The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 2018 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards

September 2018. New York City, Frederick P. Ross Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY

Co-founded in 2017 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Project Everyone, the Goalkeepers event takes place during the annual United Nations General Assembly and brings together heads of state and international Sustainable Development Goals “Goalkeepers” (those spearheading various missions in their local communities) alike. This year’s Goalkeepers focused on the theme of power of youth.

The 2018 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards were presented at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center on September 25, 2018. Participants included Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore, Bill & Melinda Gates and British singer songwriter, Ed Sheeran.

In partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UNICEF, the Goalkeepers Awards program celebrated outstanding youth-focused work around the world that is directly linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs).

This year’s Campaign Award was presented to Amika George, founder of #FreePeriods, a campaign that works to ensure no girl in the United Kingdom suffers from period poverty.

The Progress Award was presented to Dysmus Kisilu, founder of Solar Freeze, which provides renewable energy solutions to smallholder farmers in Kenya to increase agricultural productivity.

And the Changemaker Award was presented to Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman who advocates on behalf of her community and survivors of genocide. Just days after the Awards program Nadia Murad was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Loyiso Madinga, stand-up comedian and South Africa correspondent on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” hosted the awards.

After the powerful program concluded guests were invited in the Atrium space to enjoy cocktails and custom food bars. Guests explored and interacted with activations including an art installation / social media backdrop consisting of over 75,000 bottle tops, collected and painted by women in Salvador, Brazil, and an interactive photo booth that encouraged guests to select their favorite goal and overlay video data, to spread the word via social media.

To learn more about the Goalkeepers event, please visit: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/

Please see the full press release for additional details.

Additional information about the Sustainable Development Goals can be found here: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300