Africans Rising, a Pan-African movement, is to confer on deserving activists and movements various awards for engaging in non-violent actions to promote positive social change in their communities.

This is being done under the auspices of the Africans Rising Activism Awards, to honour awardees under the three main categories, namely, ‘Activist of the Year’, Movement of the Year’, and ‘Artistic Activist of the Year.

According to Coumba Toure, Africans Rising Movement Coordinator, “the Activism Awards initiative gives more visibility to people who live and breathe for justice, peace and dignity for all African people. It engages Africans in meaningful conversations. It is an opportunity to celebrate with each other. When we lift each other up, we all rise”.

A statement issued by the Pan-African movement stated that the annual awards initiative would be launched on November 8 this year. According to the statement, virtual nominations for the awards will run from November 8 to 18 on the movement’s website (AfricansRising.org/ActivismAwards).

The Africans Rising Activism Awards

Started in 2019, the Africans Rising Activism Awards 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.

The Africans Rising Activism Awards serve the purpose of profiling and advancing African activists and movements and highlighting their engagement of activism as a means of positive change in African communities. Through the example of award nominees and recipients, this award initiative showcases activism as a worthy cause in African society and aims to inspire similar actions among other civil society actors on the continent and in the diaspora.

In 2020, the Awards recognized both individual and collective activism, and now, in its third year, the ‘Artistic Activist of the Year’ category has been introduced to provide a platform for showcasing the creative talents of African artists in East, West and Central Africa.

Eligibility

According to the statement, both the ‘Activist of the Year’ and ‘Movement of the Year’ categories would be accepting nominations of African candidates from all regions of the continent and the diaspora.

The Pan-African movement disclosed that after the public nominations period, a panel of judges would be tasked to select the final nominees for each category, and then a public round of virtual voting will hold from November 26 to December 6 on the Africans Rising’s website to determine the winners.

Previous winners include; ‘2020 Activist of the Year’, Asha Jaffar Harun, a human rights activist and journalist in Kenya, the ‘2020 Movement of the Year’, Tournons La Page, an international citizens’ movement that promotes democracy and human rights in Africa, and the ‘2019 Activist of the Year’, Jean-Marie Kalonji, an activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity is a Pan-African solidarity movement, engaging Africans and African descendants in all parts of the world in events, training and campaigns for positive change in their communities.