Making India proud on an international platform, 26-year-old Suhani Jalota has been nominated for the Global Citizen Prize. In light of her work in providing menstrual health products to women in poverty stricken areas, Suhani has been applauded for creating livelihood opportunities for women in Mumbai’s slum areas.
Suhani is the founder of the Myna Mahila Foundation and is currently completing her PhD in Health Policy and Economics at Stanford University.
She is the only Indian out of the top three finalists to be nominated for the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award 2020, which encourages young entrepreneurs who are working towards eradicating poverty. They also give away $2,50,000 to support the winner’s organisation.
Suhani began the Myna Mahila Foundation in 2015 to get women to discuss the issues that they are afraid to talk about. Her NGO has provided menstrual products for thousands of women and tries to educate them and break the stereotypes surrounding menstruation.
Meghan Markle also visited the NGO back in 2017 and spoke about the taboo surrounding menstrual health. Suhani was also invited to the royal wedding to represent her organisation – which the royal couple’s guests were asked to donate to, instead of bringing gifts to the wedding. By the end of 2025, Suhani’s NGO hopes to extend menstrual health products and services to 2 million women, drastically impacting the depleting menstruation hygiene in India.
The other finalists include Ryan Gersava, founder president of Virtualahan, which works towards creating awaraness and helping break down employment barriers for people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups in Philippines. And Christelle Kwizera, who is the Founder and Managing Director, Water Access Rwanda and works towards solving the water crisis in Rwanda, while providing employment opportunities.
