Principal Categories and Subcategories
The 7th Edition features revised categories to reflect new trends and the theme of accelerating a green and inclusive economy.
| Category | Description |
CATEGORY 1 – Education |
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| Infrastructure Development | Recognizes investments that provide safe, conducive learning environments, crucial for supporting quality education and skills transfer (SDG 4). |
| Teacher Empowerment | Recognizes programs that improve the quality of instruction, which is essential for developing the technical skills required in a modern, green economy. |
| Digital Literacy & STEAM | Recognizes initiatives that accelerate the inclusive economy by preparing youth for digital transformation and technical jobs, addressing the digital skills gap. |
| Adult Literacy Programs | Recognizes programs that empower marginalized adults with foundational skills necessary for equitable economic participation. |
CATEGORY 2 – Healthcare |
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| Women’s Health Initiatives | Recognizes initiatives that support equitable access to care, enhancing the health, productivity, and well-being of the female workforce. |
| Child Health Initiatives | Recognizes programs that invest in the foundation of the nation’s future workforce and directly address priority public health needs. |
| Healthcare Infrastructure Support | Recognizes companies making foundational investments that improve community health outcomes and resilience. |
| Rural Health Access | Recognizes initiatives that target critical social gaps by ensuring essential services reach the often-excluded rural populations. |
| Community Wellness | Recognizes programs that promote comprehensive preventative health and mental resilience for a stable, productive society. |
CATEGORY 3 – Social and Economic Impact |
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| Youth Empowerment | Recognizes programs that directly address youth unemployment through job creation, skills development, or enterprise support. |
| Women Empowerment Initiatives | Recognizes programs that dismantle barriers, drive economic participation, and foster equitable growth for women. |
| Housing/Shelter Solutions | Recognizes projects contributing to decent living standards and reducing vulnerability in low-income communities. |
| Access to Water | Recognizes projects providing access to clean/safe water and reducing vulnerability in low-income communities. |
| PwD (Persons with Disabilities) Inclusive Programs | Recognizes initiatives that actively remove barriers and enable the full and equitable participation of persons with disabilities in the inclusive economy. |
| Community Livelihoods Enhancement Programs | Recognizes programs that create self-sustaining, non-extractive economic activities and diversify local income streams within host communities. |
| Access to Water | Recognizes projects that secure clean water access, directly supporting public health and reducing community vulnerability. |
CATEGORY 4 – Financial Inclusion and Economic Empowerment |
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| Financial Literacy Programs | Recognizes programs that empower citizens to participate effectively in the formal economy and achieve economic self-reliance. |
| Entrepreneurship & Start-up Support | Recognizes support structures that fuel the private sector, promoting innovation and job creation through Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). |
| Access to Green Financing & Microfinance | Recognizes financial institutions or programs that accelerate the green transition by linking finance to environmentally sound projects and empowering green MSMEs. |
CATEGORY 5 – Agriculture and Food Security |
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| Climate-Smart Agriculture & Innovation | Recognizes projects for adopting modern, sustainable, and innovative practices essential for food security and adapting to climate shocks. |
| Food Security Initiatives | Recognizes initiatives focused on improving local food production and ensuring national stability and public health. |
| Agricultural Diversification Efforts | Recognizes projects that encourage crop variety, enhancing economic resilience and mitigating environmental risks for farmers. |
| Conservation Farming Practices | Recognizes programs for methods that conserve soil health, water, and increase long-term agricultural sustainability. |
CATEGORY 6 – Green and Environmental Stewardship |
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| Best Climate Action & Innovation Initiative | Recognizes projects that go beyond compliance to actively increase green cover, mitigate impacts and build systemic resilience. |
| Biodiversity Conservation | Recognizes projects focused on protecting Zambia’s unique flora and fauna, critical to national heritage and ecological stability. |
| Best Reforestation Project – AFR100 | Recognizes organizations that directly support national commitments to land restoration and carbon sequestration. |
| Water Stewardship & Management | Recognizes companies for practices that ensure sustainable and efficient use of water, addressing scarcity and pollution risks. |
| Sustainable Waste Management & Recycling Initiatives | Recognizes projects that transform waste from a liability into a resource, targeting the national waste challenge and mitigating the “toxic legacy.” |
| Renewable Energy Transition | Recognizes companies or projects supporting the shift toward clean, low-carbon energy sources for a green economy. |
CATEGORY 7 – Sports & Culture |
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| Contributor to Sports Development | Recognizes investments in social infrastructure that benefits community morale and youth engagement. |
| Best Sports Initiative | Recognizes programs that use sports as a strategic tool to promote positive social outcomes (e.g., education, health awareness). |
| Support to Creative Industries (Arts & Culture) | Recognizes contributions to the cultural economy, supporting social enrichment and economic diversification. |
CATEGORY 8 – Tech & Innovation for Social Impact |
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| Innovative Tech for Social Impact | Recognizes technologies or solutions that effectively solve pressing social or environmental issues. |
| Tech-Driven CSR & ESG Reporting Initiatives | Recognizes companies that use digital tools for robust, auditable data collection and reporting, accelerating accountability. |
| Best Digital Inclusion Program | Recognizes programs that bridge the digital divide, ensuring marginalized groups are equipped with necessary digital skills. |
| Best Newcomer | Recognizes a young company or a new initiative with high potential for scalable, positive impact. |
CATEGORY 9 – Partnerships & Collaboration for Impact |
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| Corporate-NGO Partnership | Recognizes collaborations that successfully blend corporate resources with the non-profit sector’s specialized expertise and community reach. |
| Corporate-Corporate Collaboration | Recognizes joint ventures that tackle systemic issues too large for one company alone. |
| Corporate-Government Collaboration | Recognizes effective partnerships that help mainstream sustainability into national policy and public projects. |
CATEGORY 10 – Workplace Excellence Award |
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| Mental Healthcare | Recognizes programs that offer holistic support for employee well-being and productivity. |
| Sustainability Practices | Recognizes initiatives that embed sustainable practices within the company’s own internal operations (e.g., resource efficiency, green commuting). |
| Employee Welfare | Recognizes companies for standards and benefits that exceed the legal baseline, enhancing workforce stability and retention. |
| Workforce Empowerment | Recognizes investment programs that enhance employee capacity through skills development and training, creating a resilient workforce. |
CATEGORY 11 – Personality Awards |
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| Young Impact Champion (Male & Female) | Honors an individual (under a specific age) driving significant, verifiable social or environmental change. |
| Workplace Sustainability Champion (Male & Female) | Recognizes an individual (non-CEO) who successfully embeds sustainability culture and practices across internal departments. |
| Social Conscience Icon of the Year | Honors an individual whose public influence and personal commitment to social equity, environmental justice, or community empowerment have inspired broader action and philanthropy across the nation. |
| Advocate for Social Impact | Recognizes a high-profile Zambian artist, musician, actor, or sportsperson who has leveraged their personal platform and conviction to drive measurable, non-commercial social or environmental change in a community or for a specific cause. |
CATEGORY 12 – Executive Leadership Awards |
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| Impact Leader of the Year (Male & Female) | Honors a senior leader who demonstrates exceptional vision and influence in linking CSR/ESG strategy to national impact. |
| Responsible CEO of the Year | Honors the chief executive whose bold leadership has strategically driven and integrated the entire organization’s CSR/ESG agenda. |
| ESG – Governance Champion | Recognizes a Board Director or Senior Executive who has pioneered best-in-class governance, transparency and accountability reforms at the highest level. |
