On 11 March 2019, the winners of the Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Global Award for Women's Empowerment were celebrated at a side-event convened during the sixty-third session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York. The award highlights innovative initiatives that bring about sustainable transformation for women's empowerment within their communities. Each winner will receive USD 100,000 to put towards promoting women’s empowerment.

The inaugural winners across the four categories are:

• Public Sector: AbuDhabi Police Force of UAE. The "Empowering Women for a Secure Society" initiative was launched in 2016 to support and empower policewomen at the local, regional and global levels.
• Private Sector: Mahila Sahayatra Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. of Nepal. The Microfinance and Enterprise Development Service (EDS) programme was created to empower disadvantaged women in Nepal’s mountainous region through access to microfinance services.
• Civil Society: Sustainable Development for All Kenya. The “Use Solar Save Lives” programme was initiated to increase access to clean and affordable energy in rural communities to help families benefit from sustainable development.
• Individual Champions: Dr Kalpana Sankar of India. She is the Chairperson and Managing Trustee of Hand in Hand India. Her initiative aims to provide digital and financial services to facilitate livelihood activities of Indian women entrepreneurs.