Vote for the People’s Choice SDGs Award 2023!
Celebrating how innovative projects can make our world a better place for all!
People’s Choice SDGs Award recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations dedicated to advancing sustainable peace and development through innovative, creative, and impactful projects. Join us in celebrating the visionaries and change-makers who are leading the way towards a more sustainable and peaceful world. Together, we can make a lasting impact on our global journey towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Now it’s your chance to cast your vote for your choice for the People’s Choice SDGs Award 2023.
- Voting starts on September 9 th and ends on September 25, 2023
- Winners will be announced at the virtual Pioneers in SDGs Awards Ceremony on September 27, 2023.
Nominees for the People’s Choice SDGs Award 2023
Thank You For Your Submissions
Voting for this years’ People’s Choice SDGs Award has ended.
🇹🇬 Togo
#1
Prosperity for All
This project aims to globally implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through advocating for reforms in participating countries, establishing multilateral institutions for SDG support, and creating local centers focused on social, economic, and environmental aspects. These centers aim to drive SDGs progress via recruitment, training, data innovation, and community-based projects.
🇸🇩 & 🇪🇬 Sudan and Egypt
#2
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
This project aims to mitigate the societal impact of wars by using independent media to assess crises, engage with affected citizens, and analyse issues with input from psychologists and social specialists. It seeks to create an environment for peace-building, promote understanding, and contribute to conflict resolution in war-affected communities, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals.
🇰🇪 Kenya
#3
Christabel Kisang
Christabel is using her online platform and partnerships with Yoma and Goodwall to advocate for climate and water conservation and engage young people. She organizes challenges, offering prizes to promote skill development and awareness of global issues like the SDGs. Through leadership roles, she empowers youth to contribute to a sustainable future and improve their lives.
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone
#4
A Free Kush-Taking Campaign in Sierra Leone
This project addresses the harmful impact of the Kush drug on Sierra Leonean youth through community, school, and street-level engagement. It aims to raise awareness, provide support, and promote prevention and recovery efforts. Initial outcomes show positive acceptance of the initiative and notable improvements within the affected community.
🌎 Worldwide
#5
World Health Year (WHY) 2025 - ERADICATING DISEASE
This project aims to replicate the success of Smallpox Eradication by mobilizing global involvement in disease eradication. It seeks to raise awareness and support in 2025, evaluating progress at year-end to guide efforts in eradicating multiple diseases. It emphasizes the crucial role of collective will and funding in combatting infectious diseases.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
#6
Climate Change Effects
This project is committed to educating people about environmental health, emphasizing the connection between the environment and human well-being. Through health education, it aims to empower individuals and communities to make informed, sustainable choices, leading to healthier environments. By addressing environmental health issues, the project aims to enhance public health and well-being on a larger scale.
🇬🇳 Guinea
#7
Three Books by Week
This project tackles desertification and environmental protection by involving 144 students from 12 schools in an educational campaign focused on global warming and deforestation. Its objective is to nurture a generation of environmental advocates who will promote awareness, engage in tree planting, and conservation, thereby positively impacting their community and the environment.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
#8
Huracan fc Abeokuta
This project, backed by the UK’s Huracan Foundation, employs football to tackle educational issues in disadvantaged Nigerian communities. It aims to improve learning outcomes, cultivate leadership and entrepreneurial skills, and empower youth aged 7-16. By fostering a positive learning culture and reducing absenteeism, the project provides opportunities for marginalized youth in Abeokuta, Nigeria.
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
#9
Protect Human Rights and Build Peace
This project aims to safeguard the rights and well-being of transgender women, children, and minority groups through social media campaigns, advocacy, and educational workshops. Its goal is to prevent abuse, promote peace, and create a healthy, inclusive, and supportive society that values positive behaviour and societal development.
🇰🇪 Kenya
#10
Green Planet Ambassadors
This project focuses on environmental sustainability by planting trees, promoting sustainable agriculture, and conservation efforts. It aims to combat climate change through education in schools, seminars, and workshops, with a goal to plant 5,000 trees and create kitchen gardens, fostering holistic environmental conservation and sustainable living.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
#11
Pre-pregnancy Skill, a Human Right, Empowers Women amidst COVID
In Nigeria, this project trains expectant mothers in Smart Maternal Strategies using innovative tools like mobile apps to protect unborn children from environmental impacts, especially during COVID-19. It aims to improve child health, intelligence, and well-being, aligning with UN SDGs and reducing maternal and child mortality rates.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
#12
Youth Farmers Agricultural Production
This project aims to transform fertile hollow lands in Enugu State into productive agricultural areas while discouraging their use for criminal hideout activities. The primary objective is to create wealth through agricultural initiatives and ensure the sustainable utilization of these lands for economic growth and community well-being.
🇲🇼 Malawi
#13
Community Youth Empowerment and Mindset Change Project
This initiative in Malawi empowers youth and women through sports clubs, educating them on democracy, health, entrepreneurship, climate change, and conservation. It aims to create 200 clubs, train 500,000 individuals, and contribute to SDGs while enhancing community resilience through a multisectoral approach.
🇵🇭 Philippines
#14
Sustaining Hope, Winning Peace
This long-term project empowers rural and disadvantaged communities in the Philippines through education, cultural preservation, and environmental protection. It revitalizes community identity, empowers youth, and enhances environmental resilience through literacy, cultural activities, and tree planting. The project also forges lasting connections between students, volunteers, and marginalized communities.
🇿🇲 Zambia
#15
Climate Education and Tree Planting
This project addresses knowledge gaps in schools by emphasizing climate education and tree planting in ten schools. It engages over 10,000 students and 200+ teachers, promoting sustainability, reducing carbon emissions, and enhancing the resilience of vulnerable communities to climate change impacts. It fosters active learning and sustainability in local projects.
🇰🇪 Kenya
#16
Kenya SDG Summit 2023 - Youth For Sustainability
The Kenya SDG Summit 2023 brought together diverse stakeholders to promote the UN’s SDGs. It resulted in the formation of the National Youth Empowerment Alliance (NYEA) focused on youth empowerment and SDG promotion. The NYEA will organize events, coordinate activities, and sustain collaborations, ensuring active youth engagement in Kenya’s sustainable development.
🇿🇦 South Africa
#17
The Youth Citizens Action Programme
The YCAP program nurtures a social entrepreneurship mindset in young individuals, offering critical thinking skills, resourcefulness, and positive values. It provides comprehensive support through project management resources, teacher workshops, and alumni mentoring, fostering active citizenship and community development. With over 14 years of experience, it has positively influenced 40,000 learners, validated by university studies.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
#18
Women and Youth Economic Empowerment Programme
This project empowers women and youth through vocational and entrepreneurship training, enabling them to launch businesses and achieve financial independence. After skills training, participants receive start-up grants tailored to their expertise, including tools and capital. The project’s objectives encompass skills development, grant provision, and long-term program sustainability for future beneficiaries.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
#19
The Woman’s Far Cry
This project aims to create a direct communication channel between women and the government to address gender-based violence (GBV). It establishes a help desk for women to access government resources and support, raises awareness of GBV laws, and enhances the capacity of law enforcement and frontline workers to reduce GBV rates and empower women within their communities.
🇮🇳 India
#20
Green School for Every Child
This project aims to integrate sustainability into education by transforming schools into hubs of green learning. Through curriculum development, teacher training, green infrastructure, and community engagement, it empowers students as environmental leaders, reduces carbon footprints, and advocates for policy changes while fostering global collaboration on green education best practices.
🇰🇪 Kenya
#21
United North Organization
The organisation is dedicated to advancing peace, justice, human rights, women’s empowerment, sexual and reproductive health, climate change mitigation, poverty eradication, education, and development. Their approach includes advocacy, addressing issues like female genital mutilation and early marriages, and fostering peace through community integration and school peace clubs, while providing crucial intelligence to prevent raids and banditry.
Scotland
#22
The Starving Artist
The iInitiative empowers marginalized communities, especially the African diaspora, through the creative arts. It amplifies emerging voices, tackles social issues like mental health, eating disorders, women’s rights, migration experiences, and climate anxiety, fostering authentic discourse. Through exhibitions, publications, workshops, and outreach, it promotes representation, empathy, and systemic change, fostering a more inclusive society driven by art-driven transformation.
🇺🇸 United States
#23
Save our Environment Tree Planting Project
The project was initiated in response to deforestation and plastic waste pollution along the beach. It involved planting 300 trees and conducting effective beach clean-up activities, while also raising community awareness through radio engagement. The project received widespread support and successfully contributed to environmental conservation and community well-being.
🇷🇼 Rwanda
#24
Sheba Plastic
Sheba Plastic is an initiative addressing plastic waste in African cities using a mobile app, smart waste bins, community engagement, recycling partnerships, and policy advocacy. It aims to reduce plastic waste, restore ecosystems, engage youth, promote community responsibility, and advance the circular economy while influencing waste management policies, fostering environmental and community impact across the continent.
🇧🇩 Bangladesh
#25
Skill Development Programme for Social Inclusion
The program, led by the Pathchola Foundation and supported by UNDP Movers, empowers transgender individuals through training, legal advocacy, and social inclusion initiatives. It offers legal documentation assistance, leadership training, employability workshops, job opportunities, and social media campaigns, resulting in increased legal recognition, improved employability, enhanced leadership, and greater social inclusion and economic empowerment for the transgender community.
🇹🇩 & 🇨🇲 Chad and Cameroon
#26
Fountains of Hope
Fountains of Hope initially built water wells in Chad and Cameroon but shifted to rehabilitating abandoned ones in 2021. They’ve revitalized 170 wells, benefiting around 170,000 people and positively impacting food production, health, the local economy, and population growth in the region by providing clean and sustainable water sources.
🇳🇿 New Zealand
#27
The Welcome Mat
This project in New Zealand promotes intercultural understanding by inviting Turkish background former refugees to engage with the local community. Through shared activities and cultural exchanges, it aims to break down barriers, foster hospitality, and build friendships. This initiative enriches local understanding of refugees, Islam, and different cultures, dispelling stereotypes and creating lasting bonds.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia
#28
Sustainable One Health
This project promotes the One Health approach, emphasizing the interconnection of human, animal, and environmental health. It raises community awareness about maintaining a healthy planet by tackling threats like zoonotic diseases, climate change, and antimicrobial resistance. Through grassroots teaching and professional collaborations, it supports UN Sustainable Development Goals and advocates for holistic health and sustainability worldwide.
🇪🇹 Ethiopia
#29
Gudumaale Youth Empowerment
The project empowers youth through facilities and motivation, aiming to enhance their future prospects. It prioritizes improving education quality, evaluating daily activities, and identifying areas for skill development. These efforts seek to create positive changes and opportunities for young individuals in the community, ultimately empowering them for success in their future endeavours.
🇳🇬 Nigeria
#30
Microcredit Program for Lepers
This program assists lepers by providing financial resources and business training, enabling them to start or expand businesses. Objectives include poverty reduction, improving lepers’ well-being, promoting inclusion, and aligning with the SDGs. Through needs assessment, business planning, and ongoing support, the project empowers lepers, enhances their economic self-sufficiency, and reduces reliance on social welfare while fostering community contributions.
🇰🇪 & 🇳🇬 Kenya and Nigeria
#31
Level UP food sovereignty in Africa ASALS
This project in Kenya and Nigeria, aligned with SDGs 16 and 17, collaborates with the Pan-African Green Carpet Collective and 16 national Organic Farmers Organizations across 14 African countries. It aims to enhance food, fodder, animal, and human health resilience by dedicating 10% of farmland to capture 24 million tons of CO2 annually by 2030.
🇹🇷 Turkey
#32
Their Voices for Climate
“Their Voices for Climate” is a climate justice and youth engagement project that amplifies the voices of marginalized communities in the Most Affected People and Areas (MAPA) region. It involves content creation, community engagement, youth empowerment, and strategic media outreach to address climate concerns and empower young activists for meaningful climate action.
🇵🇰 Pakistan
#33
Menstrual Talk
“Menstrual Talk” is a global online community dedicated to eradicating period shaming and stigma. Through webinars, workshops, and discussions, it promotes open conversations about menstruation, raising awareness to end period taboos by 2030. It has garnered recognition and engaged with governments and stakeholders for sustainable period products and inclusivity.
🇺🇸 The United States
#34
Cage Free Voices Online Learning
Cage Free Voices is an international education initiative empowering individuals dealing with self-image and identity issues. Using a neurodiversity approach, it offers creative learning experiences like music, radio, journalism, and poetry to enhance literacy skills and expand global perspectives. It has shown remarkable success, with students advancing 2-4 reading levels in just four to six weeks.
🇰🇪 Kenya
#35
Regenerative Agriculture Through Sustainable Farming Methods
This project tackles poverty, food insecurity, and environmental degradation among Kenyan smallholder farmers by implementing an agroforestry model. It strengthens Women Self Help Groups, promotes 1-acre agroforestry, nutrition gardens, vermicompost production, small livestock, and food processing. Through resources, training, and sustainable practices, it aims to improve livelihoods, food security, nutrition, and environmental conservation.
#36
SafeCare
SafeCare improves healthcare quality in resource-limited settings through onsite assessments, tailored quality plans, and digital tools. Over 7,000 facilities benefit, enhancing quality, patient trust, and health outcomes. Collaboration with the Medical Credit Fund supports financing for quality improvements, contributing to UHC and SDGs.
🇪🇬 Egypt
#37
Waste valorization
The project addresses climate change by reducing global fossil fuel emissions through sustainable energy solutions, offering electricity and hydrogen generation. It aims to mitigate 4.6 billion tons of annual CO2 emissions, benefiting companies that can use the electricity and store or sell hydrogen. The approach combines theoretical and practical methods to calculate and harness energy efficiently.
Innovative Solutions for Sustainable Development Goals
This project seeks innovative solutions for the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), involving diverse stakeholders. It fosters collaboration, provides funding, and recognizes impactful contributions. Outcomes include enhanced SDG awareness, partnerships, funding, solution implementation, recognition, capacity building, advocacy, improved quality of life, and environmental sustainability.
#39
Green Grow
This project employs technology and artificial intelligence to create a sustainable agricultural ecosystem. It generates clean energy using Stirling engines and thermoelectric generators, reducing environmental impact. By recycling agricultural waste into cost-effective organic fertilizers and optimizing resource management through AI, it promotes environmental sustainability, economic development, and efficient farming practices.
Digital2030
Digital2030 empowers youth aged 13-22 with digital education to address global challenges. Comprising three initiatives, it combines coding, AI, and discussions to tackle sustainable development goals (SDGs). The program aims to make complex issues accessible and inspire youth to become future leaders in solving global problems through technology.
🇪🇬 Egypt
#41
Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Communities
This project empowers high school students, especially girls, to create sustainable and inclusive communities. It focuses on education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. Through workshops, gender equality initiatives, community clean-ups, leadership development, and community gardens, it fosters awareness, equality, sustainability, and youth leadership, resulting in tangible positive impacts on education, gender disparities, the environment, and community engagement.
ECOPESA
ECOPESA is a Tanzanian digital platform empowering local green doers, including waste collectors and recyclers, with access to green credits based on their environmental actions. It fosters economic growth, environmental conservation, and social empowerment by recognizing and rewarding their contributions to carbon footprint reduction. This innovative approach impacts lives, the economy, and the planet, creating a sustainable green ecosystem.
UREST
URest, created by two high-school students, is a web and mobile platform designed to connect displaced people with vital resources. It addresses SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by improving living conditions for refugees and the displaced. The project has garnered international recognition, with beta testing underway and support from global NGOs and the United Nations.
🇰🇪 & 🇳🇬 Kenya and Nigeria
#44
Level UP Food Sovereignty in Africa ASALS
This project aligns with SDGs 16 and 17, involving 16 African nations to regenerate soil through sustainable agriculture. Four million farmers commit to enhancing food and health resilience by dedicating 10% of their farms. The project targets sequestering 24 million tons of CO2 by 2030 and fostering green growth in arid regions.
Journalist Post Magazine
Journalist Post Magazine, a trilingual publication, amplifies voices of exiled and oppressed journalists worldwide. It sheds light on press freedom violations globally, offering hope and solidarity. Through firsthand accounts, it raises awareness, fosters media diversity, and adapts to evolving journalism needs, contributing to peace, human rights, and democracy promotion.
Waste to Wealth Enterprise
In Uganda, this project recycles organic waste into eco-friendly briquettes for cooking, heating, and organic fertilizer. It empowers youth and women, shifts institutions to clean briquettes, and promotes waste-to-wealth practices, benefiting over 700 individuals and enhancing environmental sustainability.
Helix Bio
The Helix Bio project combines agroecology and sustainable technology by using microalgae-based biosystems in solar-powered bioreactors to enhance soil fertility and crop defense while producing hydrogen for clean energy. It integrates advanced photovoltaics, water splitting technology, genetic modification for agronomic traits, and ecological polymerization to revolutionize food security, reduce synthetic fertilizer dependence, and address environmental challenges.
🇰🇪 Kenya
#48
Agroforestry
The project focuses on sustainable tree planting and growth in communities, aiming to improve survival rates through education, private nurseries, biochar integration, and micro-irrigation. It successfully adapted to a severe drought in 2022, creating local jobs and a commercially viable model. The initiative promotes environmental resilience, community empowerment, and diversification of agriculture.
Online research on the risks of attracting minors through anonymous chat platforms and social media applications
“The Smile of the Child” researched risks to minors on anonymous chat and social media. Using fictional underage profiles, students engaged adults and found that 16% of conversations included sexualization or grooming. Alarmingly, one in six conversations with adults, averaging 41 years old, became harmful to children, highlighting online child protection issues.
SDG2030.me
This project focuses on implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs) by showcasing their intersections each month. It employs diverse methods, from multimedia content to mentoring other projects like Footprint to Climate. Through television segments, virtual learning modules, and art exhibitions, the project reaches a wide audience, fostering communication, policy impact, and SDG awareness.
🇪🇬 Egypt
#51
BioEnergyLens
This project in Egypt focuses on improving biogas production efficiency by utilizing solar energy to maintain stable temperatures in biogas plants. By reducing temperature maintenance costs, it encourages farmers and villagers to adopt biogas production, promoting renewable energy and sustainability in rural areas. Predicted results show increased methane production.
🌎 Global
#52
Integrity Icon
Integrity Icon celebrates and empowers ethical civil servants who uphold justice and strong institutions, aligning with SDG16. It engages citizens in nominating and celebrating honest government officials, fostering integrity and accountability. This youth-driven initiative builds a community of Icons, promotes learning, and collaborates with institutions to drive governance reforms, creating just and accountable public institutions.
🇪🇬 Egypt
#53
Green Transportation: Decreasing Power Consumption and Harnessing Wind Energy in Vehicles
This project minimizes vehicle drag by implementing design modifications and convergent-divergent nozzles. It enhances wind turbine efficiency by 31.7%, reduces manufacturing costs by 31.6%, and decreases fuel consumption by 12.94%, contributing to clean energy (SDG 7) and climate action (SDG 13).
SPANISH YOUTH INTERFAITH ENSEMBLE / JOIRE (by its initials in Spanish)
JOIRE, the Spanish Youth Interfaith Ensemble, unites young musicians from various Abrahamic faiths to perform religious and cultural music. Their aim is to promote intergenerational and interfaith dialogue through concerts and cultural exchanges. Beyond music, JOIRE fosters coexistence and personal growth, spreading a message of harmony and brotherhood.
🇪🇬 Egypt
#55
Natural Forests Fire Deterrent
This project focuses on preventing natural forest fires caused by climate change. It proposes a device combining temperature, moisture, wind direction and speed, and CO2 measurements to provide early warnings. Placed in high locations, the device enables timely fire prevention measures, aiming to reduce forest fires, CO2 emissions, and enhance the benefits of natural forests.
🇪🇬 Egypt
#56
P-vita
P-vita is an innovative startup using advanced technology to upcycle agricultural waste, extracting high-concentration beta-carotene from palm residues. Their eco-friendly approach reduces carbon footprint and pollution, aiming to offer sustainable alternatives to imported or chemically synthesized beta-carotene. They’ve achieved proof-of-concept, filed for patents, and secured partnerships in cosmetics and food industries while empowering women in science and technology.
Alex
#57
Eco-block
This project emphasises sustainable building materials to combat the environmental impact of conventional blocks. It highlights issues like CO2 emissions and agricultural land depletion. Eco-friendly options such as AAC and Fly Ash blocks are introduced, offering advantages like reduced emissions, lower costs, and land preservation. The project promotes green construction practices and sustainable development.
#58
Sama's Project
This project aims to address SDG 13 by developing extensions for cars and factories to convert harmful gases into a filtratable liquid, mitigating global warming and reducing environmental impact. While not yet implemented due to financial constraints, it has potential for significant positive impact once realized, with participation in relevant competitions showcasing its potential.
GHIF Women's Poultry Farming
Genuine Happiness International Foundation empowers women in rural and marginalized communities through Women’s Poultry Farming Projects. These initiatives promote economic empowerment, gender equality, and food security. Women engage in various aspects of poultry farming, contributing to community development and aligning with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for improved livelihoods.
Eco-Protectors
This project tackles methane emissions from cow dung by using sodium hydroxide to modify pH and raising the temperature to inhibit methanogens bacteria. It offers an eco-friendly and affordable solution, with potential job opportunities for women in waste recycling and agriculture, promoting gender equality and addressing climate change.
Govardhan app social media for biodiversity and indigenous knowledge
This project leverages social media to preserve indigenous knowledge, raise biodiversity awareness, and support health research. It recently conducted an emergency relief health camp, highlighting the effectiveness of traditional knowledge. The project aims to enhance traditional medicine, combat antimicrobial resistance, and foster global collaboration, involving over 40 countries
Eco-Colors
This project transforms agricultural waste into eco-friendly pigments, replacing synthetic dyes in various industries. They also run the “Eco Activists initiative,” focusing on youth awareness and engagement in climate action and gender equality. Their efforts have garnered international recognition, with UNICEF’s support and participation in key conferences, fostering volunteering opportunities and knowledge sharing in their community.
Utilization of Phragmites Australis for Sustainable Energy and Waste Management
This project tackles invasive Phragmites australis and plastic waste by converting them into renewable energy sources, biofuels, and valuable byproducts. It integrates these processes, enhancing energy efficiency and sustainability. Environmental monitoring, safety measures, and community engagement ensure eco-friendly and responsible implementation
#BacharLorai: Crisis-Response Through Digital Social Innovation
Project #BacharLorai utilized digital tools and social innovation to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact in Bangladesh. Through diverse initiatives, it provided healthcare resources, economic support, and empowerment to vulnerable populations, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals. The project’s achievements led to its official registration as an international nonprofit, ensuring sustainable global outreach.
Thank You For Your Submissions
Voting for this years’ People’s Choice SDGs Award has ended.