Global Citizen Prize

Ricardo Enrique Alba Torres

2024 Cisco Youth Leadership Award (Colombia)

CEO & Co- Founder | Eko Group H2O+ 

Ricardo is an environmental engineer from Bogotá, Colombia, and the Co-Founder and CEO of the social enterprise Eko Group H2O+. Through this company, he provides environmentally sustainable technologies to address global water access issues. His expertise has sensitized over 150 communities, with 15000 active users benefiting from the 350 Ekomuros H2O+ tanks installed across Colombia and LATAM, ultimately reaching over 85,000 indirect beneficiaries. In 2023, Eko Group H2O+ was honored for the second time  as the national winner of the prestigious Energy Globe Sustainability Award, receiving support from renowned institutions such as the Royal Academy of Engineering in London and the organization One Young World. Ricardo's commitment to environmental sustainability and social impact underscores his powerful leadership in tackling one of the world's most pressing challenges.

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Lydia Charles Moyo

2024 Global Citizen Prize: Women & Girls (Tanzania)

Founder & Executive Director | Her Initiative 
Innovator | Panda Digital

Lydia Charles Moyo is a 31-year-old Tanzanian feminist who is passionate about empowering girls and young women to achieve their full potential and financial freedom through strategic economic empowerment interventions. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Her Initiative, a Tanzanian non- governmental organization that works with and for young women and girls to break the cycle of poverty and achieve financial resilience. She is also the innovator behind Panda Digital, the first Swahili hybrid e-learning platform for women in Tanzania, providing access to skills, resources, and social justice through a website platform and AI-powered SMS technology. Lydia has been championing economic empowerment and technology to support young women unleash their full potential and fight against gender-based violence (GBV) through economic resilience programs and technology-GBV reporting. Her work has been recognized and awarded by various local and international organizations and platforms. She is an awardee of the +1 Global Fund, the Rodden Berry Foundation, UNDP Funguo Programme, the Government of Tanzania, and Mkuki Coalition Award for championing anti-GBV interventions. Lydia is also an activist who advocate for decolonization of funding for youth through social media and blogging. She mentors young women and girls who are running organizations and businesses and inspires them to pursue their dreams. She is welln experienced in public speaking, having moderated and facilitated events and panels focusing on gender equality, entrepreneurship and business, digital, and innovation.

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Olivier Bahemuke Ndoole

2024 Global Citizen Prize: Civic Space (DRC)

Maître & Green lawyer | Congolese Alert for the Envionment and Human Rights (ACEDH)

Olivier is a Congolese environmental rights defender and lawyer from North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has dedicated his life’s work to advocating for environmental rights, land rights and land justice, working on climate disputes, energy transition and legal protection of environmental and land defenders; pushing for transparent, accountable, and sustainable governance of land tenure regimes for the country’s lands. In 2008, he co-founded the NGO ‘’Alerte Congolaise pour l’Environnement et les Droits de l’Homme’’ , through which he has actively supported and represented local communities, groups and individuals working on the environment for over 15 years. Olivier has been persecuted and faced grave danger due to his human rights work, targeted by recurring death threats and an attempted assasination, which caused him to flee his home country and go into exile for his own protection. Despite these harrowing circumstances, he is hopeful and inspired to continue securing justice for the victims of land and environmental injustices in the DRC, especially at-risk and vulnerable groups like women and children.

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Vishal Prasad

2024 Global Citizen Prize: Climate (Fiji)

Campaign Director | Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change

Vishal Prasad is the Campaign Director of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, a youth-led organization campaigning for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on climate change and human rights. He is from Suva, Fiji, and has studied international politics and law at the University of the South Pacific. He has been part of the ICJ advisory opinion movement since 2019 and is also part of the global ICJ advisory opinion movement under the World’s Youth for Climate Justice. As part of the ICJ advisory opinion campaign, he has a strong focus on securing the Pacific youth demands on the protection of the rights of current and future generations from the adverse effects of climate change.

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Sophie Healy-Thow

2024 Global Citizen Prize: Food & Nutrition (Ireland)

Founder | Act4Food

Sophie is the Global Youth Campaigns Coordinator for the GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition). She founded Act4Food, a global youth led campaign which aims to transform food systems. This campaign has been mentioned on Forbes magazine and is being implemented globally. Sophie serves on the Board of the leading international charity ActionAid UK and the Emergency Nutrition Network. She was appointed by the United Nations Secretary general as a Lead Group member of the UNs Scaling Up Nutrition Movement and was co-chair of the UNs Food Systems Summit Youth Liaison group. Sophie is one of the 10 women leaders featured in the Disney book ‘Choose to Matter’ by ESPN presenter Julie Foudy which encourages young women to find the leader within and was recognised by TIME magazine as one of the most influential teens. More recently she was named by Food Tank as a Young Person Inspiring Change Across the Food System and spoke at the Nobel Peace Prize, the launch of the EAT Lancet 2.0 at Stockholm +50, COP28 and has made a TEDx talk titled ‘Food Security, Everybody’s Business’.

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Andrew Ddembe

2024 Global Citizen Prize: Health & Vaccines (Uganda)

Founder & Executive Director | MobiKlinic

Andrew Ddembe is a health equity advocate, health lawyer, CEO and founder of Mobiklinic Foundation , a digital health organization that strives for improved last mile health delivery and equitable vaccines access. Andrew founded Mobiklinic in 2018. His organization has unlocked access to health care and vaccines to people in Buikwe region Eastern side of Uganda. Mobiklinic is also present in Busia western Kenya. 

Andrew has worked as a young expert in the African union and European union youth cooperation hub. He currently sits on the WHO Civil society and youth commission representing and advocating for digital health as a means to ease health and vaccines access. Andrew’s vision is to scale Mobiklinic across Africa and enable health equity right from the grassroot communities through creation, utilization and digital empowerment of Community health workers.

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