The World Bank today announced the three winners of the 2008 Jit Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Public Service: Kisan Baburao Hajare, a social activist from India; Karina Constantino-David, former Chair of the Civil Service Commission of the Philippines, and Nuhu Ribadu, Chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria.
 
The World Bank established this memorial award for Outstanding Public Service in 2004, following the death of the Bank staff Jit Gill, a dedicated leader in public sector governance and integrity.
 
“The people honored today have embodied the highest ideals of public service,” said Danny Leipziger, World Bank Vice-President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM). “They clearly were able to translate their ideals into innovative public sector reforms.”
 
Mr. Kisan Baburao Hajare is a social activist from India, who created a thriving model village in Ralegan Siddhi, in the impoverished Ahmednagar region of Maharashtra state, and championed the right to information and the fight against corruption. Ms. Karina Constantino-David, battled against formidable obstacles to defend meritocracy and improve civil service pay as Chair of the Civil Service Commission of the Philippines until February of this year. Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, has led a courageous anticorruption drive in Nigeria, as Head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
 
“We instituted this award in 2004 as part of our work on leadership with integrity as a crucial pillar for good governance and anticorruption,” said Sanjay Pradhan, Director of the Public Sector Governance Group in the World Bank.   “The award is intended as an inspirational tool to recognize the courage, tenacity and contributions of outstanding leaderships who have championed reforms for better governance against formidable odds.”
 
The memorial award was received by the honorees today during the Jit Gill Memorial Lecture held at the World Bank, as part of the annual conference of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Network.

The World Bank