DUBAI, 17th January, 2022 (WAM) — His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Governor of Dubai, today presented awards to the 10 winners of the Zayed Prize for Sustainability 2022.
The awards ceremony coincided with the start of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2022 (ADSW).
The ceremony was also attended by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum congratulated the winners in all five categories, reaffirming the key role of the Prize in fulfilling participants’ aspirations to achieve sustainable development within their communities.
This year, the Zayed Prize for Sustainability, along with ADSW, partnered with Expo 2020 Dubai to host the ADSW Opening Ceremony and the 13th Annual Prize Giving Ceremony, both of which took place on the morning of Monday 17th January at the Dubai Exhibition Centre.
The event brought together thousands of participants and more than 600 personalities from around the world, including heads of state, ministers, industry leaders and country ambassadors, among others.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “The UAE continues to make significant progress and contribute to advancing the global sustainable development agenda to drive sustainable economic and human development, under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan The Zayed Sustainability Award remains at the forefront of these efforts as it continues to blaze a trail to alleviate hardship and improve lives by rewarding impact and innovation through a platform that can reach a much larger number of beneficiaries.”
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid acknowledged the support, involvement and guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, while highlighting how the he organization of the awards ceremony at Expo 2020 Dubai, coupled with the recent announcement of the 50 Principles, which marked the UAE’s Golden Jubilee last month, provides an optimal backdrop for this year’s awards, because all these national efforts share a single goal: to create a more sustainable future for all.
His Highness continued, “Over the past 14 years, the wise and long-term vision and legacy of the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed, has ignited the passion of millions of sustainability pioneers around the world. , inspiring us to take the award to new heights by strengthening and diversifying its offerings to become the global award it is today.”
The event was also attended by His Highness Lieutenant General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior; His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Presidential Affairs; His Highness Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi; and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, in addition to various heads of state, ministers and other high-level dignitaries from the United Arab Emirates and abroad, in addition to past laureates and 2022 finalists.
The US$3 million award is the UAE’s pioneering sustainability award that recognizes small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), non-profit organizations (NPOs), and global high schools for their humanitarian and sustainability solutions innovative, impactful and inspiring. Thanks to its 86 past laureates, the Prize has transformed the lives of more than 370 million people in 150 countries since 2008.
In the Health, Food, Energy and Water categories, each winner receives US$600,000, while the Global High Schools category has six winners, representing six regions of the world, with each winner receiving up to US$100,000.
Regarding the Global High School category, His Highness emphasized the importance of building the capacity of young people as a driving force for future sustainable development in order to shape the leaders of tomorrow and empower them to play a greater role. important in advancing their socio-cultural and economic impact. development in a rapidly changing world.
On a broader level, His Highness also commended the level of foresight and sophistication displayed by many student-led proposals, noting their potential impact at the individual, community and global level.
In the “Health” category, the Argentinian company Mamotest received the award for its efforts to increase access to diagnostics and life-saving teleradiology and remote analysis services. Mamotest is currently rolling out centers that offer 582,697 beneficiaries affected by breast cancer access to quality care, with plans to expand this to more than one million people over a five-year period.
Mamotest also benefits from strong tracking of the patient journey, as 87% of women diagnosed within their system could receive life-saving treatment on time. Additionally, Mamotest has successfully performed over 5,000 diagnoses to date while educating millions of women.
S4S Technologies of India was the winner in the “Food” category for its significant work in food preservation and dehydration systems. They currently have a direct impact on 35,820 people and the SME plans to increase this to 10 million people over five years.
The organization is committed to empowering rural women and harnessing new technologies to reduce food waste and improve farmers’ incomes and is deploying solar-powered technology to help women farmers increase their incomes. As part of its commitment to supporting gender equality, backed by economic opportunity, S4S Technologies has provided additional income to 455 female farmers-turned-microentrepreneurs, increasing their profits by 50-200% per year.
In the Energy category, Bangladesh-based SOLshare created an interconnected micro-grid for peer-to-peer power exchange networks to enable more efficient distribution of electricity in rural communities across the country. The organization won the 2022 award for its energy management efforts, as it currently benefits a total of 35,300 people and plans to expand its reach to 2 million people over the next five years.
SOLshare provides more than 1,000 households with access to more than 85 MWh of additional clean energy and serves around 500 entrepreneurs within their networks, 25% of whom are women who thus benefit from a significant increase in their income.
Wateroam, a Singaporean SME, won in the Water category for its commitment to addressing the global challenge of contaminated water through portable water filters to serve disaster-stricken and rural communities. Wateraom’s drinking water solutions benefit over 150,000 people in 38 countries around the world with daily access to safe drinking water and plans to expand its reach to 1 million people over a five-year period.
Jury chairman and former President of the Republic of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, said: “The level of creativity, vision and potential scale portrayed by this year’s winners has been truly remarkable and uplifting as the world of sustainability is looking to the future through a more challenging, yet determined prism. We are confident that all of these winners will lay the cornerstones for future economic growth and prosperity for vulnerable communities, within and beyond their borders, while contributing significantly to the United Nations‘ key Sustainable Development Goals. United.
Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates and Managing Director of the Zayed Prize for Sustainable Development, said: “Following the guidance of the wise leadership of the United Arab Emirates and the heritage lasting legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed, the Prize continues to deliver real, meaningful and long-lasting impact on many communities around the world. This has earned the Prize a global reputation as a catalyst for change for over a decade, as it has, to date, benefited the lives of more than 370 million people.
Al Jaber added, “Hosting the Zayed Sustainability Awards Ceremony along with the opening of ADSW at Expo 2020 Dubai reinforces the UAE’s commitment to sustainable development and humanitarianism, which characterizes the country’s progressive and inclusive model of economic growth”.
“Thanks to our current list of 96 winners and their shared commitment to building a better world, communities that used to live in the dark have been lit up with essential solar lighting, millions of children have access to clean water, Hunger and malnutrition are combated through sustainable food solutions and access to vital healthcare in remote areas of the world is maximized.”
The Director General of the Prize concluded his remarks by highlighting the amplified impact and geographic reach the Prize has achieved through the humanitarian initiative “Beyond2020” led by the United Arab Emirates. Beyond2020 has donated critical sustainability solutions developed by past winners and finalists to vulnerable communities in various parts of the world, and in cooperation with several leading Emirati and international partners.
In the Global High Schools category, six schools, each representing a region of the world, receive an award and high schools submit project proposals to build or augment a solution they have developed for their local school or community. The objective of this category, introduced to the Prize in 2012, is to inspire young people to become sustainability pioneers, innovators and advocates who will contribute to a more sustainable future.
The 2022 award winners are Instituto Iberia (Dominican Republic), representing the Americas; Liceo Europeo (Spain), representing Europe and Central Asia; Eastern Mediterranean School (Israel), representing the Middle East and North Africa region; Sayidina Abubakar Secondary School (Uganda), representing sub-Saharan Africa; Hira School (Maldives), representing South Asia, and finally, UWC ISAK (Japan) from the East Asia and Pacific region.
