The Mawina Kouyate Daughters of Africa Award was created to honor the memory and achievements of Mighty Daughter of Africa, Mawina Kouyate. Sister Mawina was a founding member of the All-African Women’s Revolutionary Union (A-AWRU) and made an excellent contribution to the overall development, consolidation and expansion of the A-APRP. She dedicated 29 years of her life to building the A-APRP and A-AWRU and crossed into the ancestral realm in September 2002.
The MKDOAA is awarded each year to an individual and/or organisation that has activity worked for the struggle for the advancement of women’s revolutionary advancement and the advancement of humanity. Some previous recipients of the award are Wangari Maathai, Assata Shakur, Berta Càceres, Madame Hadja Andrèe Toure, Mama Charlotte O’Neal, Piedada Esneda Córdoba Ruiz, Rasmea Odeh and others.
2021 Recipients
Miriam Miranda (Honduras)
Miriam Miranda, Miriam Miranda is a land rights activist from Honduras. As a member of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras she has fought the tourist industry’s efforts to steal land that belongs to her people, the Garifuna. The Garifuna are indigenous and African, and they have been heavily impacted by the drug trade and environmental crimes. In fighting both, Miranda has been repeatedly arrested and beaten by fascist Honduran police agencies. In 2014, she was kidnapped by a drug cartel as part of a failed attempt to frustrate her work and that of her organization. She has received numerous human rights awards for her work.
Mildred Trouillot Aristide
(Haitian Leader)
Mildred Trouillot Aristide Mildred Trouillot Aristide, who was born and raised in the Bronx, NY. After working for five years as a commercial transactions attorney, she moved to Washington D.C. in 1992 to join the legal team representing Jean-Bertrand Aristide, then exiled president of Haiti. She drafted his speeches, represented the Haitian government at high-level meetings and coordinated press. In 1994, she moved to Haiti where she continued to work on behalf of the Haitian government. She and President Aristide married in 1996 and have two daughters. Ms. Aristide’s work for Haiti included: presiding over the national AIDS/TB commission; authoring Child Domestic Service in Haiti and Its Historical Underpinnings; and she was an advocate for girls’ education.
After the February 2004 coup d’état, and while the Aristides were in exile in South Africa, Ms. Aristide and her husband were appointed research fellows at the University of South Africa. Ms. Aristide also joined the Centre for African Renaissance, becoming a founding editor of its academic journal. The Aristides returned to Haiti in March 2011, where they set out to reopen the university they founded in 2002. Ms. Aristide is an active member of the Council of Administration, and she provides continuing service to the university.
Charo Mina-Rojas
(Afro-Colombian Human Rights Defender) Charo Mina-Rojas is an Afro-Colombian human rights defender with more than two decades of experience in activism at the national and international levels. Ms. Mina- Rojas is the National Coordinator of Advocacy and Outreach for the Black Communities’ Process (Proceso de Comunidades Negras- PCN) and a member of the Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network. She was extensively involved in the Havana peace process, serving on the Gender Committee of the Ethnic Commission, thus Ms. Mina-Rojas was instrumental in guaranteeing that Afro-Colombian and indigenous women’s rights were included in the final agreement.
Ms. Mina-Rojas has worked for many years to educate grassroots communities of African descent about Law 70 of 1993, which recognizes their cultural, territorial, and political rights. Ms. Mina-Rojas’ organization successfully advocated for enactment of this law as well as the development of the Observatory of Racial Discrimination in Colombia, and the collection and maintenance of specific statistics about people of African descent in the 2005 Census. Ms. Mina-Rojas raises awareness about gross human rights violations against women of African descent at national and international levels, calls for accountability and provides protection for African descended women