15 Years Of Honoring Extraordinary Women
This year the DVF Awards celebrates its 15th anniversary. 2024's edition continues a tradition of honoring women dedicated to transforming the lives of others while displaying the courage to fight, the power to survive, and the leadership to inspire.
Her Excellency Mrs. Graça Machel
Founder, The Graça Machel Trust and The Foundation for Community Development
Graça Machel is an African stateswoman whose decades long professional and public life is rooted in Mozambique’s struggle for self-rule and international advocacy for women and children’s rights. She is a former freedom fighter in Mozambique’s FRELIMO movement and that country’s first Minister of Education. In the years following her tenure in government, Ms. Machel produced a ground-breaking UNICEF report, “The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” that changed the way the United Nations and member states respond in conflict zones. Since then, she has worked tirelessly in support of global health, child welfare, and women’s rights and empowerment.
Ms. Machel works through several regional and international development bodies to accelerate social transformation. She is a founding member and Deputy Chair of The Elders, and played a key role in establishing Girls Not Brides. She is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group. Ms. Machel lends her expertise to a number of organizations in a governance role. She serves as Board Chair of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Board Chair of United People Global as well as Chair of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies. Ms. Machel is a Board Member of the South African Future Trust (SAFT), Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and Education Above All. She is Board Chair Emeritus for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and is a UNICEF Young People's Agenda Global Advisory Board Member.
Ms. Machel is Patron of the African Child Policy Forum. She is a member of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund Advisory Council and of the Africa Frontline First Council. She is the Chancellor of the African Leadership University and a Sustainable Development Solutions Network Leadership Council and Campaign for Nature Global Steering Committee member.
Ms. Machel has created three non-governmental organizations in her own right. She founded and serves as President of the Foundation for Community Development and the Zizile Institute for Child Development. She founded the Graça Machel Trust in 2010 where she focuses on advocating for women’s economic and social empowerment, food security and nutrition, education for all, as well as good governance.
Among numerous awards, Ms. Machel has received the United Nations’ Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of her long-standing humanitarian work. In 1997, she was made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She is a member of the Ambassador David M. Walters International Pediatric Hall of Fame. In 2018, she was awarded the World Health Organization’s highest honor, the WHO Gold Medal, for her enormous contributions to the health and wellbeing of women, children and adolescents. She was also acknowledged by Women Deliver with their 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award and she was named one of Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women by Forbes in 2020. Both SOAS and Leiden University bestowed upon her Honorary Doctoral Degrees for her extensive work to advance women and children’s rights in 2021.
Graça Machel has dedicated her life to improving the fate of women and children, inspiring hope, and building a more just and equitable world for us all.
https://gracamacheltrust.org/
The Rt. Hon. Dame Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister of New Zealand (2017-2023); Senior Fellow, Harvard University; Patron of the Call for the Christchurch Call Foundation; Board Member, The Earthshot Prize, Conservation International Fellow.
The Right Honourable Dame Jacinda Ardern became the Prime Minister of New Zealand at just 37 years of age, serving from 2017 until 2023. During her time in office, she faced the challenges of a live-streamed domestic terror attack against New Zealand’s Muslim community, a volcanic eruption, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Ms. Ardern’s focus on people, kindness, and what she has called “pragmatic idealism” saw New Zealand achieve some of the lowest losses of life experienced by any developed nation through the pandemic. During her tenure, she also oversaw the ban of military style semi-automatic weapons and the creation of the Christchurch Call, a global community that works to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online, for which Ms. Ardern continues to hold the role of Special Envoy.
Ms. Ardern is a champion of women's empowerment. While in office, New Zealand reached 50 percent representation of women in parliament and on government appointed boards. She decriminalized abortion, improved pay equity laws, and extended paid parental leave to six months—all while being only the second woman in the world to have a baby while leading her country.
Ms. Ardern is a passionate advocate on climate action and is a board member of The Earthshot Prize, focusing on solutions to climate change and environmental issues. Ms. Ardern is the 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Hauser Leader in the School’s Center for Public Leadership, a program where leaders from public, private, and nonprofit sectors engage with students and faculty on building skills in principled leadership. She is also the Knight Tech Governance Leadership Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, where she will focus on ways to improve content standards and platform accountability for extremist content online.
Ms. Ardern holds an Honorary Doctorate from Harvard University.
https://cyber.harvard.edu/
Dr. Yael Admi
Dr. Yael Admi is a co-founder of Women Wage Peace, a movement established in 2014 that has grown to over 50,000 members committed to a non-partisan call for peace. The organization has been at the forefront of grassroots efforts to promote peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and advocates for the active participation of women throughout all stages of peace negotiations.
A key strength of Women Wage Peace is its diversity, bringing together women from all parts of Israeli society. The movement includes Jews and Arabs, religious and secular women, and members from across the Israeli political spectrum. This diverse membership allows Women Wage Peace to maintain meaningful dialogue with all segments of Israeli society, fostering understanding and building support for peace across traditional divides.
Central to Women Wage Peace's approach is its historic partnership with the Palestinian movement, Women of the Sun. This collaboration led to the joint Mothers' Call in 2022, a declaration articulating both movements' shared desire for peaceful resolution. This partnership marks a groundbreaking alliance between Israeli and Palestinian women's peace movements.
With more than 40 years of experience in peace activism, including serving as Chairperson of the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, Dr. Admi brings invaluable expertise to the movement. She has been instrumental in fostering the partnership with Women of the Sun and played a key role in shaping the Mothers' Call initiative. Alongside her professional contributions, Dr. Admi is a mother of six and a grandmother to 13 grandchildren.
In 2024, Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun were jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and were included in the Time Magazine Women of the Year list, recognizing their collaborative efforts in pursuing peace.
https://www.womenwagepeace.org.il/en/
Reem Al-Hajajreh
Reem Al-Hajajreh, a devoted mother of three residing in Deheisha Camp in Bethlehem City, holds a distinguished position as the Co-founder and Director of Women of the Sun, a Palestinian women’s organization devoted to a peaceful resolution in the Isreal-Palestine conflict. Ms. Al-Hajajreh exemplifies exemplary leadership, overseeing the strategic planning and implementation of the organization’s services and projects. Her responsibilities extend to problem-solving, program evaluation, budget approval, and representation at charitable programs and community services. Ms. Al-Hajajreh is a fervent advocate for women’s empowerment and peace. She believes in the pivotal role women play in fostering justice, peace, and security, yet acknowledges their marginalization in formal peace processes.
With a profound commitment to inclusivity, Ms. Al-Hajajreh emphasizes the urgent need for women’s involvement in peacebuilding efforts, ensuring their contributions are acknowledged and valued.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Social Work from Al-Quds Open University, Ms. Al-Hajajreh brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her leadership role. Her exceptional communication skills, coupled with strong leadership qualities, underscore her dedication to advancing gender equality and social justice. Ms. Al-Hajajreh’s qualifications and extensive experience in leadership and executive administration are testament to her unwavering commitment to empowering women and building a more equitable society.
In 2024, Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun were jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
https://womensun.org/
