Kenyan social entrepreneur, Canadian indigenous social worker awarded 2025 UN Mandela Prize
The laureates of the 2025 United Nations Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize are Brenda Reynolds, a social worker of Saulteaux heritage supporting the health and well-being of Indigenous communities in Canada, and Kennedy Odede, founder and CEO of Shining Hope for Communities, a Kenyan grassroots organization providing services to urban slums.
Secretary-General António Guterres will award the honorary prizes, alongside President of the 79th session of the General Assembly, Philémon Yang, as part of the annual commemoration marking Nelson Mandela International Day on 18 July 2025 under the theme of It’s still in our hands to combat poverty and inequality.
“As the United Nations celebrates 80 years, Nelson Mandela’s legacy of reconciliation and transformation continues to inspire and drive us,” Secretary-General António Guterres said.
“This year’s Mandela prize winners embody the spirit of unity and possibility reminding us how we all have the power to shape stronger communities and a better world.”
General Assembly President Philémon Yang, who chaired the 2025 Selection Committee, said: “The 2025 UN Nelson Mandela Prize not only honors the legacy of Madiba, but affirms that the spirit of multilateralism lives through the tireless efforts of its laureates two individuals whose lives reflect the courage to lead, the humility to serve, and the vision to unite across borders.”
The winners were selected from 331 nominations received for candidates in 66 Member States.
Brenda Reynolds is a Status Treaty member of the Fishing Lake Saulteaux First Nation, in Saskatchewan, Canada.
She is known for her development of the Indian Residential School Resolution Health Support program under the Indian Residential Settlement Agreement and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“I speak two languages, yet words fail to express my deep gratitude and surprise at receiving the UN Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize. I am truly humbled. Mandela, a figure I’ve long admired for his work in reconciliation and against apartheid, recognized the parallels between his homeland and the struggles of Indigenous peoples. I have always felt a deep kinship with him,” said Brenda Reynolds upon learning she was one of the two 2025 Laureates.
Kennedy Odede is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at SHOFCO. He had been a street-child at the age of 10 and lived in the Kibera Slum for 23 years.
Today, SHOFCO impacts more than 2.5 million people each year in Kenya by organizing and strengthening community groups across 68 sites and fostering partnerships to deliver essential services to support them. Kennedy/SHOFCO were also recognized with the UN Habitat Scroll of Honor award in 2021.
“I am so humbled. This award is not about me it is about the power of communities, and the trust put in local leadership,” said Odede. “Nelson Mandela taught us that dignity and justice begin from the ground up. This recognition affirms what we believe at SHOFCO: the answers to poverty and inequality already exist within the people most affected.”
At the July ceremony, the winners will receive a glass trophy engraved with a quote from Nelson Mandela: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others.”
Committee
In accordance with Article 4 (1) of the Statute, the Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize recipients are selected by a selection committee. In 2025, the Committee was comprised of: Chair of the Committee Philémon Yang, President of United Nations General Assembly’s seventy-ninth session, African Group Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations; Asia-Pacific Group Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, Permanent Representative of Bahrain to the United Nations and Eastern European Group Krzysztof Maria Szczerski, Permanent Representative of Poland to the United Nations.
Others are Latin American and Caribbean Group Mutryce Agatha Williams, Permanent Representative of Saint Kitts and Nevis to the United Nations, Western European Group and other States Elina Kalkku, Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations and Ex-officio member of the Committee Mathu Joyini, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations.
Four Eminent Individuals were selected to serve as honorary members of the Committee in an advisory capacity in accordance with Article 4 (2) of the Statute: Marcella A. Liburd, Governor General of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Tarja Halonen, former President of the Republic of Finlan, Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei, Nobel Laureate, former Vice President of Egypt and Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well as Elżbieta Mikos-Skuza, senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Warsaw, Poland.
The UN Department of Global Communications served as the Secretariat of the Committee.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize
The United Nations Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize is an honorary award established by General Assembly resolution 68/275 of 6 June 2014.
Its statute was approved by General Assembly resolution 69/269 of 2 April 2015.
The Prize is presented once every five years as a tribute to the outstanding achievements and contributions of two individuals, one female and one male Laureate, who shall not be selected from the same geographic region.