Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, have co-hosted the fourth annual Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards.
The award which took place on Tuesday in New York, celebrates outstanding work around the world that is directly linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals).
Among those who were awarded was youth activist, Payal Jangid, for her fight against child labor and child marriage in India.
She received the Changemaker Award.
The Progress Award was presented to the co-founder and CEO of mPharma, Gregory Rockson, for his work to increase access to high-quality drugs across community pharmacies in five African countries.
The Campaign Award was presented to Aya Chebbi, the first African Union Youth Envoy, for her work promoting youth empowerment, peacebuilding, and non-violent mobilization in Africa.
The Global Goalkeeper Award was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India for the progress India is making in improving sanitation through the Swachh Bharat mission.
According to the Bill and Melinda, before the Swachh Bharat mission, over 500 million people in India did not have access to safe sanitation, and now, the majority do.
The Goalkeepers
The Goalkeepers is a campaign by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals).
On September 25, 2015, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, 193 world leaders committed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (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.
Bill and Melinda believe that by sharing stories and data behind the Global Goals through events and an annual report, they can inspire a new generation of leaders “who raise awareness of progress, hold their leaders accountable, and drive action to achieve the Global Goals”.
