PHI’s Denise Dunning Selected for The 120 Under 40: The New Generation of Family Planning Leaders Award

PHI’s Denise Dunning, PhD, MPA, has been named in the 120 Under 40: The New Generation of Family Planning Leaders, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health. Dr. Dunning is the founder and executive director of PHI’s Rise Up program, which benefits 115 million girls, youth, and women globally, and reaches across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the United States. This award recognizes Dunning’s exemplary leadership to advance family planning and reproductive health.

120 Under 40 shines a light on the “positive disruptions” made by young leaders in family planning, enabling others to model their behaviors and build on their success. The project’s international profile increases awareness of family planning as critical to young people’s health and wellbeing and essential to sustainable global development. The 40 winners for 2016 were chosen through public online voting, scoring by a jury of experts and leaders in family planning, and the project secretariat. The winners each receive $1,000 from the Gates Institute to continue their work in family planning.

By investing in visionary leaders, local organizations, and innovative solutions, Rise Up is achieving large-scale change through advocacy, leadership development, organizational strengthening, grantmaking, and storytelling. Empowered by Rise Up, local leaders around the world have advocated for the passage and implementation of 124 laws and policies improving the lives of youth and women. Rise Up unifies the work of PHI programs Let Girls Lead, Champions for Change and the Youth Champions Initiative.

“We were thrilled by the caliber of the nominees in this first year of 120 Under 40, and these 40 winners are truly an outstanding group,” says Jose “Oying” Rimon II, Director of the Gates Institute and chair of the 120 Under 40 Jury. “With these young leaders at the helm, the family planning movement and its commitment to protecting health and saving lives are in excellent hands.”