Announcing the Trust Women Hero Award Finalists

The Trust Women Hero Award recognizes a remarkable person whose bold thinking and high-impact work has helped women defend and advance their rights. This year, we received more than 150 exceptional nominations from nearly 50 countries from Pakistan to Peru.

Nominees will be judged on their leadership as well as the impact, scalability, and groundbreaking nature of their work. The Trust Women Hero Award winner will be announced and honored at a special Awards ceremony at Trust Women. He/she will receive a cash prize of $5,000 to help further his/her work and will also be acknowledged with profiles on the Thomson Reuters Foundation and Trust Women websites.

The nominees for the 2014 Trust Women Hero Awards are:

Fazle Hasan Abed, Founder of BRAC

Fazle is Founder and Chairperson of BRAC, the largest non-profit organization in the world. He has worked for decades to eliminate gender injustice and encourage equality, diversity, and inclusiveness in impoverished communities. He believes that women’s social and economic empowerment is central to ending poverty. BRAC has established more than 10,000 empowerment clubs across Asia and Africa, where trained mentors educate girls on issues of gender equality, early marriage, and family planning.

Khalid Alkudair, Founder & CEO of Glowork

Khalid is Founder and CEO of Glowork, a social business in Saudi Arabia that has provided over 16,000 women with training and assistance to enter the workforce. Glowork uses an online platform to provide women with easy access to the job market, connects companies with female candidates, and builds relationships with universities in the region to educate women on new job opportunities. Khalid has also developed innovative new strategies to incorporate rural women in the workforce and has used his position on the Advisory Committee of the Minister of Labor to push for an end to workplace gender discrimination.

Khalida Brohi, Founder & Executive Director of the Sughar Empowerment Society

At 16 years old, Khalida founded the Sughar Empowerment Society, a non-profit that has taught over 800 women in over 25 rural Pakistani villages how to use embroidery skills to create fashionable products and sustain a small business, providing them with the resources necessary for economic and personal growth. Khalida also launched the WAKE UP campaign, which drew worldwide attention to government policies that enabled honor killings and exchange marriages in Pakistan. Khalida’s brave activism has made her the target of multiple threats of violence from those who oppose her efforts, but she refuses to give up the fight for women’s rights.

Urmila Chaudhary, Board Member of Freed Kamalari Development Forum

After being freed from bonded labor under the Kamalari system in Nepal, Urmila became a leader in the fight to end modern-day slavery. She is now a board member of the Freed Kamalari Development Forum, an organization that works to eliminate bonded labor servitude in Nepal. In 2013, her advocacy efforts led to the abolition of the harmful Kamalari practice. Urmila has also pressed the government to provide benefits for former Kamalari servants, organized village performances to spread awareness of the practice, and participated in public protests against the Kamalari system. Her brave activism and courageous fight for women’s rights has made her a role model for freed girls across Nepal. 

Sonali Khan, Vice President & India Country Director of Breakthrough

As Vice President and India Country Director at Breakthrough, Sonali has worked to end violence and discrimination against women by expanding the use of evidence-based programming and developing innovative domestic violence campaigns that engage men and boys in the struggle for gender equality. She has also overseen a recent media campaign aimed at ending child marriage by encouraging parents not to marry off their underage daughters. Under Sonali’s leadership, Breakthrough’s strong community mobilization initiatives have trained over 250,000 youth and community leaders to educate Indians about the harmful effects of domestic violence.

Yanar Mohammed, Co-Founder & Director of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq

As Co-Founder and Director of OWFI, Yanar has worked tirelessly to stop atrocities against Iraqi women and to achieve full gender equality in post-war Iraq. Under her leadership, the organization’s shelters have rescued women from honor killings, helped stop human trafficking, and saved young girls and women from prostitution. Yanar also spearheaded an innovative training program that taught Iraqi women how to confront local tradition, tribalism, and religious intolerance as women’s rights activists.

Manizha Naderi, Executive Director of Women for Afghan Women

As Executive Director of Women for Afghan Women, Manizha has led the organization’s efforts to provide shelter for rescued girls who have escaped abusive families, suffered from domestic violence, or been sold to settle debts and blood feuds. In addition to creating jobs for 450 Afghan women and men, her organization has helped 10,000 women by establishing more than twenty shelters, halfway houses, and support centers across Afghanistan. Manizha has also worked hard to build coalitions with local governments to support the fight for women’s rights and encourage a country-wide shift in attitudes and perceptions surrounding violence against women. 

Rosi Orozco, Former Congresswoman & President of the Special Commission for the Fight against Human Trafficking

As a former Congresswoman and President of Mexico’s Special Commission for the Fight against Human Trafficking, Rosi championed the passage of an anti-human trafficking law that established preventative and punitive measures to discourage the practice and provided aid to victims. The legislation has since led to hundreds of arrests and convictions, as well as more special prosecutors across the country. In 2013, Rosi launched Mexico’s first national hotline to combat human trafficking.  Her recent efforts have sought to unify social, political, business, and media interests in the fight to end human trafficking.

Harish Sadani, Co-Founder of Men against Violence & Abuse (MAVA)

In 1993, Harish helped found MAVA, the first men’s organization in India established to address gender-based violence. Harish has taken an innovative approach to women’s empowerment by engaging men as partners and stakeholders in the struggle for equality through cultural advocacy, direct intervention training, and youth education initiatives. He has organized a series of self-defense workshops that have reached over 5,000 women and has helped train young people from colleges and rural communities as “communicators” to educate their peers on gender, masculinity, and healthily relationships.

Vittoria Savio, Founder of Centro Yanapanakussan

In 1992, Vittoria founded Centro Yanapanakussan, a shelter in Cusco, Peru that provides support to women and girls who have been exploited as domestic slaves. Through her work, Vittoria has helped to rescue, educate, and shelter over 3,000 young girls. She also contributed to the establishment of the Maria Angola School, which provides quality education to domestic workers and ensures they are aware of their rights as young workers. In an attempt to address the struggles of domestic workers, Vittoria started one of the first bilingual radio shows (broadcasted in both Quechua and Spanish) to educate communities on the abuse of domestic workers and to give a voice to rural women.