President Chissano, Joyce Banda Win Leadership Prize

Click here for highlights of the October 1997 ceremony,
here for the acceptance speech of President Chissano and
here for the acceptance speech of Joyce Banda.

The Hunger Project today named President Joaquim Alberto Chissano of Mozambique, a champion for peace, reconciliation and reconstruction, and Mrs. Joyce Banda, the founder and executive director of the National Association of Business Women of Malawi, as the winners of the eleventh annual Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger.

The two winners were named during a ceremony in Windhoek, Namibia under the chairmanship of President Sam Nujoma of Namibia, the winner of the 1995 Africa Prize.

Mrs. Banda and President Chissano join 18 other distinguished heads of state, grassroots leaders, researchers and environmentalists who have won the prize, including Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Wangari Maathai of Kenya.

The two 1997 laureates will share a $100,000 cash award. The Africa Prize will be presented on 18 October 1997 in a ceremony at the New York Hilton Hotel in conjunction with The Hunger Project's 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Joyce Banda

Joyce Banda is an influential advocate for an improved quality of life in Malawi who has empowered thousands of women to become economically self-reliant.

Mrs. Banda founded the NABW in order to boost the status of all women. NABW encourages women to enter business by giving them access to credit, training, information, markets and appropriate technology. So far, NABW has mobilized 15,000 women countrywide, 60% of whom are rural women. In the past 18 months, it has disbursed US$2,000,000 in loans and trained 12,000 women to run their own businesses.

Mrs. Banda serves on the boards of several other organizations - national, continental and international - and travels as a delegate to conferences around the world. At the World Women's Forum in Beijing in 1995, Mrs. Banda advocated the need for empowering women if they are to be liberated and responsible for their own lives.

Recently, Mrs. Banda served in planning meetings and attended the Microcredit Summit to forward the elimination of poverty and economic dependence by bridging the gap between lending institutions and women at the grassroots level.

In Malawi, aided by her leadership and inspiration, women entrepreneurs have moved progressively up the economic ladder from trading to small businesses to village industries formerly dominated by men such as lime, soap and timber making and small scale manufacturing.

Mrs. Banda has become a global asset to improving the well-being of the people of her country and the rest of Africa.

President Chissano

One of the original founders of the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) in 1962, Mr. Chissano helped coordinate the struggle against Portuguese colonial rule. In 1986 he was elected head of the Frelimo party and the nation's President.

As President, Mr. Chissano not only initiated constitutional and economic policy reforms, but also made the first steps toward a peaceful resolution of the civil war that had been ravaging Mozambique since its independence.

His persistence and leadership during a long, difficult peace process finally achieved a groundbreaking accord with the rebel organization, Renamo. The 1992 general peace accords brought to an end one of the longest and most devastating wars the African continent has known.

Building from the more immediate tasks of postwar reconstruction, President Chissano's government began the arduous process of reviving economic activity and setting a course toward the development of the country's extensive resources.

In farming, there are new policies and programs to improve producer incentives; promote rural marketing through the liberalization of domestic trade, greater access to credit and rehabilitation of feeder roads; and shift public expenditures towards research and extension activities to raise the productivity of small-scale farmers.

Peace and economic recovery in Mozambique has profound implications for the entire Southern African region. With its long coastline and established ports, Mozambique is a key element in plans to develop the entire region's large economic potential.

The Hunger Project is a global, not-for-profit organization committed to the end of world hunger. Founded in 1977, it empowers people in developing countries to create lasting, self-reliant solutions to challenges of health, education, nutrition, incomes and women's empowerment. With headquarters in New York, The Hunger Project has offices in 16 countries.