2025 Youth Award
Women’s International Forum
Reflecting on 50 years and looking ahead
As the Women’s International Forum marks its 50th anniversary in 2025, it offered the perfect moment to pause and reflect on the journey so far. It’s a milestone that invited celebration of accomplishments and a thoughtful look at the future. For WIF, that future is all about youth—the young women stepping forward with fresh ideas, dedication, and the power to drive meaningful change around the world. To commemorate this anniversary, WIF has launched a Youth Award in partnership with the United Nations Youth Office (UNYO).
celebrating emerging women leaders on our 50th anniversary
Partnership for youth leadership
The 2025 WIF Youth Award award aims to recognize and support young women leaders whose work advances the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through innovative efforts in their communities. By combining WIF’s decades-long commitment to empowering women with UNYO’s expertise and global youth network, the partnership amplifies the voices of the next generation of change-makers.
RECOgnizing impact and inspiring change
The Youth Award aims to highlight young women making a difference through community-level projects that embody the spirit of global sustainability. It celebrates their leadership, innovation, and ability to inspire others at a broader scale. This initiative also creates connections by linking emerging leaders with experienced women in international circles, fostering mentorship, growth, and collaboration.
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
“We need young people everywhere to keep raising your voices. Your solidarity and demands for action set a powerful example. We need national leaders to follow your example and ensure the ambition and results we need…”
UN Headquarters, 2024
Recognizing impact and inspiring Change
Award Experience & Eligibility
The recipient of the Youth Award will receive a unique opportunity to engage with local and international stakeholders in New York in a bespoke program organised by the WIF Board and members. The recipient will be able to share their impactful projects with a global audience, learn from others in the field and look for partners and collaborators to amplify their efforts. Eligible candidates were drawn from previous Young Leaders cohorts (2016-2022), emphasizing ongoing involvement and sustained dedication to the SDGs.
selection process and criteria
A joint panel of representatives from WIF and the United Nations Youth Office carefully selected the finalists and winner. Evaluation centered on the winner’s vision for the project, its impact, the level of community engagement, its alignment with sustainable development, and the potential for growth or replication. This rigorous process ensured the award honors truly outstanding contributions.
Photo Credit | Kate Mcauly
Elizeu Chaves, UN Youth Junior Chief of Staff and Antoinette Merrilees, WIF Vice-President, announce the 2025 Youth Award winner, Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi at the 50th Anniversary Event on October 15, in New York
9 - 14 March 2026:
visit to new york
Oluwaseun: “Access to justice is not only about laws on paper. It is about whether women and girls are protected and their right upheld. It is about whether harmful practices like FGM and child marriage are challenged not only through legislation, but through community leadership, accountability, and courage.”
The WIF Board organized a bespoke program for Oluwaseun during CSW70. Below are some reflections from Oluwaseun after a busy program that included meetings with UN Youth, UN Foundation, NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women, UNICEF, Ms Catarina Vaz Pinto, Spouse of the UNSG and WIF Patron, and the African Union.
“Conversations at #CSW70 last week reminded me that access to justice is not only about laws on paper. It is about whether women and girls are protected and their right upheld. It is about whether harmful practices like FGM and child marriage are challenged not only through legislation, but through community leadership, accountability, and courage.
Across several meetings and panels, we spoke about the urgent need to close the gap between global commitments and lived realities. From revitalizing global gender equality systems, to strengthening accountability for institutions, to supporting survivors at the grassroots level, the message was clear. Justice cannot remain an aspiration. It must be experienced in the daily lives of women and girls through protection, legal reforms, community-centred and evidence-based programs, institutional structure, reparations, and funding for critical initiatives.
A few reflections I carry with me:
- Survivors and young women are not just beneficiaries of justice systems. They are often the ones pushing institutions to do better. Their voices must shape policy, not only respond to it.
- Media exposure and public advocacy can spark change, but real reform happens when that attention is translated into stronger laws, better reporting systems, and survivor-centered services.
- Ending practices like FGM and child marriage requires engaging those who shape community norms including men, traditional leaders, and faith leaders. Sustainable change happens when communities themselves become champions of justice.
- Youth leadership is not something to prepare for in the future. Young people are already driving policy conversations, organizing movements, and holding institutions accountable today.
- What gives me hope is the power of collective action. From grassroots organizers to global advocates, people across the world are refusing to accept systems that fail women and girls.
The work continues. And so does the responsibility to turn conversations into action.”
2025 YOUTH AWARD WINNER
Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi
Advocate Transforming Survivor Support and Gender Justice in Nigeria
Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi is the pioneering founder and Executive Director of the Stand to End Rape Initiative (STER), launched in 2014 to combat sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria. Motivated by her own experience as a survivor of rape and the systemic failures she faced, Oluwaseun leads a remarkable network providing holistic support—medical, legal, psychosocial, and financial—to survivors. Her organization has empowered over 200,000 Nigerians through education, community outreach, and advocacy programs.
Under her visionary leadership, STER has helped pass critical legislation including the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act and the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions Bill. Oluwaseun’s work bridges grassroots activism and national reform, fostering cultural shifts to challenge harmful norms around consent, victim-blaming, and gender.
Through strategic collaborations with media, government ministries, and international partners like BBC Africa Eye and AIDS Healthcare Foundation, STER has elevated survivor voices, trained hundreds of frontline responders, and built tools such as digital learning platforms on gender equality and positive masculinity.
Despite facing institutional apathy, funding challenges, and cultural stigma, Oluwaseun’s resilient and empathetic leadership has scaled impactful services nationwide, forging a path for accessible survivor-centered care and systemic change.
Looking ahead, she plans to expand STER’s reach regionally, institutionalize prevention frameworks, and contribute to global gender justice policies that empower survivors and foster safe, inclusive communities.
Receiving the Women’s International Forum Youth Award and engaging with UN agencies in New York would significantly boost Oluwaseun’s efforts to scale STER’s innovative survivor-centered model, foster global partnerships, and amplify survivor-led advocacy representing Nigeria and beyond.
Oluwaseun’s journey exemplifies turning personal pain into a powerful purpose—transforming individual survival into collective justice and systemic reform that uplifts thousands.
Kofi Annan
“Young people – with their dynamism, their energy and their inherent understanding of our interconnected world – have much to teach us”
International Youth Day, 2013