PHOTO: Winning Designs of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Fashion Awards 2019 in Ghana
Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, plans to conduct an
Award Ceremony via a Video Conference to celebrate and felicitate the winners of ‘Merck
Foundation More Than a Mother’ FASHION AWARDS 2020, to be held on 1st
September 2021. The awards were announced by Merck Foundation in partnership with
the African First Ladies, who are also the Ambassadors of Merck Foundation More Than
a Mother.
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of Merck
Foundation More Than a Mother emphasized “I am proud to recognize and appreciate our
winners and welcome them to our newly established ‘Fashion with Purpose’ community.
The young Af rican designers who win this awards and previous awards have contributed
towards our cause by developing extraordinary creative designs that deliver strong and influential messages to empower infertile women and say ‘No to Infertility Stigma’. I am
excited to meet and celebrate our winners, through our online Award Ceremony. I am looking
forward to mentor them on how to execute their designs. Other than the winners, I would
also like to invite young fashion talents f rom the continent to attend this Virtual Conference,
in order to be a part of our “Fashion with Purpose” community and participate in our upcoming
exciting initiatives to raise awareness and sensitize our communities about sensitive social
and cultural issues such as; girls’ education, stop GBV and break infertility stigma; to be the
voice of the voiceless.”
“We are very glad that Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej will champion this “Fashion with a Purpose’
community in Af rica by supporting and mentoring upcoming Af rican designers. She is a true
fashion icon”, emphasized Kezia Ansah-Mensah, Merck FoundationMore Than a Mother
Fashion awards 2019 winner from Ghana.
“My vision is to develop a community of young African Fashion Designers in order to catalyze
a movement, that reaches and extends far beyond just fashion, and creates a culture shift
and be the voice of the voiceless in their communities.
Fashion industry has already got enough flakes for being superficial. Let’s change this
perception and create a meaningful fashion trend aiming to educate our communities. I love
fashion and I strongly believe that designers can make designs for Men and Women that they
would be proud to wear to show their contribution toward their communities, villages, and
cities across Africa”, added Senator Dr. Rasha Kelej.
Merck Foundation launches an annual competition for the best design that carries messages
to address sensitive social and health issues. The two awards launched for the year 2021, for
Af rican Fashion Designer community are:
1. Merck Foundation Fashion Awards “More Than a Mother” 2021: All Af rican Fashion
Students and Designers are invited to create and share designs to deliver strong and
influential messages to raise awareness about Infertility Prevention, Breaking Infertility
stigma, and/or Empowering Girls and Women through Education.
Submission deadline: 30th October 2021. Click here to view more details.
2. Merck Foundation “Make Your Own Mask” Fashion Awards 2021: All Af rican Fashion
Designers and Students are invited to create and share designs of masks and other clothing
items that carry messages to encourage people to wear masks to show they care and at the
same time make it creative and fun!
Submission deadline: 30th September 2021. Click here to view more details.
The Award Ceremony will be livestreamed on @ Merck Foundation Facebook page and
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej Facebook page. Young and upcoming African Fashion designers
are welcome to attend the online ceremony.
Here is the list of Award Winners of Merck Foundation More Than A Mother FASHION
Awards 2020:
Here are the winners f rom Ghana in partnership with H.E. REBECCA AKUFO-ADDO, The
First Lady of Ghana and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother.
GHANA
1. Leticia Ashie Owusu
2. Gifty Amonu Essel
3. Kizito Ronald Jr
4. Placid Leke
5. Anuja Bharti
6. Paul Akrofie
7. Desmond Nhyira Amankonah
Here are the winners f rom Namibia in partnership with H.E. MONICA GEINGOS, The First
Lady of Namibia and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother.
NAMIBIA
1. Linrico Humphries
2. Stephany-Lee Schmidt (Libi)
3. Aina Shigwedha
4. Hope Gowera
5. Joel Musasa
6. Eugenia Benard
7. Paulton Luciano Witbooi
Here are the winners from Zambia in partnership with H.E. ESTHER LUNGU, The First Lady
of Zambia and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother.
ZAMBIA
1. Nelly Banda
2. Ruth Chimbala
3. Cecilia Njobvu
4. Linda Ngwira
5. Naomi Soko
6. Gibstar Makangila
7. Kasonde Makangila
Merck Foundation additionally rewarded the winners by providing them with one-year access
to an online educational training program called “MasterClass”. The MasterClass is an
immersive online experience and self-paced learning course in English that can be accessed
anywhere with the Internet.
Watch the video of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Fashion Award Winners 2019:
About ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’ campaign
“Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” is a strong movement that aims to empower infertile women
through access to information, education and change of mind-sets. This powerful campaign supports
governments in defining policies to enhance access to regulated, safe, effective and equitable fertility
care solutions. It defines interventions to break the stigma around infertile women and raises awareness
about infertility prevention, management and male infertility. In partnership with African First Ladies,
Ministries of Health, Information, Education & Gender, academia, policymakers, International fertility
societies, media and art, the initiative also provides training for fertility specialists and embryologists to
build and advance fertility care capacity in Africa and developing countries.
With “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother”, we have initiated a cultural shift to de-stigmatize infertility
at all levels: By improving awareness, training local experts in the fields of fertility care and media,
building advocacy in cooperation with African First Ladies and women leaders and by supporting childless
women in starting their own small businesses. It’s all about giving every woman the respect and the
help she deserves to live a fulfilling life, with or without a child.
The Ambassadors of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” are:
H.E. NEO JANE MASISI,
The First Lady of Botswana
H.E. FATOUMATTA BAHBARROW, The First Lady of The
Gambia
H.E. MONICA GEINGOS, The
First Lady of Namibia
H.E. SIKA KABORE, The First
Lady of Burkina Faso
H.E. REBECCA AKUFO-ADDO,
The First Lady of Ghana
H.E. AISHA BUHARI, The
First Lady of Nigeria
H.E. ANGELINE
NDAYISHIMIYE,
The First Lady of Burundi
H.E. CONDÉ DJENE, The First
Lady of Guinea Conakry
H.E FATIMA MAADA BIO, The
First Lady of Sierra Leone
H.E. BRIGITTE TOUADERA, The
First Lady of Central African
Republic
H.E. CLAR WEAH, The First
Lady of Liberia
H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA,
The First Lady of Zimbabwe
H.E. ANTOINETTE SASSOUNGUESSO, The First Lady of
Congo Brazzaville
H.E. MONICA CHAKWERA, The
First Lady of Malawi
H.E. DENISE NYAKERU
TSHISEKEDI, THE First Lady of
Democratic Republic of Congo
H.E. ISAURA FERRÃO NYUSI,
The First Lady of Mozambique
The Former First Lady of Burundi, H.E DENISE NKURUNZIZA, The Former First Lady of Chad,
H.E. HINDA DÉBY ITNO, The Former First Lady of Malawi, H.E. PROFESSOR GERTRUDE
MUTHARIKA, The Former First Lady of Niger, H.E AÏSSATA ISSOUFOU MAHAMADOU and The
Former First Lady of Zambia, H.E. ESTHER LUNGU have worked successfully with Merck
Foundation as Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Ambassadors to break the stigma of
infertility and empower infertile women in their countries.
Merck Foundation launched new innovative initiatives to sensitize local communities about infertility
prevention, male infertility with the aim to break the stigma of infertility and empowering infertile women
as part of Merck Foundation More than a Mother COMMUNITY AWARENESS CAMPAIGN, such as;
• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Africa Media Recognition Awards and Health Media
Training
• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Fashion Awards
• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Film Awards
• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Song Awards
• Local songs with local artists to address the cultural perception of infertility and how to
change it
• Children storybook, localized for each country