Africans Rising Launches Annual Activism Awards Initiative

Africans Rising for Unity, Justice, Peace and Dignity has launched its annual awards initiative, the ’’Africans Rising Activism Awards”

This year, Africans Rising Activism Awards will recognize and honor African activism through the presentation of three awards: ’Activist of the Year’, ‘Movement of the Year’, and the ‘Artistic Activist of the Year’.

The Africans Rising Activism Awards which started in 2019, recognize, support and connect African grassroots activists and movements in a global network of Africans engaging in non-violent actions to promote positive social change in their communities.

Africans Rising Interim Movement Co-Coordinator, Hardi Yakubu explained that “Activism or movement work is a thankless job. Activists risk their lives every day to ensure that the right thing is done – that corruption is stopped, that women’s rights are protected, that people get the basic necessities of life. We want to say we see you, we dig you”.

According to Yakubu , ”Last year, the following winners were voted by Africans Rising members in the 2021 Activism Awards initiative: “Activist of the Year”: Wilson Atumeyi (Nigeria), “Movement of the Year”: Youth for Parliament (Zambia), “Artistic Activist of the Year”: Joice Zau (Angola).

The Awards were presented both in-person and virtually during a ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria.

In 2020, the Africans Rising Activism Awards recognized both individual and collective activism; and it was during that year, the Artistic Activist of the Year category was introduced to provide a platform for showcasing the creative talents of African artists”.

“For each category (Activist of the Year, Movement of the Year and Artistic Activist of the Year), two final nominees will be chosen to represent North Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, and the diaspora, for a total of 36 nominees.” Yakubu added.

Africans Rising is a Pan-African movement of movements and people working for Unity, Justice, Peace and Dignity. It provides a space for progressive African civil society leaders and groups engaged in various civic struggles to convene, connect, collaborate, share knowledge and build solidarity among people and across issues.

Olusola Akintonde