Machiavelliprice 2017 for SheDecides

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SheDecides wins the award, because ‘this movement has collected almost 400 million euros in a record period of time to ensure the right of women and girls all over the world to decide for themselves about whether or not to have children, when to have them and with whom. Early 2017 within less than six weeks a worldwide movement was founded consisting of countries, funds and individuals to ensure the autonomy of women and girls’, so states the jury report.
‘SheDecides is in every aspect a current phenomenon. It is a movement with blurred boundaries between governments, NGO’s, funds and individuals. A movement with communication as its primary resource defining its success. The international support for a Dutch initiative has never been so strong. Initiator Lilianne Ploumen, former minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, is a communication wonder herself with her confident assertiveness. She kept her eyes on the ball to prevent a deterioration of the position of women and girls in developing countries’, the jury report continues.

The award is granted yearly to a person or organization who has excelled in public communication and will be presented on February 14th by the President of the Machiavelli Foundation, Marja Wagenaar. The award will be offered to Lilianne Ploumen, intitiator of SheDecides. The event will take place in the International Press Centre ‘Nieuwspoort’ in The Hague, the Netherlands and will be organized for the 29thtime.

The presentation of the yearly award is traditionally accompanied by the yearly Machiavelli lecture and offers a natural platform to reflect on current affairs in public communication. This year, the lecture will be held by Emily Bell, professor and founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University New York (USA), and is titled ‘The Global Crisis of Local News’.

Emily Bell started her career as a journalist with The Guardian in the United Kingdom. She was a pioneer in the digital activities of this newspaper. Nowadays she is a trustee of the Scott Trust, the owner of The Guardian.