Skoll Awardee Gawad Kalinga just received $5.8 million, or 250 million pesos, to help people in three Philippines cities who were affected by last month’s floods.

San Miguel Corporation donated the money to Gawad Kalinga for the  victims of Tropical Storm “Sendong,” and is donating another $5.8 million to Habitat for Humanity. The money will help build more than 5,000 homes. Plus, Gawad Kalinga will help create healthy communities after the homes are built. Gawad transforms slums into peaceful and productive communities. Engaging all sectors of society, mobilizing them to work together to end poverty, the organization is building a global army of volunteers on the ground and online, working with schools, corporations and other organized institutions to mainstream a culture of caring and sharing. Gawad Kalinga means to “give care.”

“This is our way of sharing our blessings from the heart,” San Miguel chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. said. “We want to give our fellow Filipinos hope by providing them the means to start over again. We’re looking at providing livelihood opportunities on top of the houses that we will build for them.

Read more about the donation: http://www.sanmiguel.com.ph/2012/01/smc-to-donate-p500m-to-build-homes-provide-livelihood-for-sendong-victims/

Conservation Strategy Fund, part of our Amazon Corridors initiative and a Skoll grantee, just won the 2012 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. It’s a $750,000 cash award to expand its reach. Since 1998, CSF has taught people to use economics to protect forests, rivers and other ecosystems. CSF’s vision is “for conservationists to use economics and business sense as shrewdly to sustain nature as developers do to exploit it.”

Read more: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120215/ARTICLES/120219689/1350?p=1&tc=pg 

Generation Capital Management just released a white paper called Sustainable Capitalism. The Skoll Foundation was the first foundation investor in Generation, and sustainable markets is one of our focus areas. An excerpt from the 26-page paper:

“The objective of this paper is twofold. First, we make the economic case for mainstreaming Sustainable Capitalism by highlighting the fact that it does not represent a trade-off with profit maximisation but instead actually fosters superior long-term value creation. Second, we recommend five key actions for immediate adoption that will accelerate the mainstreaming of Sustainable Capitalism by 2020:

1. Identify and incorporate risks from stranded assets; 2. Mandate integrated reporting; 3. End the default practice of issuing quarterly earnings guidance; 4. Align compensation structures with long-term sustainable performance; and 5. Encourage long-term investing with loyalty-driven securities.

Read the rest: http://www.generationim.com/media/pdf-generation-sustainable-capitalism-v1.pdf

New Teacher Center stopped by the Skoll Foundation today, and showed us we’ve got a lot to learn, and improve, about US education. Fifty percent of new teachers leave the profession within 5 years. NTC works to mitigate that, to ensure both better teaching and better teacher retention, especially in year one and two. The organization is only 14 years old and has reached 1.5M students. It has reached 24K beginning teachers, too – but that’s only 6%. There’s more to do.

“It’s not just about saying, here’s a cupcake, have a nice day,” says Ellen Moir, NTC’s CEO, shown in this video from last year’s Skoll World Forum. “It’s about new teacher development, mentor development, induction systems and program evaluation.

Turns out, for teachers, the first year is a real roller coaster. If you chart the “Phases of First Year Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Teaching”, they careen from high Anticipation in September, plummeting to Disillusionment in November, and then climbing again in February/March to Rejuvenation (hopefully). To help steady teachers in their first year, and beyond, NTC focuses on training, with teacher practice, student learning and retention in mind. Recent retention stats among NTC-trained new teachers show 72% in 2009-2010, 86% in 2010-2011. That increase matters a lot because often, according to Moir, “the best ones quit”.

No surprise, NTC isn’t just a Skoll awardee (2011) but an Ashoka fellow, and a Gates Foundation awardee. “The country cares deeply about what we care about… we have to move not left or right but deeper,” says Moir. They’re mentoring 1000 new teachers online. They’re creating laboratories, like one with 350 new teachers in Silicon Valley. And, teacher by teacher, child by child, helping close the achievement gap.

The March issue of Reader’s Digest features the Surui, Google and Skoll Awardee Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in a piece called “21st Century Amazons,” which you can read only in the print edition.

The Surui are central actors in the Skoll Foundation’s Amazon Corridors Initiative. Part of the initiative is to support the Surui indigenous organization and their NGO partners to replicate much of what the Surui have accomplished with other indigenous groups in their region. Vasco van Roosmalen, of ACT-Brasil, says in the piece, “The great thing about the Surui is that they try to find their own solutions to the problems they face. If you look at the arc of deforestation in the Amazonian rainforest, the areas that still have forest are indigenous lands. The tribe is absolutely crucial to holding back deforestation.”

See the Reader’s Digest photos: http://www.rd.com/slideshows/images-from-brazils-suri-tribe/ and read more about our Amazon Corridors Initiative: http://www.skollfoundation.org/amazon-conservation-team-and-skoll-foundation-launch-innovative-new-approach-to-amazon-rainforest-conservation/

On the news, the events of the Arab Spring looked dramatic, incontrovertible, finite. But justice is an ongoing, mutable effort. The International Center for Transitional Justice visited the Skoll Foundation today to talk about transitional justice – and to remind us of the subleties behind the headlines. David Tolbert, ICTJ’s president, was a deputy chief prosecutor at the war crimes trials in Yugoslavia trials: 121 people were tried, rape was treated as a war crime, and much was accomplished. But there was never a truth commission, he pointed out. “A broader approach is so important,” says Tolbert,  “A few convictions, or a bit of truth, or  a few reparations is not enough.” You have to have all of them. And you have to have institutional reforms. “A court process only tells part of the story.”

The organization’s early work was in Latin America and South Africa, and has now moved to post-conflict zones, including the Congo and Cote d’Ivoire. From Tunisia to Morocco, ICTJ is taking lessons from the ground and passing them to policy makers – with crucial new context. Now, it is running workshops on how conflict impacts women in particular. In Morocco, a compensation scheme allows that, when women are attacked and imprisoned, even for the same amount of time as men, they may suffer more – not just emotionally but economically. In that culture, a woman’s status, and earning power, is linked to childbearing. If that’s robbed, it is a double theft. So an additional 7% redress, it has been decided, must be granted to women. It is a start.

Tomorrow at 8:30 a.m., Jane Pauley will interview Skoll Awardee Jenny Bowen on NBC’s The Today Show. Bowen, who started the Half the Sky Foundation to help Chinese orphans, will appear on a segment Pauley hosts called “Your Life Calling,” featuring those age 50+ who have refocused their life in a meaningful way. Sponsored by AARP, the Valentine’s Day segment will focus on Jenny’s work in China since starting the Half the Sky Foundation. (See a sneak peek above).

Afterward, Pauley and Bowen will participate post-show in an “Ask Jane” radio program at www.aarp.org/Jane, and click on the internet radio player to listen to the live show.  They can also call into the show with their questions for Bowen at  1-855-444-JANE (5263).

Read the backstory from producer Kimberly Sedmak: http://blog.aarp.org/2012/02/10/behind-the-scenes-filming-jenny-bowen-for-your-life-calling/

News from Skoll Awardee Ceres:

Leading U.S. investors announced they have filed shareholder resolutions with Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Chesapeake Energy, ConocoPhillips and 14 other oil and gas companies, pressing them to disclose their plans for managing environmental and workplace challenges including hydraulic fracturing, greenhouse gas emissions and worker safety.

“The common thread of these resolutions is stronger management focus on environmental and social challenges that will have real bottom-line impacts,” said Mindy Lubber, director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) and president of Ceres, which helps coordinate the filings. “These investors are telling companies they expect to see real progress on climate change, clean energy and other sustainability fronts, despite the policy paralysis in Washington.”

Most of the resolutions address financial risks from hydraulic fracturing–called “fracking”– for natural gas. Resolutions filed with EOG Resources, Chevron, Penn Virginia, Anadarko Petroleum, Range Resources, Chesapeake Energy, Noble Energy, Ultra Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, and Stone Energy seek detailed financial accountings of how companies are addressing risks associated with community concerns, regulatory changes and drilling moratoriums.

Read the rest of the press release: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/investors-challenge-18-oil-and-gas-companies-on-climate-change-hydraulic-fracturing-and-sustainability-risks-2012-02-08

This week marked the Ninth International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and Skoll Awardee Tostan was in the forefront of the news. Many media and politicians, including The Independent and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, applauded Tostan or its community-based approach for helping decrease the practice in various parts of Africa.

An excerpt from The Independent:

The Minister for International Development, Stephen O’Brien, witnessed first-hand the impact of FGM during a recent visit to Senegal. The UK currently funds projects in Senegal and Kenya. “Tostan’s success has shown the world what can be done, and gives us confidence that even behaviour so deeply embedded in culture can be changed. It means the DfID is looking a lot more to help stamp out this millennia-old practise… and part of that will be supporting research to see how we can scale up what Tostan does without losing its community essence.”

Read more stories about the Day of Zero Tolerance, and Tostan’s work: http://tostan.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-6-tostan-celebrates.html

It’s always exciting to see two Skoll Awardees team up, and that’s just what Partners in Health and Riders for Health are doing in Malawi. Here, the official announcement.

Two leading social enterprises will show how, by working together, they can create sustainable and more cost-effective development.

Partners In Health (PIH) and Riders for Health will work together to help strengthen health care coverage in the Neno District of Malawi, announced the two organizations today. Riders for Health will manage a portion of PIH’s vehicles on a cost-effective basis, ensuring PIH has available the reliable transport and vehicles it needs to support the Ministry of Health. This partnership will allow PIH to be able to focus its resources on supporting the Neno District’s two hospitals and 11 health centres, providing health care to around 110,000 people over 1,469 square kilometers.

Riders for Health’s partnership director (Africa), Kameko Nichols said: ‘This new partnership between PIH and Riders for Health in Malawi is very important. PIH’s contribution to the rural district of Neno is significant and in order to provide that level of service, they need access to reliable and cost-effective transport. Now Riders for Health will be able to provide this. This support will allow PIH to focus on what it does best – provide top-quality health care to rural populations.’

Partners In Health’s Project Manager, Tara Loyd said: ‘As the Project Manager for PIH in Malawi, I have responsibility for our finance, human resources, external relations, and operations departments and yet I spend an inordinate amount of my time on transportation issues. With the ever-present challenges of supply chain (country-wide fuel crisis), geography (remoteness of our district accessible by dirt road across a river with no bridge), and urgent need for services (operation of three ambulances as well as vehicles that service water systems and electricity to health centers, etc), it will be a great relief to transition management of our fleet to Riders for Health. At last, I will be able to rest assured that our vehicle drivers and motorcycle riders have the best training and overall support we can offer them.’

Partners in Health and Riders for Health are both social enterprises operating in the health sector and share the core values of a belief in sustainable development, working in effective partnerships, and a commitment to training and employing local people.

Riders for Health has provided PIH/Malawi with advice and expertise in the area of vehicle management and PIH has agreed for Riders to take full management of their vehicles.

Without a reliable system, vehicle maintenance and repairs can be very costly and it is difficult to control the quality of replacement parts. In the past, PIH has found it challenging to ensure the reliablility of their vehicles and getting vehicles serviced, fuelled and repaired has been difficult. Valuable time and resouces have been diverted to these tasks.

The majority of PIH’s work is based on outreach work, visiting villages to deliver care. This includes running Antiretroviral Treatment outreach clinics and default tracking for HIV patients. They also run joint outreach clinics with Ministry of Health, community mobilisation programs and home visits.

By carrying out regular, monthly services, with high-quality replacement parts, Riders for Health will ensure that PIH’s vehicles operate effectively, and PIH has the resources and mobilisation they need to carry out their work.

Riders for Health operates programs in eight countries in sub-Saharan Africa, allowing partners to reach 12 million people with health care on a regular basis.