Amina Mohammed, minister-designate, gets US award

Amina Mohammed, a minister-designate, will be honoured at the University of Notre Dame in the United States, on November 16.

The award, which is organised by the Ford Family programme in human development studies and solidarity, recognises substantial contributions to human development through research, practice, public service or philanthropy.

According to the organisers, Mohammed was selected for her “tireless efforts to understand and illuminate the true causes of poverty and to unleash human creativity and potential in effective and sustainable ways around the world”.

“Amina Mohammed brings together head and heart,” Robert Dowd, a director at Notre Dame Award, said.

“She is passionate about human well-being — and knows the power of evidence-based efforts to tackle extreme poverty.”

A master negotiator, who led the process within the international community to develop and adopt the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, Mohammed has more than 30 years of experience as an international development practitioner in civil society, government and international organisations.

She served as special adviser to the UN secretary general on post-2015 development planning.

Commenting on the award, Mohammed said: “These are tough times in the world. Much of our troubles are a question of values, mindsets and a total lack of global leadership that has the courage of conviction.”

As part of the award ceremony, she is expected to deliver a lecture titled: ‘The Courage of Conviction: The Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria, Africa and Beyond.’

The award is named in honour of Doug Ford, the university’s trustee emeritus and his wife, Kathy, whose generosity helped to establish the Ford programme.

Recipients are honored for standing in solidarity with those in deepest need, supporting them to become agents of their own change.

Past recipients of the award include L’Arche and its visionary founder, Jean Vanier; social entrepreneur Jacqueline Novogratz, chief executive officer and founder of Acumen; development economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen; Partners In Health, whose co-founders Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl accepted the award on its behalf; and Patti and Ray Chambers, the United Nations secretary general’s special envoy for malaria.