Tonight Vital Voices honors women of stature, women of consequence, women of conviction, women of courage, and women of compassion. From different regions, sectors, and generations, the leaders chosen to accept Vital Voices’ prestigious Global Leadership Award are, in the deepest meaning of Maya Angelou’s timeless prose, phenomenal women.

Over delicious dinners, high-profile events, and informal roundtables, the honorees spoke articulately with Vital Voices staff, members of the international community, and the media, sharing their invaluable advice and insights on the impact of women around the world. Laura Alonso, an anti-corruption advocate, shared details about her decades-long struggle against corruption in Argentina. Focusing on strategies, she pointed to the only two avenues – prevention and sanction. Given the structural, cultural, and legal challenges jeopardizing the implementation of effective sanctions, Alonso chooses to work on measures aimed a preventing corruption in governance. “Incentives,” Alsonso explained are the key to understanding – and ultimately eradicating – corruption because without the incentive to violate the public’s trust, corruption will diminish (though she admitted that corruption will never be eliminated 100%).

Laura will be joined onstage with stunningly inspiring women from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Excitingly, this year’s honorees represent a young woman’s vision of leadership – these are vibrant, articulate, energetic women who are on an upwards trajectory, but are not yet near maximizing their potential as catalysts who will change the world.

Still, they continue to face threats - physical, professional, personal. As we celebrate their achievements, and elevate their accomplishments, we also pause to imagine a safer, more just world for each of them and the communities to which they return. And we believe, strongly, that our investment in and acknowledgement of their individuality and leadership will advance the political, economic, and human interests of their towns, countries, regions, and even the world.

As we all converge on the Potomac - an ever expanding Vital Voices family of unbelievable mentors, dedicated staff, generous supporters, dignitaries, rising voices, and the honorees themselves - at the beautiful Kennedy Center, I can’t wait to join the chorus - “Congratulations, honorees!”