Working across food security, sustainable sanitation and women and girls’ health, this year’s winners are developing practical, innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing communities around the world.
Now in its twelfth year, the Global Citizen Waislitz Awards recognise exceptional individuals who are taking transformative action to address extreme poverty and create lasting change in their communities. Through our partnership with Global Citizen, the Waislitz Foundation is proud to provide each winner with USD$100,000 to help scale their work and extend its impact. Congratulations to the following three recipients of the 2026 Global Citizen Waislitz Awards!
Smart Israel - Global Citizen Waislitz Grand Prize Award
Founder and CEO, Smartel Agri Tech | Nigeria
Growing up in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, Smart Israel witnessed first-hand how resource conflict, displacement and climate change could contribute to hunger and malnutrition in his community.
These experiences inspired him to found Smartel Agri Tech, a climate-tech enterprise helping climate-vulnerable communities grow nutritious food without soil, in almost any environment.
Using AI-enabled, solar-powered hydroponic systems, Smartel has already deployed more than 3,000 systems, helping thousands of farmers and families gain sustainable access to food.
The Global Citizen Waislitz Grand Prize Award will enable Smart and his team to reach a further 5,000 households with affordable, climate-smart food production and expand Smartel’s innovative community hydroponic hub model.
Smart’s work demonstrates how technology and local knowledge can come together to build greater food security and resilience in communities facing the impacts of climate change.
Diana Yousef - Global Citizen Waislitz Disruptor Award
Founder and CEO, change:WATER Labs | United States of America
For Diana Yousef, the challenge of providing safe sanitation is one that demands a fundamentally different approach.
While working at NASA, Diana recognised that astronauts face a challenge shared by billions of people on Earth: managing human waste without access to conventional water and sewer infrastructure.
She went onto found change Labs, developing the iThrone - a waterless, sewerless toilet that rapidly reduces waste by evaporating its water content.
The technology offers a cleaner, safer and more affordable approach to sanitation, without relying on traditional infrastructure.
iThrone toilets have already improved access to safe sanitation for more than 20,000 people across Uganda, Panama and the United States.
As the Global Citizen Waislitz Disruptor Award recipient, Diana will use the USD $100,000 award to help scale the distribution of iThrone to millions more people, accelerating change:WATER Labs’ mission to make safe, sustainable sanitation possible for everyone, everywhere.
Oghenekevwe William Emadago - Global Citizen Waislitz People’s Choice Award
Co-Founder and COO, Girlified LTD | Nigeria
Growing up in Northern Nigeria, Oghenekevwe William Emadago saw girls in his community miss school because they could not afford or access sanitary pads.
Determined that no girl should have to choose between her education and her period, Oghenekevwe co-founded Girlified, an organisation transforming agricultural waste into affordable and accessible sanitary pads.
The innovation tackles two challenges at once: period poverty and plastic pollution.
Since 2021, Girlified has produced more than 2.8 million sanitary pads and reached over 70,000 women and girls.
As the winner of the Global Citizen Waislitz People’s Choice Award, Oghenekev will use the USD $100,000 award to scale Girlified’s work, with the ambition of reaching 10 million women and girls annually by 2030.
His work is a powerful example of how locally developed solutions can address deeply rooted challenges while creating environmental and social benefits.
Supporting change makers to create lasting impact
The 2026 winners join a growing community of change makers who have been recognised through the Global Citizen Waislitz Awards since the program began in 2014.
To date, the Awards have recognised 35 leaders from 15 countries, with the Waislitz Foundation having committed more than USD $2.65 million to support grassroots solutions tackling extreme poverty.
For the Waislitz Foundation, the Awards are an opportunity to identify and support individuals who understand the challenges facing their communities and are developing innovative, scalable solutions to address them.
As Alex Waislitz OAM, Chairman and Founder of the Waislitz Foundation, said: “The Global Citizen Waislitz Awards continue to remind us that some of the most powerful solutions to global challenges are being created by entrepreneurs and community leaders closest to those challenges.”
The Waislitz Foundation is proud to stand alongside Smart Israel, Diana Yousef and Oghenekevwe William Emadago as they take the next steps in their journeys. We look forward to seeing how their ideas, ambition and determination continue to create meaningful change in communities around the world.