Highlights from the Africa Prize Award Ceremony:
Speak up – Speak out – and Break the Silence

Click on the links below for biographies and full texts of speeches.

President Museveni of Uganda and Celina Cossa, founder and president of the General Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, Mozambique (see the August 1998 newsletter), received the 12th annual Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger. The first lady of Uganda, Janet Museveni, received the award for her husband, who was detained at the last minute for urgent peacekeeping efforts in the region.

Janet Museveni reviewed the tremendous progress made in Uganda through the process of education, training and credit: "This process has encompassed and particularly targeted the women, and the girl child, because in Uganda more than 80 percent of the agriculture is undertaken by women."

Celina Cossa stated: "One day the true history of humanity will be written, and it will be a history of struggle and sacrifice, of war and peace, of failure and success. It will be a history of the efforts and sweat of anonymous men and women associated with organizations such as the General Union of Cooperatives of Maputo. It will be a history of the efforts and support of anonymous men and women associated with numerous nongovernmental organizations such as The Hunger Project. It will be a history of men and women from different countries and continents that together have grabbed the moment and built a better world than the one in which they lived."

Joan Holmes took this opportunity to declare a new commitment of The Hunger Project to the empowerment of women: "As an expression of our commitment to the end of hunger, we in The Hunger Project commit to speak up – speak out – and break the silence that surrounds this issue. We commit to create opportunities for women where none now exist. We commit to invest our resources so that women have access to resources to improve their lives and the lives of their children. We commit to pioneer strategies and take actions that will finally enable women to gain control of their lives and destinies.

The winners of the 1998 Africa Prize for Leadership had been named at a ceremony in Malawi in July that was attended by 3000 people. It was presided over by President Muluzi, addressed by Dr. Peter Bourne and organized by the 1997 laureate, Joyce Banda.