Recipients of Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship (A-E)

www.creatinghope.org/afghaninstituteoflearning

Social Entrepreneur: Sakena Yacoobi
Award Year: 2006

Sakena Yacoobi founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995 to restore educational and health programs in Afghanistan that had been dramatically cut during 30 years of warfare. The organization’s 44 education and health centers provide services to more than 350,000 Afghan women and children each year. AIL has provided teacher training, leadership, health and democracy training to more that 18,000 teachers, administrators and government workers. Its university in Peshawar has prepared 191 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.

www.aflatoun.org

Social Entrepreneur: Jeroo Billimoria
Award Year: 2006

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 three 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 74 countries. She used the same model to found Aflatoun, a global network of organizations empowering children to plan and save for the future. Today, over 250,000 children in 20 countries participate in Aflatoun, and an estimated 60 percent of them are currently saving. The pilot program in India now serves more than 175,000 children, using “Aflatoun Clubs” at school that help children succeed academically, manage income and break the cycle of poverty.

Social Entrepreneurs: Mark Plotkin and Liliana Madrigal
Award Year: 2008

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.

Social Entrepreneur: Michael Eckhart
Award Year: 2008

Michael Eckhart first understood the promise of renewable energy in the 1970s when he did pioneering energy studies with funding from the Carter Administration. 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.

Social Entrepreneur: Bart Weetjens
Award Year: 2009

As a boy, Bart Weetjens loved rodents. In the early 1990s, Bart became aware of the dependence of African communities on foreign expertise to curb the landmine problem. Soon, Bart was combining his knowledge of rats with his training as a product design engineer. In 1997, he launched APOPO with Christophe Cox, to develop and deploy HeroRATS – African giant pouched rats trained for humanitarian detection tasks. HeroRATS have since become Africa’s preferred landmine detection technology, managed locally at low cost. They are now also trained to detect tuberculosis. To date, HeroRATS are responsible for the reopening of over 400,000 square meters of suspect land.

Social Entrepreneur: Connie K. Duckworth
Award Year: 2008

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 age 15 to school full time and all women in their home must attend literacy classes. Arzu now supports over 700 weavers, aiding more than 2,100 individuals through its core program. By 2011, Arzu plans to double the population it assists.

Social Entrepreneur: Bunker Roy
Award Year: 2005

Inspired by Gandhi and moved to respond to India’s 1967 famine, Bunker Roy moved to Tilonia, Rajasthan, to help rural villagers improve their lives. The organization he founded in 1972, Social Work and Research Centre, which came to be known as Barefoot College, has trained hundreds of solar engineers and teachers – women, dropouts and unemployable youth – in remote villages in 16 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. More than 50,000 children have passed through Barefoot College’s night schools. Barefoot College is now s working to bring the “Barefoot approach” to 30 communities in Africa and the Middle East.

Social Entrepreneur: Jim Fruchterman
Award Year: 2006

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 over 43,000 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 the abuse of human rights. Its Miradi environmental project management tool, launched in 2008, has been downloaded by 900 people in over 90 countries. Going forward, Benetech plans to launch high-potential new projects, further build its capacity and advance the field of social entrepreneurship.

Social Entrepreneurs: Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai
Award Year: 2009

Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai founded BioRegional Development Group in 1994 in response to the over-consumption they saw as the fundamental cause of environmental problems, and the belief that environmentally sustainable living was possible for mainstream society. BioRegional helps people lead lives within an equitable and sustainable ecological footprint, which it calls One Planet Living. It is best known for The Beddington Zero Energy Development, or BedZED, a sustainable development in south London that serves as the model for One Planet Living communities internationally. BioRegional has incubated eight companies and joint ventures to demonstrate the vision of bioregionalism in a market economy, influencing policy and transforming industry, along the way.

Social Entrepreneur: Ann Cotton
Award Year: 2005

During a trip to Zimbabwe in 1990, Ann Cotton realized that Africa would never conquer poverty and disease unless its women were educated. She launched CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) in 1993. Selling baked goods, she raised enough money to send 32 girls to school and began working with groups of girls who encourage one another to stay in school, get jobs, start businesses and become leaders in their communities. Since 1993, 645, 400 children have benefited from Camfed’s education program across a network of 2,798 Schools. 5,132 young women have received business training and start-up grants to establish their own rural enterprises. 1,067 young women have been trained as community health activists.

Social Entrepreneur: Mindy Lubber
Award Year: 2006

Mindy Lubber was a founding board member of Ceres, Inc., which was formed in 1989 after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, becoming its president in 2003. The organization’s goal is to inspire corporations to respond to the threat of global warming by persuading them to change their practices by galvanizing institutional investors. The Ceres-led Investor Network on Climate Risk now includes 78 investors representing combined assets of over $7 trillion. Ceres has played a key role in catalyzing significant climate commitments from 84 companies. In 2008, it launched the Businesses for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) initiative, engaging corporate members to commit to an aggressive climate and energy policy platform.

Social Entrepreneur: Taddy Blecher
Award Year: 2006

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 served 4,500 students who are now employed, collectively earning about $20 million a year. CIDA plans to open new city campuses, increase enrollment and create a rural campus that will operate as a fully sustainable village-based university prototype.

Social Entrepreneur: Eric Schwarz
Award Year: 2005

Eric Schwarz’s vision for Citizen Schools was to re-engage people with their schools and create learning opportunities that would propel disadvantaged students toward success. With Ned Rimer, he led Citizen Schools in developing after-school, Saturday and summer programs for disadvantaged children ages 9 to 14, transforming their out-of-school time into an enriching learning experience. Founded in Boston in 1995, Citizen Schools operates programs in 7 states and serves approximately 4,400 students. Its curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning, discovery, skill building, leadership, teamwork and fun. In Boston, Citizen Schools calculates that 87 percent of program participants graduated from high school after four years, compared to a district rate of 59 percent.

Social Entrepreneur: Albina Ruiz
Award Year: 2006

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. She founded Ciudad Saludable in 2001. The organization is generating employment and facilitating cleaner cities. It has trained 120 municipal authorities in Peru, works with 3,000 informal recyclers in Bolivia and Peru, and is helping the government develop Peru’s first national waste management plan. Ciudad Saludable plans to serve 5 million Peruvians through enterprises operating in 20 major cities.

Social Entrepreneur: Marc Freedman
Award Year: 2010

Marc Freedman founded Civic Ventures ten years ago with the goal of finding caring, committed adults to help young people growing up in poverty—as mentors, teachers and youthworkers. His belief that the vast and growing older population could serve as a critical resource for children led him to spearhead the development of Experience Corps, now a highly successful tutoring and mentoring program helping 20,000 children in 23 cities. In the years since, Freedman founded The Purpose Prize, a $100,000 award for social innovators over 60. His newest goal is to get millions of boomers to pour their life experience into “encore careers,” which combine personal meaning, continued income and social impact. This new and growing workforce for social change could solve some of society’s toughest problems – from education to the environment, health care to homelessness. The Skoll grant will allow Civic Ventures to promote the encore career and make midlife transitions easier, with new continuing education programs, Encore Fellows initiatives and an online community at Encore.org.

Social Entrepreneur: J.B. Schramm
Award Year: 2006

While applying to Yale, J.B. Schramm noticed that many of his friends from less-advantaged backgrounds were not going on to college. He knew that students who are the first to attend college in their families are twice as likely to have children who also attend college, so he founded College Summit in 1993 to help students from low-income communities navigate the college application process. Its “peer influencers” — students who College Summit supports to help influence their classmates to consider college -— have achieved a college enrollment rate of 79 percent and a college retention rate of 80 percent. The cost per student has dropped, while the number of students served annually rose from 925 in 2002 to 17,000 in 2008.

Social Entrepreneur: Rodrigo Baggio
Award Year: 2005

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 slum in Rio de Janeiro in 1995. The Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI) network now includes 753 “Technology and Civic Engagement “ schools in 10 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. CDI has helped transform more than 1 million lives.

Social Entrepreneurs: Jeremy Hockenstein and Mai Siriphongphanh
Award Year: 2008

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. DDD has 550 employees and 1,200 people have been through the program, resulting in $14 million in increased earning potential.

Social Entrepreneurs: Munqeth Mehyar, Nader al Khateeb and Gidon Bromberg
Award Year: 2009

Recognizing that environmental issues know no political boundaries, Israeli Gidon Bromberg and Jordanian Munqeth Mehyar co-founded EcoPeace in 1994 to promote cooperation in protecting the region’s shared water resources and environmental heritage. Palestinian Nader al Khateeb joined EcoPeace in 2001. By turning an area of conflict – water – into a platform for on-the-ground cooperation, EcoPeace is able to promote problem solving through people-to-people contact, advancing regional development and creating necessary conditions for lasting peace. The Good Water Neighbors community project and programs to rehabilitate the Lower Jordan River are leading examples of cross-border initiatives that have fostered collaboration and increased awareness of common interests.

Social Entrepreneur: Vicky Colbert
Award Year: 2007

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 the skills and knowledge needed to become future engaged citizens. With rural Colombian teachers, she created the Escuela Nueva 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 more than five million children in 14 Latin American countries. With support from Skoll, it will reach an additional 1.5 million children by 2009.