Programs The Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards

An economic policy expert and daring advocate who’ s led pioneering initiatives that challenge extremism, corruption and gender-based violence. Born and raised in Nigeria, Oby is an economic expert, who pursued a distinguished career within private sector and later became a public servant in Nigeria and internationally. She led Nigeria’ s ministry of education and also served as vice president for Africa at the World Bank, using both positions to advocate for society’ s most vulnerable. She is also a fierce pro-democracy activist and co-founder of Transparency International, the world’ s foremost anti-corruption institution.

When Boko Haram abducted 300 Chibok girls in 2014, Oby was one of the first to speak out. She co-founded the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, taking to the streets and galvanizing global calls for action. Even in the face of threats and intimidation from extremists, Oby refuses to remain silent.

“We need a collaborative disruption of the present acceptance of extremism, especially targeting women,” says Oby. “Wherever women are being attacked by extremist ideas – whether it’ s our Chibok girls or women in Syria – it’ s the same underlying philosophy and the world cannot afford to stay in this state of complacency.”

Oby is unapologetic about her bold vision for Nigeria and her continent, Africa. She recently ran for president – as the only female candidate – and is currently working to transform broken systems of public leadership. She is mobilizing citizens to lead the change of political culture, build democratic values which will ensure equality of opportunity to everyone in order that marginalized groups have a chance to thrive.

Oby was selected as a 2020 Global Leadership Awards Honoree.

Nadia Murad is a Yazidi human rights activist who mobilizes awareness and support for survivors of genocide and sexual violence. Born into a farming community in Sinjar, Iraq, Nadia was 21 when ISIS attacked her homeland as part of a genocidal campaign to ethnically cleanse Iraq of all Yazidis. Several of her family members were killed before Nadia was taken to Mosul, where she and thousands of other Yazidi women were tortured and forced into sexual slavery.

Nadia managed to escape. She was offered asylum in Germany and began advocating on behalf of her community and the thousands of women and children who to this day remain captive. In pursuit of justice, she meets with global leaders to lobby for action and has initiated a historic suit against ISIS for crimes against humanity.

“The perpetrators of sexual violence against Yazidi and other women and girls are yet to be prosecuted for these crimes,” said Nadia. “If justice is not done, this genocide will be repeated against us and other vulnerable communities. Justice is the only way to achieve peace and co-existence among the various components of Iraq.”

In 2018, she established Nadia’ s Initiative, which provides urgent assistance to survivors of sexual violence and works towards the sustainable redevelopment of the Yazidi homeland in Sinjar. Survivor-centric and locally led projects focus on health, livelihoods, education, and women’ s rights – reviving hope for a persecuted minority that continues to be under attack.

Nadia was selected as a 2020 Global Leadership Awards Honoree.

Together, Suam Fonseca and Mayki Graff are Dolls Clan – Honduras’ first group of feminist graffiti artists. Their evocative public murals are a direct challenge to taboo issues like reproductive rights and femicide, which has become a leading cause of death for Honduran women. Based in Tegucigalpa, Dolls Clan chose their name by reclaiming a popular catcall, muñeca (‘doll’ in English), and combining it with a reference to ancient tribes led by women, clan.

“Being women graffiti artists is like a blow to the system in a society permeated by machismo,” says Mayki. “Since we were girls, we were raised with stereotypes of how women should be, what we should and should not do. We break those schemes and we want women around us to empower themselves and achieve the same personal freedom through art.”

Both in their early 20s, Mayki and Suam are determined to transform the culture of fear that they grew up with. They organize awareness-raising programs and graffiti workshops for women and young people throughout Honduras. They’ ve also formed an artist’ s collective to encourage and support other female artists.

In a country where rates of gender-based violence are among the highest in the world, Dolls Clan is leading an unprecedented shift in public consciousness about women’ s rights. Through proudly feminist messages, Suam and Mayki are bringing once-radical positions into the mainstream, boldly advocating for a new era of women’ s empowerment and gender equality.

Dolls Clan were selected as 2020 Global Leadership Awards Honorees.

Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist, poet, and digital activist at the vanguard of a movement to make artificial intelligence ethical, inclusive and accountable. She’ s the founder of Algorithmic Justice League, an organization that uses art and research to expose algorithmic bias and harms while advocating for industry and policy changes.

A Ghanaian-American born in Canada and raised in Mississippi, Joy’ s fascination with technology began in her father’ s computer aided drug discovery lab. While working on an engineering project as a graduate student, she discovered that she had to use a white mask to be detected by facial analysis technology. The experience was jarring, and sparked Joy’ s curiosity. She started looking into the many ways that AI not only excludes entire groups of people but also causes harm, affecting areas of criminal justice, employment, healthcare and access to finance.

“I’ m on a mission to stop an unseen force that’ s rising – a force that I call ‘the coded gaze’ , my term for algorithmic bias,” said Joy. “Algorithmic bias, like human bias, results in unfairness. However, algorithms, like viruses, can spread bias on a massive scale, at a rapid pace.”

Based at the MIT Media Lab, Joy leads groundbreaking research that has exposed racial and gender bias in technologies developed by several Silicon Valley giants. While some have responded by making improvements, others are pushing back. Because she knows what’ s at stake, Joy is unfazed by resistance. She’ s sounding the alarm on a global scale, urging a cultural shift toward more equitable and accountable technologies. Her transformation from graduate student to digital activist is captured in the documentary Coded Bias which premiered at the Sundance film festival.

Joy was selected as a 2020 Global Leadership Awards Honoree.