2024 Trustbuilding Awards

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Initiatives of Change is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2024 Trustbuilding Awards. On Friday, 20 September, a global audience gathered in person in Richmond, Virginia to celebrate the achievements of three exemplary individuals who are working in their communities to bridge polarized groups, build peace and transform lives through justice-centered advocacy.  

In addition to recognizing the winners, this second-annual ceremony featured speeches from IofC USA Executive Director Allan-Charles Chipman, IofC International Executive Director Imad Karam, Bishop Ernest Moore, Virginia State Senator Ghazala Hashmi, Pulitzer Prize journalist Michael Paul Williams, IofC Trustbuilding Program Consultant Rob Corcoran, and a special lecture from Professor Rajmohan Gandhi — a historian, journalist, former MP and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. 

Young Trustbuilder of the Year Award

To meet eligibility requirements for the Young Trustbuilder of the Year Award, candidates had to be below 30 years old and demonstrate outstanding leadership in the field of trustbuilding while inspiring other youth to do the same. 

Winner: Pascal Biruru 

Pascal Biruru

We are delighted to award the Young Trustbuilder of the Year Award to Pascal Biruru, an inspirational young man, for his impactful work in the education sector of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Biruru’s project, League Academia, seeks to transform the ‘multifaceted inequalities and exclusions that plague the Congolese academic sector.’ These injustices create a climate of tension and mistrust, and they prevent students from realizing their full potential. 

We particularly appreciated Pascal's role as a youth leader, mobilizing thousands of young people to transform the culture of the education sector, bringing together stakeholders to target the issues of exclusion and inequality that impose barriers to the lives of many in DRC. 

Trustbuilding Award of the Year 2024

To earn the Trustbuilding Award of the Year, candidates had to demonstrate exceptional leadership through their vision in the pursuit of building trust and evidence of the trustbuilding work being sustained. 

Winner: May Thu Ne Win 

May Thu Ne Win

We are delighted to award the Trustbuilding Award of the Year to May Thu Ne Win, a woman who truly demonstrates all the qualities that this award seeks to showcase. 

Against a backdrop of decades of ethnic conflict, exacerbated by brutalities committed by the military in Myanmar, which have made immense gender inequality and violence against women the norm, her work facilitates initiatives that raise the voices of women in the community, and that empower them to step into roles of leadership and advocacy to bridge ethnic and gender divides and advocate for peace and trustbuilding. ‘To be here, I'm not just representing myself,’ said Thu Ne Win. ‘I'm representing all the ethnic women in my country, because they all suffer but have so much resilience and dedication for our community.' 
 

Lifetime Achiever Award 2024

This award recognizes an individual who has dedicated their life to building trust across the divides.  

Winner: Jo Berry  

Jo Berry

We are delighted to award the Lifetime Achiever of the Year Award to Jo Berry for her deep commitment to healing and building bridges over the last 25 years.

The legacy of Berry's work is now in many communities beyond Northern Ireland where her personal story began. Her work integrates many aspects that are at the core of trustbuilding — transcending divides between different tribes and religions, changing narratives around conflict, and working from a place of deep individual vulnerability and commitment. ‘To get this honor means the world to me, because it means I can have more strength to carry on,’ said Berry. ‘Because I haven’t finished.’ 
 

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