Amina Mohammed
Global human development advocate Amina Mohammed will receive this year’s Ford Family Notre Dame Award for Human Development and Solidarity at a campus ceremony at noon Nov. 16 (Monday) in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame.
The United Nations secretary general’s special adviser on post-2015 development planning, Mohammed was recently confirmed as senior minister to the federal government in her native Nigeria. As part of the award ceremony, she will deliver a free, public lecture, “The Courage of Conviction: The Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria, Africa and Beyond.”
“[These are] tough times in the world,” Mohammed says. “Much of our troubles are a question of values, mindsets and a total lack of global leadership that has the courage of conviction.”
The Ford Family Notre Dame Award recognizes Mohammed’s tireless efforts to understand and illuminate the true causes of poverty and to unleash human creativity and potential in effective and sustainable ways around the world.
“Amina Mohammed brings together head and heart,” says Rev. Robert Dowd, C.S.C., director of the Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, which presents the award. “She is passionate about human well-being — and knows the power of evidence-based efforts to tackle extreme poverty.”
Mohammed’s visit to Notre Dame will strengthen her relationship with the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the broader Keough School of Global Affairs, connecting her with Notre Dame experts in development and Africa as she builds her new Nigerian policy portfolio.
A master negotiator who led the process within the international community to develop and adopt the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, Mohammed is known for her ability to engage people across diverse backgrounds. She has more than 30 years of experience as an international development practitioner in civil society, government and international organizations, and academia.
The Ford Family Notre Dame Award for Human Development and Solidarity, presented by the Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, recognizes substantial contributions to human development through research, practice, public service or philanthropy. Recipients are honored for standing in solidarity with those in deepest need, supporting them to become agents of their own change. The award is named in honor of University Trustee Emeritus Doug Ford and his wife, Kathy, whose generosity helped to establish the Ford Program.
Past recipients of the award include L’Arche and its visionary founder, Jean Vanier; social entrepreneur Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO and founder of Acumen; development economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen; Partners In Health, whose co-founders Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl accepted the award on its behalf; and Patti and Ray Chambers, the United Nations secretary general’s special envoy for malaria.
The Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity is a program of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Part of the University of Notre Dame’s new Keough School of Global Affairs, the Kellogg Institute is an interdisciplinary community of scholars and students from across the University and around the world that promotes research, provides educational opportunities and builds links related to democracy and human development, two topics critical to our world.
Contact: Rev. Robert Dowd, C.S.C., 574-631-7756, rdowd1@nd.edu