How African Monitor emerged among three includer finalists for 2019 UN SDG Action Awards

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African Monitor (AM), a  Pan-African nonprofit that seeks to unlock grassroots potentials as the drivers of Africa’s economic rejuvenation, was listed among the top three finalists for UN Sustainable Development Goals Action (SDG Action) Awards 2019, in the includers category. The announcement of finalists was made April 5 while winners in each of the award’s seven categories were announced at this year’s  SDG Global Festival of Action, held May 2-4, at Bonn, Germany.

“African Monitor (AM) [is] privileged to be among the finalists in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Action Awards 2019 for its project [titled] ‘The Citizens Report.’ The selection process for the awards, which attracted over 2000 contestants from 142 countries, resulted in only three finalists under each of the seven categories: mobilizer, storyteller, campaigner, connector, visualizer, includer and creative,” says a press statement by African Monitor (AM).

A continental organization based out of Cape Town, South Africa, AM champions accelerated delivery of a people-centred, action-focused sustainable development agenda in Africa. Launched in 2017, AM’s The Citizens Report is an initiative aimed at empowering citizens to hold their governments accountable for development delivery, and monitor the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The project is currently being implemented across 10 African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Tanzania. Others are Zambia, Botswana, Malawi, Kenya, and Uganda.

“It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 2000 applications from 142 countries entries received by the judging panel this year.  What excites us more though is to see ordinary people empowered to be active citizens!  This recognition can only serve to inspire us to push even harder on the work we do around SDGs,” says Namhla Mniki, African Monitor’s director.

The United Nations SDG Action Campaign is a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General mandated to support the UN system-wide and the Member States on advocacy and public engagement in the SDG implementation, being administered by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). Building on innovative and impactful engagement techniques deployed since 2002, the UN SDG Action Campaign intends to create awareness about the 2030 Agenda, empower and inspire people across the world to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while generating political will, and help make the Goals attainable by 2030.

Every year, the includer category award goes to individuals, civil society organizations, subnational governments, foundations, networks, and private sector organisations whose work is ensuring that excluded groups become part of the SDG dialogue and decision making in their community or at international levels towards ensuring no one is left behind.