Recipients of 2007 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship

Escuela Nueva Foundation

http://www.escuelanueva.org Social Entrepreneur: Vicky Colbert Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

Growing up in Bogotá, Vicky Colbert was convinced that sustainable development and democracy could not be achieved unless all children were educated from an early age to acquire skills and knowledge to become future citizens in society. With rural Colombian teachers, she created the Escuela Nueva (New School) model to revolutionize education for underserved children through a more flexible approach and stronger school-community relations. She then started the Escuela Nueva Foundation to aid in expanding this local curriculum into an effective national policy and international movement. Escuela Nueva now reaches 5 million children in 14 Latin American countries, Uganda and the Philippines. With support from Skoll, it will reach an additional 1.5 million children by 2009.

Free The Children

http://www.freethechildren.com Social Entrepreneur: Craig and Marc Kielburger Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

Shocked by a newspaper article about the murder of a child laborer-turned-activist that he read when he was 12, Craig Kielburger started Free The Children with his brother Marc to fight poverty, exploitation and powerlessness among their peers. Their early classroom fund raisers have evolved into an international organization with 1,000 chapters in schools across the U.S. and Canada. Each year more than 200,000 students in its Youth in Action groups sponsor community service events and activities that support overseas development projects. With Skoll funding, the organization plans to establish 800 more groups in the U.S. that raise an additional $1.5 million per year by 2009.

Friends-International

http://www.friends-international.org Social Entrepreneur: Sébastien Marot Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

While traveling through Cambodia, Sébastien Marot realized that handouts to child beggars only served to keep them on the streets. He started Friends-International to offer holistic services to street children that allow them to reintegrate in society and become productive citizens. He also established the ChildSafe campaign to encourage the wider community and businesses to be directly involved in protecting children. Sébastien and his team now devote their energy to developing an international network of organizations that provides services to more than 85,000 street children per year. With Skoll funding, they plan to involve 50 more partners in eight countries within five years, ultimately serving 500,000 children each year.

Global Footprint Network

http://www.footprintnetwork.org Social Entrepreneur: Susan Burns and Mathis Wackernagel Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

Mathis Wackernagel grew up with a vivid awareness of the potential for global ecological collapse and created the Ecological Footprint as part of his Ph.D. in regional planning. Susan Burns, an engineer, founded Natural Strategies, one of the first sustainability consultancies for businesses. The couple launched Global Footprint Network in 2003 to advance the Ecological Footprint, a tool that tracks the extent to which human demand on nature exceeds what planet Earth can regenerate. This measure, applied by three countries and hundreds of cities, counties and organizations, has become a leading sustainability indicator. Global Footprint Network’s goal is to institutionalize the Ecological Footprint in at least 10 key nations by 2015.

Gram Vikas

http://www.gramvikas.org Social Entrepreneur: Joe Madiath Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

Joe Madiath went to the state of Orissa, India, in 1971 to help communities ravaged by a cyclone and stayed on to help some of the poorest villages there. He founded Gram Vikas in 1979 to provide renewable energy and has transitioned its focus to encompass a community-based model of development. He believes every home must have running water and sanitation before villagers will collectively seek a better quality of life through education, job training, women’s rights and healthy practices. This model has been implemented in 289 villages, reaching 22,347 households. With Skoll support, Gram Vikas plans to bring water and sanitation to 100,000 families by 2010.

Kashf Foundation

http://www.kashf.org.pk Social Entrepreneur: Roshaneh Zafar Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

A chance meeting with Muhammad Yunus inspired Roshaneh Zafar to quit her job and establish the Kashf Foundation in 1996. Ignoring warnings that a microfinance program focusing on women would not work in Pakistan, she enlisted the help of five women and used her own family’s funds to start microfinance centers. Kashf delivers collateral-free microloans, savings and life insurance products to poor women through branches that become sustainable within 18 months. Thirty-five percent of its clients move out of poverty within three years. Kashf made 228,603 loans during 2006, has 135,797 clients and maintains a recovery rate of 99.9 percent. It intends to expand operations to 1 million clients by 2010.

Manchester Bidwell Corporation

http://www.manchesterbidwell.org Social Entrepreneur: William Strickland Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

Bill Strickland was a struggling high school student in Pittsburgh when he met Frank Ross, who taught him about clay and introduced him to jazz and architecture. Bill founded Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and later added Bidwell Training Center to introduce youths in poor urban environments to arts and career education in beautiful surroundings with state-of-the-art equipment. The Pittsburgh programs connect arts knowledge and skills with academic standards, citizenship and life disciplines and serve more than 2,500 youths per year. With support from Skoll, replication programs in six cities will serve 1,800 additional youths by 2009.

Marine Stewardship Council

http://www.msc.org Social Entrepreneur: Rupert Howes Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

Influenced by conservationists like David Attenborough, Rupert Howes was determined to make the world more sustainable. His financial training and experience with nonprofit organizations convinced him “we must work with the grain of the market to shift our economic system to a more sustainable footing” to create a world that operates within ecological limits. As CEO of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), he focuses on reversing the decline in global fish stocks through MSC’s marine certification and eco-labeling programs. Today 500 MSC-labeled products from 22 certified fisheries are sold in 26 countries. Skoll funding will help MSC strengthen its presence in Europe and the U.S. and expand into the Asia-Pacific region.

Verité

http://www.verite.org Social Entrepreneur: Dan Viederman Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

Dan Viederman's experience in leading nongovernmental organizations in rapidly growing countries like China convinced him of the need to improve workplace conditions globally. As Executive Director of Verité, Dan has led efforts to scale their factory training, auditing and remediation programs, extending Verité’s reach to over 60 countries and improving working conditions for over 200,000 workers by 2006. Verité’s meaningful involvement of workers in a solutions-driven approach to factory improvement has earned them a reputation for credibility and impact, leading firms such as Gap, Levi's and Starbucks to seek their help for major restructurings. With support from Skoll, Verité will strengthen partnerships with NGOs in dozens of countries and will train 1,500 practitioners to replicate its model by the end of 2009.

YouthBuild USA

http://www.youthbuild.org Social Entrepreneur: Dorothy Stoneman Grant Amount: $1,015,000 over three years

After graduating from Harvard, Dorothy Stoneman joined the civil rights movement and lived in Harlem for 20 years. Seeing abandoned buildings, homeless people and idle youths moved her to start YouthBuild to create a positive future for low-income young people. YouthBuild re-enrolls them in alternative YouthBuild schools where they complete high school and build affordable homes for their neighbors while transforming their own lives. Each year YouthBuild programs engage 8,000 youths in local programs supported by the national YouthBuild USA organizations in 42 states and produce affordable housing for 1,000 low-income or homeless families. Skoll support will help 500 YouthBuild graduates tell their stories to millions of Americans, expand the program and fund a re-entry program for adjudicated youths in three states.

Click here to learn about the 2006 award winners