership in bringing about the sustainable end of the persistence of hunger at the national, regional or continent-wide level. This year for the first time the prize was shared by two women; Mrs Maryam Babangida, first lady of Nigeria and founder of the Better Life Programme for the Rural Woman (BLP), and Professor Wangari Maathai founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. Mrs Babangida has used her traditionally ceremonial post to mobilize and empower women in Nigeria to improve their lives through programmes in adult education, primary health care, agriculture, trade, crafts and food processing. These women are not only moving toward self-sufficiency, but in some instances, they are in the forefront of agricultural production in their district making significant progress in increasing food production and reducing post-harvest waste. In her speech of acceptance Mrs Babangida encouraged and stressed to other African first ladies the vital and effective role they can play in improving the lives of their people. Professor Wangari Maathai is well-known not only in Kenya but elsewhere in Africa as a vigorous campaigner and implementor of programmes to combine community development with environmental protection. The Green Belt Movement has enhanced the self-reliance and self-confidence of tens of thousands of people living in poverty, showing them that planting trees does make a difference to the quality of life for themselves and as a safeguard for the future. The movement has planted 10 million trees, established 1,500 nurseries and provided employment for 50,000 women planting, distributing and caring for seedlings and trees. The Green Belt Movement has shown to be an effective method for rural development and has spread to twelve other African countries as well as attracting attention and support from elsewhere in the developing world. Keith Otterberg The Hunger Project Trust 140 Cromwell Road London SW7 4HA, UK or Carol Coonrod Global Office One Madison Avenue New York, NY 10010, USA
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
1991
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/45638 http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta36e/ |
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| Summary: | The Africa Prize for Leadership annually honours a distinguished African who has exhibited exceptional leadership in bringing about the sustainable end of the persistence of hunger at the national, regional or continent-wide level.
This year for the first time the prize was shared by two women; Mrs Maryam Babangida, first lady of Nigeria and founder of the Better Life Programme for the Rural Woman (BLP), and Professor Wangari Maathai founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.
Mrs Babangida has used her traditionally ceremonial post to mobilize and empower women in Nigeria to improve their lives through programmes in adult education, primary health care, agriculture, trade, crafts and food processing.
These women are not only moving toward self-sufficiency, but in some instances, they are in the forefront of agricultural production in their district making significant progress in increasing food production and reducing post-harvest waste. In her speech of acceptance Mrs Babangida encouraged and stressed to other African first ladies the vital and effective role they can play in improving the lives of their people.
Professor Wangari Maathai is well-known not only in Kenya but elsewhere in Africa as a vigorous campaigner and implementor of programmes to combine community development with environmental protection. The Green Belt Movement has enhanced the self-reliance and self-confidence of tens of thousands of people living in poverty, showing them that planting trees does make a difference to the quality of life for themselves and as a safeguard for the future.
The movement has planted 10 million trees, established 1,500 nurseries and provided employment for 50,000 women planting, distributing and caring for seedlings and trees. The Green Belt Movement has shown to be an effective method for rural development and has spread to twelve other African countries as well as attracting attention and support from elsewhere in the developing world.
Keith Otterberg
The Hunger Project Trust
140 Cromwell Road
London SW7 4HA, UK
or Carol Coonrod
Global Office
One Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010, USA |
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