Skoll Foundation

This piece, called “Social Entrepreneurs ‘Refreshingly Uncynical’ — But Not At All Delusional” is featured on the front page of the Huffington Post today. (Sally is above, right, with Eve Ensler at this year’s Skoll World Forum.) Enjoy!

By Sally Osberg

Just as I was coming up for air after our ninth Skoll World Forum, held each spring in the U.K. at Oxford University, David Brooks’ New York Times column on social entrepreneurs hit my desk. Talk about timing!

For starters, Mr. Brooks cites coffee shops, universities and “a certain sort of conference” as fertile ground for bumping into “some of these wonderful young people who are doing good.” Big note to self: be sure to invite him to the Forum next year. Not only would this global community of 900 delegates welcome his savvy perspectives, he’d discover just how many social entrepreneurs are actually doing what he thinks they aren’t.

In his provocative piece, “Sam Spade at Starbucks,” Mr. Brooks attests to the appeal of the “refreshingly uncynical” women and men he considers social entrepreneurs. But they’re missing a big beat, he believes, by shunning government, and by thinking “they can evade politics” in their pursuit of social progress. Our experience at the Skoll Foundation suggests otherwise.

So, with all due respect, allow me to take up Mr. Brooks’ gauntlets.

Contrary to his concern that “you can cram all the nongovernmental organizations you want into a country, but if there is no rule of law… your achievements won’t add up to much,” in fact, many social entrepreneurs are directly and indirectly supporting the rule of law. Landesa, for example, a new addition to the Skoll Foundation portfolio, works with governments in 40 countries to transfer property rights, which ultimately bring food, income, and the opportunity to transcend poverty. In India, for example, a local state government worked with Landesa to educate women about their land rights and help them through the land-application process. Already, 100 women in that small area have their land titles. They are counted among the 105 million families who have received land rights because of Landesa’s government partnerships.

Mr. Brooks is concerned that social entrepreneurs have “little faith in the political process.” But a number of organizations work with a “healthy political process.” Camfed (the Campaign for Female Education) partners with the Zambian government to enforce child protection as a cornerstone of its education plan. (In Africa, it’s common for teachers to pressure their female students to have sex with them). Now, 1,500 schools have these plans in place. The real social progress? Experts agree the best way to bring lasting social benefits to a country is to expand educational and economic opportunities for girls. In total, Camfed has given grants to 60,000 girls to complete secondary school.

While Mr. Brooks thinks young activists are “not as good at thinking nationally and regionally,” Partners in Health (PIH) is doing just that, by partnering with the governments of Haiti and Rwanda to ensure sustainable access to first-class medical care. In Rwanda, the year-old Butaro Hospital is a collaboration between PIH and the Ministry of Health. It provides salary incentives and extensive training to healthcare workers. In Haiti, PIH will soon open Mirebalais Hospital, which former President Bill Clinton recently visited. PIH is also helping the Haitian Ministry of Health develop an immunization program to protect all Haitians against cholera, which has already killed more than 7,000 people. read more

A press release from our friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu: ‘We pray that Aung San Suu Kyi and her country are now on a path to freedom’ – Desmond Tutu

The Elders congratulate Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of her first appearance in parliament in Burma/Myanmar, following her election in the 1 April by-elections. They hope her access to political office will further boost political, economic and social reform, promote reconciliation, and help address the serious human rights issues which persist throughout the country. They also hope that the minority share of parliamentary seats obtained by opposition parties in these by-elections constitute a positive first step towards a robust democratic system.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chair of The Elders, said: “I am absolutely delighted for my sister Aung San Suu Kyi. Her election to parliament could be that moment the world never forgets as: ‘That is when Burma/Myanmar embraced democracy’. “But for this to be true, Daw Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and all other political parties need to be given the space to play a meaningful role in the parliament. If not, it will be such a disappointment for citizens across the country, and indeed for us all.” read more

A small tribe of indigenous people unknown to the outside world a half-century ago and once on the brink of extinction has harnessed an innovative forest carbon project to shield their territory from illegal logging. Now, the 1300- strong Paiter-Surui is the first indigenous tribe in the Amazon and globally to earn carbon credits under internationally recognized standards for capturing carbon in trees – setting the stage for scores of similar projects that can unleash needed funding for indigenous people who preserve endangered tropical rainforest across the Amazon.

This is part of the Skoll-supported Amazon Corridors initiative. The Skoll Foundation is supporting many of the organizations involved — including Forest Trends, Amazon Conservation Team, Equipe de Conservacao da Amazonia (ECAM), IDESAM, Conservation Strategy Fund, Kaninde and Metareila (the Surui indigenous organization). read more

Sometimes, a Skoll Awardee writes something so powerful, you want to read it over. And over. Because pieces like Tony Meloto’s reminds us why we’re here, how what we’re doing matters in the most profound way. I. love. it. What a beautiful way to begin our week. An excerpt from the front-page feature in a Philippines national paper:

“When we are not blinded by a desire for money or paralyzed by a lack of it, we learn to use our creativity, raise passion-driven caretakers and volunteers whose nobility cannot be bought and the integrity of the mission is not compromised….Jeff Skoll said it simply at our lunch meeting on the first day: ‘Just tell your story,’ how your crazy idea grew wings and flew out of the cage.”

In other news, just after the Skoll World Forum, Meloto’s organization, Gawad Kalinga, launched the Bayani Challenge and successfully gathered 10,000 volunteers in 5 provinces (http://www.interaksyon.com/article/29342/mass-build-for-300-houses-gathers-10000-volunteers or  www.gk1world.com/bc2012

Read the rest of the essay: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/176873/how-crazy-idea-grew-wings-flew-out-of-cage

Social entrepreneurship is more market-driven, measurement-oriented, and corporate-friendly than ever before, writes Jason Saul, a consultant who attended the Skoll World Forum. In his latest, thoughtful piece in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Saul gives examples of social entrepreneurs such as Skoll Awardees Kiva, Riders for Health, Roots of Peace, Peace Dividend Trust (now “Building Markets”) and Water for People. An excerpt:

“Measurement is no longer optional. Measurement had its big coming out party at Skoll this year as the foundation announced its first attempt at portfolio-level measurement. The language and references this year were different too. In past years, there was always talk of ‘effectiveness’ and ‘accountability,’ but this year, I heard more about ‘returns,’ ‘moving the needle,’ and measuring ‘value.’ …I had a fascinating conversation with Andrea Coleman of Riders for Health who found the Skoll Foundation’s focus on outcomes liberating from the regime of randomized control trials imposed by other funders.”

Read the rest: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/flux_to_flex_takeaways_from_the_2012_skoll_world_forum

(Above, a group of social entrepreneurs gather at the “connect and collaborate” sessions on the last day of the Forum).

Arianna Huffington was recently asked, “Who’s the most important woman in the world? Who is someone to watch?” She named four women, including our very own CEO Sally Osberg. Read what else she said about Osberg here.

Erik Hersman of the famed Ushahidi blog, talks about his time at the Skoll World Forum and says, “one of the most interesting discussions I had was with Sally Osberg, the CEO of the Skoll Foundation, where we talked about scale, sustainability and the accelerating speed of change globally…she said, especially in the social entrepreneur space, “sustainability is a shibboleth.”

Read more about Osberg’s thoughts here.

In other Skoll World Forum news, if you missed our last post on top media hits, make sure to read it….and, here is another from the Skoll World Forum:  The Guardian wrote about changes in innovation and activism.

Enjoy.

PBS NewsHour Correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro visited Skoll Awardee One Acre Fund in East Africa recently, and the 8-minute segment airs today! The piece is part of a Center for Investigative Reporting series on the challenge of feeding the world at a time of social and environmental change.

Watch at 7 pm in New York (Channel 13), 6 pm in Chicago (Channel 11), and 6 pm in San Francisco (KQED). For a full list visit  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/airdates.html.

Read more: http://cironline.org/projects/food-for-9-billion

Photo: 2012 Awardees from Proximity Designs Enjoying This Morning’s Convening Session.

It’s Wednesday here in Oxford, and the city is abuzz with delegates ready for the 2012 Skoll World Forum. Our Twitter, @skollworldforum, is being updated constantly to keep you abreast of what’s happening.

Some highlights: New awardee Nidan was featured in The Times of India, which focused on the award he’ll receive here Thursday night.

Past awardee Ned Breslin blogged that he is “anxious to reconnect with my friends who I learned so much about last year as we moved through the Skoll community for the first time – Rebecca Onie of Health Leads, Ellen Moir of New Teacher Center and Madhav Chavan of Pratham.  The new Skoll awardees are spectacular but I must admit I selfishly have a real desire to connect with Proximity Designs as I think they are unusually remarkable.  And I look forward to being challenged, hearing what others are up to and perhaps even offering some new ideas yet again.  You can do that at Skoll, and I value that immensely.”

Past awardee mothers2mothers wrote on Huffington Post that “our annual pilgrimage to Skoll has become the ideal reunion; one that nourishes, sustains and encourages all of us to be the best we can be. In this world, Jeff Skoll, Sally Osberg and their team foster collaboration, partnership, and risk-taking for global good. For this week, Oxford is a world dedicated to possibilities, where everyone unites to brainstorm ways we can make our planet a little bit better.”

And Twitter’s social good expert Claire Diaz-Ortiz reflected back on her first Forum today: “When it came time for my first Skoll World Forum, I had high expectations. They were all exceeded. At that forum, I watched John Wood and Paul Farmer speak of their life’s work, and what drives them to build and innovate. These were the humanitarian heroes of my Africa days, and their words made flesh were inspiration beyond inspiration. For every one John Wood who stood on stage, ten more sat in the audience, sharing and extending their knowledge to those who would listen.”

If you’re at the Forum, catch Diaz-Ortiz Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Social Media Hub for a Tweetup on using social media to accelerate organisations and causes.  Join virtally at #skollwf.

On Wednesday, 900 people from around the world will be here in Oxford, England for the 2012 Skoll World Forum. As you can see from this photo taken yesterday, the weather is glorious. Our founder, Jeff Skoll, arrived safely after an airplane malfunction, which you can read all about on Twitter. (He and our CEO Sally Osberg will both Tweet from here — for the first time, ever!)  Those of us already here can feel the magic in the air — all the Skoll Awardees arrived Sunday, and everyone is excited about what’s to come. Follow their thoughts on Twitter via #skollwf.

For those of you not attending the entire Forum, tickets are still available to Wednesday night’s opening plenary at 5 p.m. GMT, which will be streamed live on our Skoll World Forum Web site. Folks are already buzzing about the upcoming live performance by Peruvian songstress Eva Ayllón.

If you are attending the forum, you’ll receive a beautiful 78-page program. Meanwhile, visit http://skollworldforum.org/flux-seizing-momentum-driving-change/overview/#sessions to begin planning your time here in the sunny city of Oxford, England.

Don’t miss our bloggers page, where dozens of writers will cover the entire inspiring event.

By Kelly Greenwood

The Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership celebrated Soraya Salti of INJAZ al-Arab and mothers2mothers (m2m) at an awards ceremony and dinner at Claremont McKenna College (CMC) on March 21. This was the first time two winners were selected to receive $250,000 each for their respective organizations – and both are Skoll Awardees. CMC students, faculty, board members, and past Kravis Prize winners, among others, attended the event, during which Henry Kravis, Marie-Josée Kravis, chair of the Prize Selection Committee, and Pamela Gann, the President of CMC spoke.

Gene Falk, co-founder and CEO of mothers2mothers gave a speech on m2m’s role in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa through its training and employment of mentor mothers who also have HIV/AIDS. For most mentor mothers, m2m is their first formal job, which “empowers them personally, economically, and professionally” and enables them to lead. read more