Global Citizen and Waislitz Foundation name 2026 award winners

Global Citizen and the Waislitz Foundation announced three recipients of the 2026 Global Citizen Waislitz Awards in Johannesburg on Aug. 18, with each winner set to receive $100,000. The grants will support climate-smart food production, waterless sanitation and affordable sanitary pads for communities facing extreme poverty.

Why it matters: - The awards direct $300,000 a year toward grassroots solutions aimed at extreme poverty. - Each winner receives $100,000 to scale work in food security, sanitation and women’s health. - The program has now reached 35 changemakers across multiple countries and has distributed more than $2.65 million overall.

What happened: - Global Citizen and the Waislitz Foundation announced the 2026 award recipients in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 18, 2026. - Smart Israel, founder and CEO of Smartel Agri Tech, won the Grand Prize Award. - Diana Yousef, founder and CEO of change:WATER Labs, won the Disruptor Award. - Oghenekevwe William Emadago, founder and COO of Girlified LTD, won the People’s Choice Award. - The announcement highlighted practical solutions ranging from growing food without soil to waterless sanitation and turning agricultural waste into sanitary pads.

The details: - The Global Citizen Waislitz Award is in its twelfth year. - Applicants are judged on five criteria: global citizenship, proof of concept, disruption, scalability and adaptability. - The Grand Prize supports Smart Israel’s plan to reach 5,000 more households with climate-smart food production. - Smartel Agri Tech has deployed more than 3,000 AI-enabled, solar-powered hydroponic systems. - Diana Yousef’s company developed the “iThrone,” a waterless, sewerless toilet that reduces waste by evaporating its water content. - iThrone toilets have improved safe toilet access for more than 20,000 people in Uganda, Panama and the United States. - The Disruptor Award is intended to help scale iThrone distribution to millions more people by next year. - Girlified has produced more than 2.8 million sanitary pads since 2021. - Girlified has reached more than 70,000 women and girls. - The People’s Choice Award will help expand Girlified’s reach to 10 million women and girls annually by 2030. - The Waislitz Foundation has honored changemakers from countries including Bangladesh, Colombia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and the United States. - More information about the awards is available on Global Citizen’s website.

Between the lines: - The winners reflect a focus on low-cost, community-based technologies that can be deployed without major infrastructure. - The award mix suggests Global Citizen and the Waislitz Foundation are backing founders whose work is already proven but still needs capital to scale. - The three winning projects also map to overlapping poverty pressures: food insecurity, unsafe sanitation and period poverty.

What's next: - Smart Israel will use the award to expand Smartel’s community hydroponic hub model. - Diana Yousef will push for broader iThrone deployment beyond the limits of water and sewer infrastructure. - Oghenekevwe William Emadago will work to scale Girlified’s model to a much larger annual user base by 2030. - The partnership between Global Citizen and the Waislitz Foundation will continue to back new leaders tackling extreme poverty.

The bottom line: - The 2026 awards put fresh funding behind three emerging solutions that aim to make basic needs cheaper, cleaner and more accessible.