Religion, Social Values & Empowerment Archives - Page 16 of 22

Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative Wins 2017 Nelson Mandela-Graça Michel Innovation Award

Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI), has won the 2017 Nelson Mandela-Graça Michel Innovation Award in mental health.

Victor Ugo, founder of Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) and himself a medical professional, said:

“This is an auspicious moment for us and we want to dedicate it to every Nigerian youth coping with mental illness.

We are motivated to keep up the discussion and hope our voice will continue to resonate both within and beyond our borders.”

Grant Clark, Senior Media Advisor to 2017 International Civil Society Week, said that MANI was selected from among 300 nominations across the globe as the winner in the Civil Society Organisation category.

In his words:

“The awards seek to recognize outstanding bravery and achievement towards social change.

From humble beginnings, MANI, which promotes mental health awareness in Nigeria, has grown to be the largest and most active mental health NGO.”

He said that former UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, praised MANI’s achievement with the following declaration:

“We commend the work of Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative for opening the space to improve the lives of young Nigerians living with mental illness, who are too often stigmatized and the cause of great suffering for many people.”

The Nelson Mandela-Graça Michel Innovation Award, named after human rights icon Nelson Mandela and former First Lady of South Africa and Mozambique, Graça Machel, honour remarkable bravery and innovation in creating social change and empowering future generations.

Ms. Machel said at the award presentation that:

“Awards like this are so significant because the winners truly are ‘sparks of hope’ with the potential to inspire many others.

It is important that those of us with the freedom to speak out, use our voices to lift up these courageous individuals and organisations.”

Prophet T. B. Joshua Receives Senate Of The Dominican Republic Highest Awards [2017]

The Senate of the Dominican Republic has conferred the chamber’s highest awards on the founder and spiritual head of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua popularly known as Prophet T. B. Joshua.

This was revealed at the end of the first session of the two-day crusade held at the Central Olympic Stadium, Felix Sanchez, located in the nation’s capital of Santo Domingo, on Friday, November 24, 2017.

While reading the letters of conferment of the Senate and Congress awards, the event had in attendance representatives of the governments of Russia, Spain, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, among others.

The Senate argued, among other things, that it reached the resolution of the conferment of the award on the cleric considering Prophet T. B. Joshua’s immense contributions to the growth and development of humanity, his wonderful and relentless social work, which he had tirelessly extended to impoverished regions of the world, his large donations to help widows, orphans, the destitute, the elderly and the physically challenged. Chief among the mention of the Senate was the humanitarian work spearheaded by the prophet after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, including supports to India, Ghana and the Philippines following various disasters.

The Senate further extolled the unrelenting commitment of the cleric in engendering global peace and therefore made him the spiritual guide of the nation.

While accepting the award in the company of his wife, Prophet Joshua thanked the government and people of the Dominican Republic for such recognition promising that he would continue to pray for the country while also making it his second home.

In the words of Prophet T. B. Joshua:

“I am very delighted. I am also very grateful to the government and people of the Dominican Republic. I dedicate this award to the people of this country. I will continue to pray for you and I will ensure that this country is my second home.”

The crusade venue witnessed a mammoth crowd of worshippers, government officials, politicians and the entire strata of the human society. Many had travelled far and wide to hear the cleric preach and pray for the sick and other miracle-seekers.

The crowd had continued to swell with over 60,000 participants in attendance. Despite the human traffic, no untoward incident occurred.

In his message, Prophet Joshua, taking his text from Romans 5:2 of the Holy Bible, called on his immediate and virtual listeners, to ensure that they sought the kingdom of God first while also seeking the happiness and joy of their neighbours.

According to Prophet T. B. Joshua:

“We live in a world where people measure their happiness with material possession. But this is not so. You must measure your happiness by ensuring the happiness of others. This is the example that Jesus Christ has set for us. You can bless others with your smile, your money, your material possession or even other things. Put a smile on people’s faces and you will be glad.”

During the prayer session, many who had various ailments and had travelled both far and wide were attended to by the cleric who laid his hands on them “in the name of Jesus”.

Nigeria Emerge 2017 D+ Most Positive African Country

Nigeria has emerged the most positive African country on the World’s Most Positive Countries 2017 index published by Daily Positive (D+).

Nigeria re-emerged as the regional winner of Africa after missing out last year. Nigerians have excelled with glittering awards, such as, the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, World Food Prize and BBC World News Komla Dumor Award. The Nigerian robotics team won a gold medal at the FIRST Global robotics competition in Washington DC. Nigeria did not ever give up on the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls and continued to make progress and rescued significant number of the girls in 2017.

In 2015, Nigeria emerged the most positive African country on the World’s Most Positive Countries 2015 index published by Daily Positive (D+).

Globally, Australia was crowned the World’s Most Positive Country for 2017, for the second time ever in half a decade, according to the annual global index published by Daily Positive (D+), a unique online media organization from Australia for positive news.

The annual list of top ten most positive countries is compiled based on a positivity index comprised of a global expert panel rating, a D+ journalists rating, a global web poll and the number of positive news entries in 2017 on the D+ website.

Apart from this overall list of 10 most positive countries, for the third time, D+ also published a list of regional positive countries from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The regional winners were selected based on the same criteria used to select the overall winners but from a specific region outside of the top ten in the list.

The top 10 World’s Most Positive Countries for 2017 along with respective ranking points are as follows:

Country Name	Total Points
Australia	501
Canada	489
Switzerland	480
China	472
France	461
Germany	454
Denmark	442
England	434
Netherlands	428
United States of America	418

D+ Most Positive Regional Countries 2017

Africa: Nigeria

Asia: Bangladesh

It is mainly because, along with many positive achievements, in 2017 Bangladesh dealt with the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis with open arms and saved the world from a huge catastrophe. Huge credit goes to the current Bangladeshi government and Bangladeshis from across the country who raced to save Rohingya refugees fleeing the brutal ethnic cleansing operation of Burmese military. Bangladesh became exemplary for the regional powers and many developed nations with its humane response to deal with well over half-a-million refugees that arrived in the country in few weeks. Apart from that, Bangladesh inaugurated its first solar-powered Food Warehouse with a capacity of 25,000 tonnes of grain. Bangladesh launched its first ever nano-satellite Brac Onnesha. Bangladeshi surgeons successfully separated two 9-month-old sisters born pygopagus in a complex operation.

Europe: Norway

Norway is the regional winner from Europe. Norway topped the World Democracy Index indicating that it has a near-perfect fully functional democracy. That helped Norway to achieve best press freedom in the world. As part of continuous economic development, Norwegian solar panel maker Saga Energy recently signed a deal worth 2.5 billion euros ($2.9 billion) with Iran’s state-owned company Amin Energy Developers to build solar power plants in Iran.

North America: Cuba

Cuba retained its regional title for the third consecutive year. After job well done by the Cuban medical professionals in West Africa to fight Ebola since 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized their efforts in 2017. Cuba continued its positive attempt to integrate and engage further with the international communities. As a result, first ever cooperation agreement between the European Union and Cuba was approved in order to expand bilateral trade, promote dialogue and provide joint action on the world scene.

South America: Colombia

Colombia became the regional winner from South America for the second consecutive year. Colombia continued to build on the peace process that started for last few years in order to neutralize the local armed groups. Also, Colombian singer Shakira received the 2017 Crystal Award for her efforts to help displaced and disadvantaged children in Colombia. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was named as one of the most influential people by Time Magazine for his determination to establish peace. Natalia Ponce de Leon of Colombia, a human right activist and acid attack victim, was honored with the United States Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award 2017.

Other nations outside of the list of most positive countries also made 2017 a memorable one. Iceland topped the list of the world’s most peaceful country. Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon abolished a law that allowed rapists to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims. Saudi Arabia‘s King Salman issued a decree allowing women to drive for the first time in the Kingdom. India created history by successfully launching 104 satellites on a single mission, overtaking the previous record of 37 satellites launched by Russia in 2014. Portugal won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time since it first entered the contest in 1964.

According to Dr. Arif Jubaer, Founder of D+:

“On the occasion of D+ world’s most positive countries 2017, it was great to see people from all around the world coming together and working for a positive world despite all the negativities surround them. For the positive newsmakers, 2017 was not about their individual dreams, rather it was about the dreams for a positive world.”

D+ will present the above information and facts in detail at a presentation ceremony on Saturday, 25 November 2017, 2.00PM in Melbourne, Australia.

For more information on the World’s Most Positive Countries 2017 visit http://www.dailypositive.org/Most_Positive_Countries

Contact Information:

Contact Person: Dr. Arif Jubaer, Founder, Daily Positive (D+)

Web Address: http://www.dailypositive.org/

Email: arif.jubaer@dailypositive.org

Mobile: +61-411215302

Zannah Mustapha Wins 2017 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award

Zannah Mustapha, a Nigerian lawyer and advocate for the rights of displaced children growing up amid violence in north-eastern Nigeria to get a quality education, is the 2017 winner of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Nansen Refugee Award.

Zannah Mustapha helped to secure the release of dozens of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014.

The Nansen Refugee Award, which is bestowed by the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), has been won in the past by Eleanor Roosevelt and Luciano Pavarotti, and the winner receives $150,000 to fund a project complementing their existing work.

In the words of Zannah Mustapha, the 2017 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award Winner:

“I am exceedingly happy and motivated to do more … I will scale up my efforts.

Some of the students that started in my school have graduated, and they are now going into university – I can use this money to help them complete the cycle.”

Zannah Mustapha is the founder of two schools which offer free education, meals, uniforms and healthcare to its pupils, and even enrol children born to Boko Haram fighters to learn alongside those orphaned by the Islamist group’s eight-year insurgency. Those orphaned by the conflict on both sides are welcomed into Mustapha’s classrooms as a sign of the reconciliation he hopes to achieve in the region.

His first venture, Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School, opened a decade ago and was the only school in Borno state in northeast Nigeria to remain open when Boko Haram in 2009 began their brutal campaign to carve out an Islamic state. Future Prowess has grown from 36 students to 540. Desperate for an education, thousands more children have added their names to its waiting list. In 2016, his second school opened just a few kilometres away from the first. Eighty-eight children, all of whom have fled conflict in the region, walk through its classroom doors each day.

The Islamist militants have killed hundreds of teachers and forced more than 1,000 schools to shut, leaving tens of thousands of children without an education, aid agencies say.

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi hailed Mustapha for helping to foster peace and rebuild communities devastated by violence. According to Grandi:

“Education is one of the most powerful tools for helping refugee children overcome the horrors of violence and forced displacement.”

Mustapha’s work also includes helping to negotiate the release of more than 100 of the 220-odd girls snatched from their school in Chibok in April 2014 in the biggest publicity coup of Boko Haram’s insurgency that prompted global outrage and the international campaign #bringbackourgirls.

The return of 82 of the girls in May marked the second group release of the Chibok girls by the militants – with both deals brokered by Switzerland and the Red Cross and mediated by Mustapha – after a group of 21 were freed in October last year.

A few others have escaped or been rescued but about 113 of the girls are believed to be still held captive by Boko Haram.

The Islamist group has killed at least 20,000 people and uprooted more than 2.7 million across the Lake Chad region and sparked one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, according to aid agencies.

Despite being driven back from much of the territory it held, Boko Haram has ramped up attacks this year, targeting civilians and camps for the displaced with suicide bombings.

More recently, Mustapha donated acres of his own land to 800 displaced families. Building a water irrigation pump and shelter, these families are now able to support themselves and sell their produce at local markets.

The UNHCR Nansen Refugees award was established in 1954 and awarded annually to an individual, group or organization in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced and stateless persons.

The award includes a Commonwealth medal and monetary prize of $100,000 donated by the governments of Norway and Switzerland to begin a project in consultation with UNHCR, to complement the laureate’s existing work.