Highlights of the Africa Prize

Click on the links below to see full text of the speeches.

There is no area in the world in which committed and effective leadership is more vital than Africa. Africa’s leaders confront enormous problems in food production, environmental degradation, debt and trade, and health and population pressures.

Most experts inside and outside Africa would agree that Africa faces a crisis of leadership. A critical missing ingredient for Africa’s future is sufficient leadership with the necessary vision, commitment and effectiveness to achieve the sustainable end of hunger.

Africa Prize Announcement Event

The winners of the seventh annual Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger were announced on July 15 in a live-satellite transmission from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to United Nations headquarters in New York.

President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso presided over the event in Ouagadougou, from which Dr. Chester A. Crocker, chair of the international prize jury, announced the winners, and Gaëtan Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso’s ambassador to the U.N., hosted the event in New York.

At the New York event, Charlayne Hunter-Gault of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, served as mistress of ceremonies. Also in attendance at UN headquarters were Ambassador Ibrahima Sy, executive secretary of the Organization of African Unity; Dr. Djibril Diallo of UNICEF; members of the diplomatic corps; U.N. leaders and representatives; international development professionals; and Hunger Project donors and friends.

Members of Youth Ending Hunger organized ceremonies in Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Hunger Project also developed a event production manual to guide youth through all aspects of organizing an event, including budget management, agenda development, invitations, and media relationships. In this manner, the youth who managed these events are fully trained, confident and self-reliant in their ability to produce future events.

The televised broadcast also reached gatherings of Hunger Project supporters in Benin, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Mozambique, Sweden, the United Kingdom and several U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Bloomington (Illinois), Portland (Oregon), San Antonio, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. In Washington, the event, held in the Capitol building, was hosted by Dr. Peter Bourne, and attended by more than 150 people including several members of congress participated as members of the honorary committee for this event. The event was broadcast on the television station that serves the U.S. Congress and congressional staff.

Joan Holmes, President of The Global Hunger Project, addressed those assembled in Ouagadougou in a speech in which she defined the qualities of leadership. She stated,

"We must recognize that everywhere in the world, and specifically in Africa, there is a shift in the paradigm of leadership. Leadership today does not mean the pursuit of power and personal gain. Leadership must mean seeking solutions to vital global, regional and national problems.

It is therefore imperative that leaders for tomorrow possess the essential human qualities of responsibility, integrity, commitment and endurance. . . .

The final element of leadership is the ability to translate vision into reality. . . . To be effective in translating the sustainable end of hunger into a reality, a leader must be close to the people. A leader must know that the key to Africa’s future is in unlocking the power and creativity of each son and daughter of Africa."

The 1993 Prize Laureates

President Jerry John Rawlings of Ghana and Father Nzamujo Godfrey Ugwuegbulam, director of the Songhai Project in Benin, were named the 1993 prize recipients. The two West African leaders, one working at the highest levels of government and the other at the grass roots, were selected for their work in empowering poor rural farmers toward self-sufficiency and the sustainable end of hunger.

Africa Prize Award Ceremony

More than 500 dignitaries and Hunger Project supporters gathered in Tokyo on October 4 for the seventh annual award ceremony of the Africa Prize. Hon. Yoshio Sakurauchi, former speaker of the Japanese parliament, presided over the ceremony that honored President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana and Father Nzamujo of Benin.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Sakurauchi noted: "In spite of the many difficult challenges that Africa faces today, there are clear indications that rapid democratization, greater regional cooperation, economic reforms and people’s participation in the development process are effectively creating greater national, regional and continent-wide self-reliance based on Africa’s own resources, assets and leadership."

Joan Holmes remarked on the new, post-Cold War landscape that confronts Africa as it charts its future.

As part of Japan’s growing role in the eradication of world hunger, Mr. Sakurauchi announced the creation of a parliamentary Caucus for the End of World Hunger. This caucus has been organized by Koji Kakizawa, Foreign Minister of Japan and member of the Africa Prize international jury.

The ceremony was held on the eve of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. As Joan Holmes, President of The Global Hunger Project, stated in her address at the award ceremony, "This is the first conference of its kind . . . . It demonstrates that Japan is wisely putting African development at the center of the global agenda."