Recognise the person
Put the individual and their contribution at the centre.
RECOGNITION PRINCIPLES
What it takes to be a GLOW leader.
GLOW stands for Global Leaders doing Outstanding Work. As a UNGSII initiative, it celebrates people whose leadership, ideas, and sustained action are helping advance a more sustainable and equitable world.
GLGlobal Leaders
doingOWOutstanding Work
ABOUT GLOW
Celebrating the people behind progress.
The Sustainable Development Goals describe shared ambitions. GLOW brings attention to the people turning those ambitions into action—across communities, institutions, business, education, science, and public life. Through profiles and news, we show what leaders set out to change, how they work, and why their contribution matters.
Show the work
Give readers context, examples, and sources they can follow.
Help ideas travel
Connect contributions to the SDGs and approaches others can learn from.
Across fields and generations, the work of GLOW leaders often reflects qualities such as:
VisionaryCourageousPersistentCollaborativeResourcefulPrincipled
What makes their work outstanding?
01
Grounded in meaningful work
There is a specific contribution to recognise: what the person did and the work they helped make happen, beyond title or visibility.
02
A credible SDG connection
The contribution relates clearly to one or more Sustainable Development Goals, and that connection is explained rather than treated as a label.
03
Outcomes supported by evidence
Reliable sources help readers understand the person’s role, contribution, and results. Claims are attributed and kept in proportion.
04
Wider, lasting value
The work responds to real needs, builds useful capacity, creates lasting benefit, or gives others an approach they can learn from.