By Iminza Keboge
Published October 16, 2019
A social entrepreneur and children’s book publisher who founded a continental prize to empower African writers and illustrators to tell African children’s stories has won the 2019 Global Pluralism Award.
Deborah Ahenkorah, a Ghanaian who co-founded the Golden Baobab prize to bring African children’s stories to life is one of three winners of the Global Pluralism Award that is presented by Canada-based Global Centre for Pluralism.
The other two winners who, like Ahenkorah, shall each receive ‘$CAN50,000 and in-kind support to advance their work in promoting pluralism’, are Center for Social Integrity – an organization giving youth from conflict-affected regions in Myanmar the skills and voice to be leaders for change amidst the many overlapping conflicts ongoing in the country; and ‘Learning History that is not yet History’ – a network of history educators and specialists in the Balkans pioneering a new approach to teaching the controversial history of conflict.
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“I feel incredibly blessed to receive this award and after a decade of work championing the importance of African literature for children, this honour highlights how much closer we are to the goal of placing African children’s literature on a deserving global pedestal. I continue to look forward to that day when you can walk into a bookstore anywhere in the world and find incredible African stories available for all,” said Ahenkorah who advocates for more representative children’s literature, helping readers access accurate portrayals of Africa produced by Africans.
Golden Baobab, the prize Ahenkorah co-founded, offers the world’s only prize that celebrates African writers and illustrators.
Meredith Preston McGhie, Secretary General of the Global Centre for Pluralism, said, “The Centre is honoured to be supporting the work of this year’s award winners. Their creative initiatives offer hope that negative trends toward exclusion and division can be reversed. The impact of their work is proof that we can build more richly diverse, peaceful and inclusive societies. These are examples we can all learn from.”
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Joe Clark, former Prime Minister of Canada and Chair of the Award Jury, said, “The jury was inspired by the vital work of the award winners and the hundreds of impressive submissions received. They are all deeply committed to equipping the next generation of leaders with the knowledge and empathy to respond to the biggest challenges to pluralism today and in the future.”
The Global Centre for Pluralism, founded by His Highness the Aga Khan and the Government of Canada, will recognize the three winners and seven honourable mentions at an award ceremony on November 20, 2019 in Ottawa, Canada.
As a result of their sustained achievements to promote respect across differences, Global Centre for Pluralism says, the Award winners are helping to build more inclusive societies, in which human diversity is valued, protected and thrives.
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Global Centre for Pluralism says it received more than ‘500 applications spanning 74 countries for the 2019 Global Pluralism Awards–more than double the submissions to the inaugural awards in 2017’ and that ‘All nominees undergo a rigorous review and jury selection process’.
Past winners of Global Pluralism Award that is presented once every two years to individuals, organizations, governments and businesses of any nationality, include conflict mediator Alice Nderitu (Kenya), victims’ rights advocate Leyner Palacios Asprilla (Colombia) and human rights lawyer Daniel Webb (Australia).
Global Centre for Pluralism is an independent, charitable organization that seeks to advance positive responses to the challenge of living peacefully and productively together in diverse societies.
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