JA Worldwide Nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize

We’re proud to announce that JA Worldwide has been nominated for the 2023 Nobel PeacePrize, the second such honor in two years. JA Canada is a member of JA Worldwide.

Nominations may be received only from heads of state and certain elected officials, university professors in selected fields, past Nobel laureates, and a few other notable individuals. We were approached throughout the last year by a number of eligible nominators and, although the identity of each nominee officially remains anonymous for 50 years, we know that at least one of those nominations was accepted by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. There may have been more.

Founded 104 years ago, JA is now one of the largest youth-serving NGOs in the world, delivering over15 million student learning experiences for employment and entrepreneurship in the last year alone. Operating in over 100 countries, JA teaches youth to develop the skillset and mindset to create businesses, find meaningful employment, and build thriving communities.

Thanks to what they learn in JA, students develop ambitions beyond their own economic reward, with young people understanding that entrepreneurship is not only a means to healthy finances for themselves and their families but also a vehicle to cultivate social stability and build healthy communities. JA students and alumni create companies that offer products and services that fill a consumer need; enable an ecosystem of employees, partners, and suppliers to thrive; and also fundamentally transform the world, or at least their small corner of it.

Asheesh Advani, CEO of JA Worldwide, shared his perspective in response to the nomination: “Peace is possible only when youth in all countries and regions have economic empowerment. By creating opportunity, prosperity, and self-belief, JA’s work empowers youth in over 100countries with the skillset and mindset to build thriving communities. For over a century, JA has operated in areas of political instability, violence, and war, helping youth build entrepreneurship skills and economic resilience. For this work, JA Worldwide is recognized year after year as one of the top ten NGOs in the world, providing economic empowerment to millions of young people.”

Between 1901 and 2022, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 140 laureates, including 110 individuals and 30 organizations. Among those 30 organizations is another organization from the annual list of top ten NGOs, Médecins sans Frontières (DoctorsWithout Borders), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. UNICEF, another youth-serving NGO, was awarded the prize in 1965, after being nominated for several years.