Atlas Network Announces 2024 Templeton Freedom Award Finalists

The Bendukidze Free Market Center (BFMC) is bringing economic literacy to a new generation of Ukrainians through its Economic Education Accelerator program, a transformative educational initiative aimed at reintroducing comprehensive economic education in Ukraine’s schools. Launched in 2019, the initiative draws on successful elements from other economic literacy projects, such as the Lithuanian Free Market Institute’s Economics in 31 Hours textbook and the Economics Olympiad organized globally by the Institute of Economic Education. Since the launch of the Economic Olympiad in Ukraine, BFMC has reached almost 600 schools and nearly 10,000 students, meaning that Ukraine now has the highest number of schools participating in the International Olympiad—despite the ongoing Russian invasion.

The Centre for Development and Enterprises (CDE) Great Lakes aims to secure women’s property and inheritance rights in Burundi through its “Why Women” project. Dating back to a 2020 community listening campaign in rural areas, CDE’s efforts have brought the government’s attention to the need to protect women’s equal rights under the law. In 2021, Burundi’s President of Parliament addressed women's inheritance rights for the first time in a decade, which CDE followed up by equipping women with the tools to claim their rights in court by 2022. The Supreme Court of Burundi eventually published model land judgments reinforcing gender equality in inheritance matters, with significant legal reforms enacted in 2023, including a new civil procedure code and the “law on notables” that decentralizes inheritance dispute resolutions. Because of CDE’s work, the number of women holding land certificates in Burundi has increased from 3,000 in 2015 to 21,000 today.

In recent years, the Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty (Fundalib) has conducted an advocacy program aimed at reducing the tax burden on lower-income Spanish citizens across the country. Based on Fundalib’s Regional Tax Competitiveness Index that assesses the different tax landscapes in each of Spain’s regions, the organization catalyzed significant tax reforms, including the reduction and elimination of burdensome inheritance and wealth taxes in numerous regions. For instance, the total number of vulnerable people renouncing their inheritance for lack of funds to pay the inheritance tax in key regions has dropped from over 40,000 per year to virtually zero. Fundalib’s ongoing work has led to over 30 policy wins in 13 different tax territories, benefiting nearly two-thirds of the Spanish population.

Beginning in 2015, the Institute for Market Economics (IME) sought to address deep-seated issues within the Bulgarian judicial system, characterized by corruption that erodes public trust. Through various initiatives, IME played a pivotal role in the passage of significant constitutional amendments in 2023, enhancing Bulgaria’s judicial independence, curbing the powers of the country’s Prosecutor General, and aligning its legal framework with European standards. Thanks to IME’s work, the Mechanism for Independent Investigation of the Prosecutor General was validated through the Criminal Procedure Code and Judicial System Act. While attacks on the rule of law continue in Bulgaria, with Bulgaria's Constitutional Court known to reject international recommendations for judicial reform, IME has gained widespread support for pro-reform and anti-corruption efforts that have become enshrined in the Bulgarian legal framework.

Due to Lebanon’s escalating economic crisis in 2020, the Lebanese government expanded the Central Bank’s subsidy program to include essential commodities such as food, medicine, and fuel—leading to unsustainable fiscal deficits, market manipulations, and widespread shortages. In response, the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies (LIMS) successfully advocated for the termination of the harmful subsidy programs, removing price controls that were causing shortages in gas, electricity, and medicine. After five years of advocacy, major subsidy programs were lifted on more than 300 food items, wheat, fuel, infant formula, and medications, with products previously purchased on the black market returning to store shelves. Most notably, LIMS prevented another Central Bank bailout in 2023, helping reduce government spending by over $6 billion in bank subsidies, with Lebanon’s parliament even ratifying a zero-deficit budget for the first time in decades by January 2024.

Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) has embarked on a landmark legal campaign to combat the pervasive issue of home equity theft by U.S. government entities. Beginning in 2018, PLF’s initiative targets laws that permit local governments to seize homes for unpaid property taxes and confiscate the total value of the home, far exceeding the tax debt owed. The organization’s comprehensive strategy, which combines litigation, public education, and legislative advocacy, has already led to significant legal victories, including a unanimous Supreme Court decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County that affirms the unconstitutionality of home equity theft. As a result, 14 U.S. states reformed their laws to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling and protect property rights, with more reforms expected in the years ahead.