Dedicating her life to improving the lives of vulnerable communities by creating a more just and equitable society for all, and the struggle for self-rule and protection of human rights has paved the path for conferring the ‘Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development -2025 upon Madam Graca Machel.
The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development consists of an award of Rs.10 million and a trophy with a citation. The trophy is a square piece of banded Haematite Jasper, the same stone used at the samadhi of Indira Gandhi at Shakti Sthala, New Delhi. Haematite Jasper is one of the hardest varieties of stone found in India and is estimated to be 2000 million years old.
Inset into the stone, rimmed in silver, is a portrait of Indira Gandhi. It is painted in the Jaipur miniature tradition by master craftsman Babulal Marotia. The words Indira Gandhi Puraskar in the Devanagri script are inset below. The trophy is encased in a rosewood box edged in silver.
SMT. INDIRA GANDHI-PHOTO CREDIT INC.
To commemorate the former Prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi’s outstanding contribution to national and global well-being and to promote the causes which she espoused, India instituted the INDIRA GANDHI PRIZE for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 1985. It is administered by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
The Prize is awarded annually to a person or organization without any distinction of nationality, race or religion, in recognition of creative efforts towards: Promoting international peace and disarmament, racial equality, and goodwill and harmony among nations; Securing economic co-operation and promoting a new international economic order; Accelerating the all-round advancement of developing nations; Ensuring that the discoveries of science and modern knowledge are used for the larger good of the human race; and Enlarging the scope of freedom and enriching the human spirit.
The Prize is Rs. 10 million or its equivalent in foreign exchange. The scrutiny of proposals and final selection for the Prize is made by a jury of eminent persons.
Announcing the prize for year -2025, the award deciding Jury stated, “The International Jury of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development chaired by Shivshankar Menon, former National Security Advisor and former Foreign Secretary, Government of India, is pleased to announce the award of the Prize for 2025 to Madam Graca Machel a distinguished African stateswoman, politician and humanitarian whose life’s work is rooted in the struggle for self-rule and protection of human rights. She has dedicated her life to improving the lives of vulnerable communities by creating a more just and equitable society for all”.
The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, on 21 January 2026, divulged in a statement, “Born in Graça Simbine on October 17, 1945, in rural Mozambique, Madam Graca Machel attended Methodist mission schools before receiving a scholarship to study German at the University of Lisbon, where her political consciousness regarding independence was first ignited. Upon returning to Mozambique in 1973, she joined the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) as a freedom fighter and teacher. Following independence in 1975, she became Mozambique’s first Minister of Education and Culture. Under her tenure, there was a massive increase in school enrolment, with primary and secondary student participation rising from 40% to over 90% for males and 75% for females”.
In the 1990s, Ms Machel transitioned to the global stage. She was appointed by the United Nations to lead a seminal study on the impact of armed conflict on children. Her 1996 report, The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, fundamentally impacted how the UN and its members operate in war zones. For her tireless work, she was awarded the UN’s Nansen Refugee Award and made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1997, the Trust added.
Her leadership and efforts extending to several high-level international bodies have brought about transformational socio-economic development. She is a founding member of The Elders and played a key role in establishing Girls Not Brides. She also serves as a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group. As Patron of the Africa Child Policy Forum and Chairperson of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies, she influences policy and action to advance the cause of children and youth at risk”, the statement reported.
Divulging further, the Trust added, “In recent years, Ms Machel has focused on social transformation through her own organizations and academic leadership. In 2010, she founded the Graça Machel Trust, which promotes women’s economic empowerment, food security and good governance. She also founded the Zizile Institute for Child Development. In 2018, she was awarded the World Health Organisation’s highest honour, the WHO Gold Medal, for her commendable contributions to the well-being of women and adolescents.
The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2025 is being awarded to Madam Graca Machel, for her path-breaking work in the fields of education, health & nutrition, economic empowerment, and humanitarian work under difficult circumstances; and for inspiring hope in millions for building a more equitable and just world.
The 2024 Indira Gandhi Prize was awarded to H E Veronica Michelle Bachelet Jeria, former President of Chile, for the example and inspiration that she is to women and men around the world, steadfastly striving for peace, gender equality, human rights, democracy, and development in difficult circumstances, and her contributions to India’s relations with Chile.
