Donated hygiene products and the mobile shower truck, March 2022. Photo: courtesy of Lionel Legrand.
JCI Belgium put forward Lionel Legrand, a 29-year-old member of JCI Liège, for the first Kofi Annan Geneva Youth Peace Prize. He was not selected: the prize went to Maung Sawyeddollah, a Rohingya peacebuilder, on 15 October 2026 in Geneva. Lionel’s nomination file describes five years of volunteer crisis response, from the 2021 floods to the August 2026 Hautes Fagnes wildfire.
The Kofi Annan Geneva Youth Peace Prize is an international award for young peacebuilders aged 18 to 30. The Kofi Annan Foundation, the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and the Geneva Graduate Institute launched it on 21 September 2026, International Day of Peace. It recognises a measurable contribution to peace through mediation, reconciliation, advocacy, dialogue or community mobilisation. Its values are dialogue, courage, inclusion, integrity and innovation.
For the first edition, organisations working internationally on youth engagement and peacebuilding could nominate candidates. The prize was presented for the first time on 15 October 2026 at the Kofi Annan Geneva Peace Address, with a keynote by Dr Denis Mukwege.
Maung Sawyeddollah is the first laureate. He is the founder and executive director of the Rohingya Student Network, a refugee-led organisation he established in a refugee camp. The Kofi Annan Foundation recognised his commitment to peace, education and human rights. In an opinion piece in The Daily Star on 20 October 2026, he wrote that recognition is welcome but no substitute for rights and justice for stateless Rohingya. Congratulations to him.
Lionel Legrand, 29, is Entrepreneurship Coordinator for higher education institutions and universities in the provinces of Liège and Luxembourg, and a local member of JCI Liège. JCI Belgium National President Bart Van Proeyen put his name forward, and JCI’s global team selected him as one of JCI’s candidates and submitted the nomination in August 2026, with Lionel’s agreement.
In the nomination file Lionel says: “I’ve never done this to get something back.” After each emergency he works with young people on entrepreneurial ideas that reduce future risks. He also says he developed “a lot of my skills thanks to” JCI.
| When | Event | What Lionel did | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| July to September 2021 | Floods in the province of Liège | Coordinated river and bank clean-ups with JCI Liège and River Clean-up | RTBF and L’Avenir, August 2021 |
| March 2022 | War in Ukraine | Raised €10,000 in three days for a mobile shower truck and hygiene kits sent to Romania | Nomination file; JCI Help for Ukraine |
| August 2026 | Hautes Fagnes wildfire | Supported the coordination of farmers, water loading and controlled flooding | Nomination file; Reuters and AFP on the fire |
| Since 2018 | Viva For Life | Organises fundraising for children living in poverty | Nomination file |
After the July 2021 floods in the province of Liège, JCI Liège and the NGO River Clean-up organised weekly clean-ups of rivers, banks and fields. RTBF reported on 3 August 2021 that about 70 volunteers took part in Dolhain, around 50 of them from Flanders, and spoke to Lionel as a member of JCI Liège. A week later, L’Avenir counted 250 volunteers in Olne and quoted him as coordinator for JCI Liège. The peacebuilding thread is practical solidarity: Flemish and Walloon volunteers working side by side.
Shortly after the war in Ukraine began, Lionel raised €10,000 in three days. The money paid for a mobile shower truck, sourced through a partner he met during the floods, and for sanitary kits such as towels, shampoo and toothbrushes. The truck went to Romania, close to the Ukrainian border, for refugees fleeing the conflict. The effort ran alongside JCI Help for Ukraine, an initiative by JCI members and organisations in Europe.
The Hautes Fagnes wildfire started on Friday 14 August 2026 in a peat and pine nature reserve near the German border. Reuters described it as Belgium’s biggest wildfire on record, with more than 3,000 hectares burned by 16 August, and AFP reported more than 250 firefighters and emergency workers on site.
A fire engine and a farmer’s tanker working together at night. Photo: courtesy of Lionel Legrand.
According to the nomination file, Lionel left home with local farmers by 10 p.m. on the first night. Every day after that he supported the coordination of farmers, water-loading operations and the deliberate flooding of zones that needed protecting, in a peatland that is hard to reach by vehicle and even on foot.
Since 2018 Lionel has also organised fundraising initiatives for Viva For Life, an annual RTBF campaign for children living in poverty. The nomination file puts the total at more than €100,000.
JCI informed Lionel that his nomination for the Kofi Annan Geneva Youth Peace Prize was not selected on this occasion. It thanked him for taking part and encouraged him to keep sharing his journey. We agree: the clean-ups, the shower truck and the wildfire response happened whatever the outcome.
What set the file apart for JCI Belgium is the pattern. Many local chapters run one solidarity campaign a year, while Lionel committed entire days and nights to three large crisis responses in five years. That is our reading of the file, not the jury’s assessment.
JCI Belgium brings together young professionals and entrepreneurs aged 18 to 40 who turn ideas into community projects. Discover JCI Belgium or meet the national board.
It is an international award for young peacebuilders aged 18 to 30, launched on 21 September 2026 by the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform and the Geneva Graduate Institute. It honours work in mediation, reconciliation, advocacy, dialogue or community mobilisation that reflects Kofi Annan’s values.
Maung Sawyeddollah, founder and executive director of the Rohingya Student Network, received the inaugural prize on 15 October 2026 at the Kofi Annan Geneva Peace Address in Geneva. The three organising institutions announced the result.
No. JCI put Lionel Legrand forward as one of its candidates in August 2026, but he was not selected. The inaugural prize went to Maung Sawyeddollah. Lionel’s flood clean-up, refugee support and wildfire response work is described above.
According to the nomination file, he joined local farmers on the night the fire started. He then supported the coordination of farmers, water-loading operations and the controlled flooding of protected zones every day. The fire burned more than 3,000 hectares in August 2026.
