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| Home > SASE Award Recipients > SASE Award Recipients (a-e) > | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recipients of Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship (A-E)Afghan Institute of Learning
Sakena Yacoobi founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995 to restore education and health programs in Afghanistan that were dramatically cut during 30 years of warfare. The organization’s 18 Women’s Learning Centers provide services to more than 350,000 Afghan women and children each year. Its 16 Educational Learning Centers have trained 10,000 teachers and have provided school supplies to thousands of young Afghan students, while its university has prepared 125 students for careers as community leaders. AIL plans to expand its teacher training programs and its partnership network to 100 new community-based organizations, ultimately training 3,300 new teachers and improving the health of 500,000 women and children. Aflatoun (formerly Child Savings International)
Jeroo Billimoria has devoted her life to helping children in India and around the world. Realizing that children living in poverty need an advocate, she founded Childline, which has fielded 3 million calls for assistance from street children in India’s largest cities. She expanded the concept into an international organization called Child Helpline International, which supports help lines in 71 countries. She used the same model to found Child Savings International, a global network of organizations empowering children to plan and save for the future. The pilot program serves more than 70,000 children in India, using school-based “Aflatoon Clubs” that prepare children to succeed academically, manage income and help to break the cycle of poverty. Amazon Conservation Team
Mark Plotkin, an ethnobotanist, and Liliana Madrigal, a conservationist and crusader for indigenous rights, created the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) in 1996 to help preserve the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous people. ACT currently partners with 25 local tribes in Brazil, Colombia and Suriname to protect the rainforest by using sophisticated mapping technology and by establishing legal claims. To preserve native culture, ACT establishes ethno-education centers that teach traditional arts, forestry and farming techniques. By 2011, ACT’s goal is to double the number of rainforest acres mapped and managed from 40 million to 80 million. ACT plans for its indigenous partners to eventually maintain field offices and training centers independently. American Council on Renewable Energy
Michael Eckhart first understood the promise of renewable energy in the 1970s when he did pioneering energy studies under funding by the Carter White House. After years in business, he worked in India and Africa on solar energy. In 2001, Michael and others founded the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) to establish an “all renewable” organization for the U.S., and his volunteer role soon grew into a full-time commitment. ACORE’s goal is to have 25 percent of U.S. electricity and fuels come from renewable sources by 2025. ACORE catalyzes change through membership, working groups, partnerships and conferences. By 2011, it plans to increase membership from 500 to 1,000 organizations. Arzu, Inc.
Connie Duckworth made history as the first female sales and trading partner at Goldman, Sachs & Company. A longtime women’s advocate, she visited Afghanistan and was shocked by the hardships the women faced. In 2004 she founded Arzu to provide sustainable income to Afghan women by selling their rugs. Arzu weavers receive basic health care and above-market compensation for their rugs. In exchange, they must send all their children under 15 to school full time and all women in their home must attend literacy classes. Arzu now supports 700 weavers and aids more than 2,100 individuals through its core program. By 2011, Arzu plans to double the population it assists. Barefoot College (Social Work and Research Centre)
Inspired by Gandhi and moved to respond to India’s 1967 famine, Bunker Roy moved from the affluent suburb where he grew up to Rajasthan, India, to help rural villagers improve their lives. The organization he founded in 1972, Social Work and Research Centre, came to be known as “Barefoot College” because its clients are poor, rural, often semiliterate villagers. Communities from all over India have sent representatives to work and study to become “barefoot” health workers, teachers and engineers. Once they return to their villages, they use their knowledge of water engineering, solar power, income generation, medicine and other topics to improve their own communities. Some launch their own Barefoot Colleges. The organization has trained 750 technicians—women, dropouts and unemployable youths—in remote villages in 13 Indian states over the past 30 years through a self-help model that respects local knowledge and capability and promotes local organizations to make community decisions. Skoll’s grant will help Barefoot College bring the “Barefoot Approach” to 30 communities in five countries. Benetech
While in college learning to make smart bombs, Jim Fruchterman hit upon the idea of using character recognition to make books available to people with reading disabilities. The experience inspired him to create Benetech, a company that utilizes technology to address social needs. With 25,000 books, its Bookshare.org is the world’s largest library of electronic books for the disabled. Benetech’s Martus project, used in 60 countries, helps collect and disseminate information about human rights abuses. In addition to deepening the impact of its current projects, Benetech plans to launch high-potential new projects, build its capacity and advance the field of social entrepreneurship. CAMFED
During a trip to Zimbabwe in 1990, Ann Cotton realized that Africa would never conquer poverty and disease unless its women were educated. She found that families that could not afford to educate all their children would give priority to boys. She knew that educated women are less likely to contract HIV/AIDS, and that they marry later and have fewer children who are healthier and more likely to go to school. She launched CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) in 1993. By selling baked goods, she raised enough money to send 32 girls to school, and she has since built the organization to support 68,290 children in school. It reached more than 480,000 community members through various initiatives in 2004 alone. CAMFED works with groups of girls who encourage one another to stay in school, get jobs, start businesses and become leaders in their communities. The organization has implemented its program in more than 30 districts in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania and is poised to expand to other countries. Skoll funding will help CAMFED open 21 new district centers, develop training programs to support replication, promote national-level initiatives to support girls’ education and hire additional staff. Ceres, Inc.
Mindy Lubber was a founding board member of Ceres, Inc., in 1989 and became its president in 2003. The organization’s goal is to advance institutional responsibility and environmental sustainability, persuading corporations to change their practices by galvanizing institutional investors. More than two dozen companies took action on climate change as a result of Ceres’ 2003 summit. Its 2005 convening produced a 10-point Call for Action that includes an investor commitment of $1 billion to clean energy technology. Ceres plans to persuade 25 more companies to make public commitments on climate change by 2008. CIDA City Campus
Taddy Blecher was ready to emigrate from South Africa when he took a second look at his native country. “I saw aching poverty,” he said, and he made a life-changing decision to do something about it. In 1999 he and his colleagues opened CIDA City Campus to provide disadvantaged youths a chance to earn a four-year business administration degree. At a cost of just $9,500 per student, CIDA has produced 1,800 graduates with potential lifetime earnings of $635,000 to $1.5 million who teach and sponsor other students. CIDA plans to open new campuses, increase enrollment and create a franchise model called University-in-a-Box entirely built and managed by students. Citizen Schools
Eric Schwarz’s vision for Citizen Schools is to re-engage citizens with their schools and create learning opportunities that will change the trajectory of low-income youths, preparing them for academic achievement, high school completion and college access. With Ned Rimer, he led Citizen Schools in developing after-school, Saturday and summer apprenticeship programs for disadvantaged children ages 9 to 14, transforming out-of-school time into enriching learning experiences. Founded in Boston in 1995, Citizen Schools now operates programs in 13 cities and serves 2,000 children annually. Its curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning, discovering, skill building, leadership, teamwork and fun. According to an external evaluation, 70 percent of eighth graders in the Citizen Schools academy program select top-tier, college-track high schools in Boston, compared to only 46 percent in a comparison group. With help from Skoll, the organization will expand its programs to serve 6,000 students at 50 program sites and will continue to perfect its replication model. Ciudad Saludable
Albina Ruiz started worrying about health and environmental problems caused by garbage in Peru when she was an industrial engineering student. She came up with the idea of creating local enterprises to collect and process garbage, charge affordable fees, reduce waste in landfills and generate income by recycling. After promoting her concept as a consultant for 15 years, she founded Ciudad Saludable in 2001. The organization is generating employment and facilitating cleaner cities. It has trained authorities in 43 municipalities, works with 800 informal recyclers and is helping the government develop Peru’s first national waste management plan. Ciudad Saludable plans to expand in 20 major cities. College Summit
A product of inner-city schools in Denver, J.B. Schramm noticed that many of his peers were not going on to college, and he became the director of a teen center in a low-income neighborhood of Washington, D.C., to address this problem. It was there that he recognized the gap in college enrollment is not only about talent or ambition, but also about resources and access. College Summit focuses on building support systems during the critical transition from grade 12 to “grade 13” by mobilizing teachers, parents, schools, colleges and communities to help students continue their education. College Summit students have enrolled in college at a rate of 79 percent—significantly higher than the national rate of 46 percent for low-income students. College Summit alumni have maintained a college retention rate of 80 percent. The cost per student has dropped, while the number of students served annually has risen from 925 in 2002 to more than 6,000 in 2005. The organization plans to serve 28,000 students between 2006 and 2009. Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI)
Rodrigo Baggio founded a successful technology consulting company while still in school in Rio de Janeiro. Eager to erase the digital divide and help disadvantaged people use technology to improve their communities and their lives, he created the first citizens’ rights and technology school in a Rio slum in 1995. The nonprofit organization he formed, the Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI), now supports more than 750 schools in Brazil in addition to more than 150 schools in other countries. Students learn how to use computers and software while discussing issues of interest to their community, then decide on a group project that incorporates technology, such as publishing a community newspaper, launching a small business or organizing a civic group. More than 600,000 individuals have graduated from CDI’s schools. Skoll’s support will help CDI develop capacity to support 1,000 additional schools, enhance user outcomes and satisfaction, and strengthen the CDI network. Digital Divide Data
On a 2001 vacation, Jeremy Hockenstein was struck by Cambodia's juxtaposition of extreme poverty with emerging technology. He created Digital Divide Data to break Southeast Asia's cycle of poverty by providing high-quality technology services to the global market. Mai Siriphongphanh recognized the potential of DDD and brought her social entrepreneurial savvy to the team in 2003. Founded upon an innovative and sustainable fair trade outsourcing model, DDD offers excellent wages and educational benefits to disadvantaged employees, while equipping them for better futures. Growing rapidly, with $14 million in increased wages and having impacted 7,000 people already, DDD is shaping a new corps of leaders empowered to shepherd their countries' development. Escuela Nueva Foundation
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.
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