Press Releases

Mobilizing Efforts and Resources: Ashoka Fellows Respond to Reconstruct Chile

tspalding — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:49:33 -0600

Arlington, VA (February 27, 2010) Last week, Chile was hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, the fifth most powerful earthquake in history. Moments after the earthquake, Ashoka’s staff in the Southern Cone were in contact with the 34 Ashoka Fellows residing in Chile to offer them psychological support and appraise their needs. Ashoka has now been able to communicate with nearly all of them, and although the material losses are great, the Fellows, their families and constituents are accounted for and safe.

Days after the earthquake, Ashoka Chile Fellow Macarena Currim said: “We now need to reinvent ourselves at the rate at which the most affected families need us to. Although this has been terrifying, it is clear that we, Chileans, are survivors.” Ashoka Chile Fellow Ximena Abogabir and many others joined Macarena in thanking Ashoka for its support and for acting as a refuge in these difficult times: “Thank you all for sharing our dreams, but also our pains. It is clear that we can count on each other.”

Ashoka Fellows in the country are quickly responding to their communities’ needs. For the next two months, most will be focusing their efforts on addressing the affected populations’ short term needs. For example, through his organization, Ashoka Chile Fellow Caduzzi Salas is asking for bottled water, non-perishable food items, personal hygiene supplies, lamps and tents. Most importantly, Caduzzi mentioned the need for school supplies: young students were getting ready to start the new school year before the earthquake struck and having lost everything, their parents are not in a position to buy school supplies.

Ashoka Chile Fellow Pedro Serrano has begun a workshop on emergency shelter in partnership with the Federico Santa María (FSM) University. He is working with a team of eight architects and engineers and 300 student volunteers to build hundreds of low cost provisional shelters and sanitation infrastructures. To make this initiative a reality, Pedro is currently looking to leverage the funding he just received from FSM University.

Yet another example is that of Ashoka Chile Fellow Vicky Quevedo who is seeking immediate support to rebuild the community radios affected by the earthquake.

This emergency response phase will be quickly followed by a long-term planning and reconstruction phase. Ashoka Fellows have mobilized their communities of changemakers and are already beginning to see how they can work as a coordinated group to organize this larger effort with the support of the Ashoka Southern Cone office.

If you are interested in supporting the short and long-term reconstruction efforts in Chile, do not hesitate to contact Maria Fonseca (mfonseca@ashoka.org) and Ana Estenssoro (aestenssoro@ashoka.org) in the Ashoka Southern Cone office. (Phone: +54 11 4393-8646).

About Ashoka

Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world’s working community of more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capacity to integrate and connect social and business entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure comprised of a series of global initiatives that support the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka’s vision is to create change today, for an Everyone A Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.

Ashoka and GE Foundation Launch Innovative Partnership to Advance Solutions for Sub-Saharan Maternal and Infant Health

tspalding — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:25:28 -0600

Arlington, VA (February 23, 2010) Ashoka, the global network of leading social entrepreneurs, announced today that it has been awarded a one-year grant by GE Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the GE Corporation, to identify and map solutions aimed at improving maternal and infant health around the world. Focusing on the sub-Saharan region of Africa, the goal is to find new pathways and mechanisms for healthcare and technologies to reach mothers and infants in need.

Due to serious gaps in Africa’s healthcare system and lack of access to proper care, a woman in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a 1 in 4,000 risk outside the region. In addition, the majority of infants in the region do not live past their first birthday. To address this critical maternal and infant care challenge, Ashoka and GE Foundation will work together to focus on: interviewing global and local Ashoka Fellows addressing maternal and infant health; conducting market research; and consulting with stakeholder groups in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Our relationship with Ashoka is an important opportunity to identify innovative and impact-oriented solutions for maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Bob Corcoran, president of the GE Foundation. “By supporting Ashoka Fellows, who witness and understand the healthcare needs of these communities, the GE Foundation can enable systematic improvements for local clinics, physicians and families.”

An example of the innovative solutions Ashoka and GE Foundation will be supporting is that of Ashoka Fellow Stella Amojong Omunga. Based in Kenya, Stella is building diverse support networks for young unwed mothers, to keep them healthy, educated, and integrated within society. Stella’s on-the-ground efforts—such as counseling the girls, training healthcare workers, supporting parents to accept their pregnant daughters, and building relationships within the school system—are aimed at changing mindsets toward unwed teen mothers and providing these girls with educational and occupational opportunities during and after pregnancy. This example is one of numerous solutions that Ashoka and the GE Foundation believe can make a systemic impact on maternal and infant health in Africa.

“Leading social entrepreneurs are helping guide the way toward better maternal and infant health in sub-Saharan Africa and around the world,” says Bill Drayton, Founder and CEO of Ashoka. “They have the ability to think creatively to design bottoms-up solutions, offer fresh perspectives and new ideas, and accelerate widespread social change.”

About Ashoka
Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world’s working community of more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capacity to integrate and connect social and business entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure comprised of a series of global initiatives that support the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka’s vision is to create change today, for an Everyone A Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.

About the GE Foundation
The GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of the General Electric Company, works to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems. In coordination with its partners, it supports U.S. and international education, developing health globally, the environment, public policy, human rights and disaster relief. In addition, the GE Foundation supports GE employee and retiree giving and involvement in GE communities around the world. In 2009, the entire GE family — including businesses, employees, retirees and GE Foundation — contributed more than an estimated $220 million to community and educational programs, including more than $100 million from GE Foundation. For more information, visit www.gefoundation.com.

For additional information on this partnership, please contact:

Ashoka
Tyler Spalding
+1.703.600.8240
tspalding@ashoka.org

GE
Meghan Pianta
+1.203.373.2438
meghan.pianta@ge.com

Ashoka to Foster Youth Social Entrepreneurship in Japan

tspalding — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:04:27 -0600

Arlington, VA (February 22, 2010) Ashoka today announced a $230,400 grant from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation to foster youth social entrepreneurship in Japan. The foundation’s grant will allow Ashoka to introduce in Japan its model of enabling young people to learn the skills of teamwork, leadership and empathy that they need in order to be successful future leaders.

Youth Venture encourages young people to start their own sustainable social ventures and connects them into a powerful global network. The vision of the program is that every young person can be a changemaker. Over the next 7-10 months, Ashoka will conduct a pilot project in Japan where it will launch 10-20 Youth Venture teams – each team consisting of 3-5 youth with adult mentors – that will take on the task of solving problems in their local communities with their own youth-led ideas. Through this project, Ashoka will be able to reach thousands of youth in Japan to spread awareness of their unique potential to be leaders throughout their lives.

Ashoka’s President Diana Wells said, “Aligned with Ashoka’s vision of forming an Everyone a Changemaker™ world, this initiative underscores that the most important change must be to empower humans, at all age levels, from passive recipients of solutions to initiators and champions of innovation to solve social problems.”

Gregory Guyett, Senior Country Officer of J.P. Morgan in Japan followed, “We at J.P. Morgan aim to play leading roles not only in our businesses, but also in our contributions to the communities in which we live and work. We are therefore very excited to announce that this year we are helping introduce Ashoka to Japan. Ashoka has been a global pioneer in developing social entrepreneurship in many other countries and we believe the time is right to bring their innovative approach to Japan. We are especially pleased that Ashoka's first pilot program here will be Youth Venture. This unique program will help young Japanese develop the creativity, confidence and networks to launch their own social change projects, better preparing them for success in dealing with the many challenges ahead for Japan and the world.”

Founded in 1996 by Ashoka, the Youth Venture (YV) program invests in young social entrepreneurs and helps them start their ventures, many of which have led to social change around the globe. With the objective of shaping a global culture of youth-led social change, the program has already helped over 3,000 teams of young people in 18 countries worldwide to launch their own social ventures and connect with a global network of like-minded young people. The Venturers start businesses, civil society organizations and informal programs that address all types of social issues, including poverty, health, the elderly, the environment, education, diversity issues and the arts.

About Ashoka
Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world’s working community of more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capability to integrate and connect entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure that is supporting the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka’s vision is to create change today, for an Everyone A Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.

About JPMorgan Chase Foundation
The mission of JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the philanthropic arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co., is to “build vibrant, sustainable communities in our markets across the globe that support, engage, and enrich the lives of children, youth and families.” The mission comes to life through investments in programs that focus on Community Development, Education and Arts & Culture. Through its education investments, the Foundation seeks to ensure that all children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, have access to high quality educational opportunities.

For more information please contact:

Roshan Paul
Ashoka Innovators for the Public
+1.703.600.8273
rpaul@ashoka.org

ExxonMobil, Ashoka's Changemakers and International Center for Research on Women Launch Women's Economic Development Challenge

tspalding — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:11:00 -0600

Women | Tools | Technology Challenge focuses on using technology and innovation to economically advance women in developing countries
New study, Bridging the Gender Divide in Technology, provides research foundation for challenge
Efforts are part of ExxonMobil’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative, which has invested over $30 million since 2005 launch

Irving, TX (January 27, 2010) ExxonMobil, in partnership with Ashoka’s Changemakers and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), today launched Women | Tools | Technology: Building Opportunities & Economic Power, an innovative challenge that will identify transformative solutions for promoting women’s economic advancement through technology.

Through the Women | Tools | Technology Challenge, the partners are looking for creative ideas and sustainable approaches that enable more women from developing countries to be active contributors to and leaders in our rapidly changing economy.

“We hope that the ideas and solutions generated through Women | Tools | Technology will spark a profound transformation in the way women in developing countries live and work,” said Lorie Jackson, director of ExxonMobil’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative.

“Technology has the potential to initiate a chain reaction that results in women’s economic advancement and, in turn, raises their standard of living, strengthens their families and communities and, contributes to significant global progress.”

The ideas and solutions generated through Women | Tools | Technology can be new or improve upon existing technologies to enable them to benefit more women. Innovators with concepts for catalyzing women’s economic advancement through technology will be able to submit their ideas through a crowd-sourcing, online format that allows for discussion and collaboration among other innovators and select experts. Submissions will be accepted from January 27th through April 14th at http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/technologywomen.

Entries will be judged by a panel of experts, including Pam Darwin, ExxonMobil’s vice president of Geoscience, Geeta Rao Gupta, president of ICRW, Andrés Carlos Randazzo, Ashoka Fellow and founder of SANUT, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, co-founder and executive director of the African Women's Development Fund and Christine Grumm, president and chief executive officer of the Women’s Funding Network. Finalists will be announced in mid-June.

“Women’s economic advancement is often directly related to their ability to access and use technology,” said Charlie Brown, executive director of Ashoka’s Changemakers. “We’re excited to work with some of the most creative innovators from around the world to develop ground-breaking solutions to leverage technology to live up to its promise of changing the world – the whole world – for the better.”

Additional direction and focus for the challenge is provided by a new research study entitled, "Bridging the Gender Divide in Technology,” which was conducted by ICRW and funded by the ExxonMobil Foundation. The white paper, which explores the link between technology and women's economic empowerment, is being released to coincide with the challenge launch and showcases existing technologies that help women increase their productivity, create new entrepreneurial ventures, and launch income-generating pursuits. The paper highlights what needs to be done to improve the way technologies are developed and deployed so they benefit women, enabling them to be more successful economic actors, stronger leaders, and greater contributors to their families, communities and domestic economies.

“When you consider the untapped potential of half the world’s workforce, the combination of women, tools and technology can trigger truly transformative change,” said Anju Malhotra, vice president for Research, Innovation and Impact at ICRW. “Our research offers social innovators practical recommendations on how to develop, introduce, and disseminate technologies that strengthen women’s ability to compete in the global economy.”

The Women | Tools | Technology Challenge is part of ExxonMobil’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative, and was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in New York in September 2009. At the meeting, ExxonMobil co-sponsored the first-ever Clinton Global Initiative special programming focused on investing in girls and women.

The Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative (previously Educating Women and Girls Initiative) was launched in 2005 and has invested more than $30 million in programs that have directly benefited thousands of women from 64 developing countries.

About ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation and ExxonMobil Foundation, the primary philanthropic arm of Exxon Mobil Corporation in the United States, engage in a range of philanthropic activities that advance education, health, women’s economic leadership and public policy in the communities where ExxonMobil has significant operations. In the United States, ExxonMobil supports initiatives to improve math and science education at the K-12 and higher education levels. Globally, ExxonMobil provides funding to help women fulfill their economic potential and combat malaria and other infectious diseases in developing countries. Additional information on ExxonMobil's community partnerships and contributions programs is available at www.exxonmobil.com/community.

About Ashoka and Ashoka’s Changemakers
Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs – men and women with system-changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Ashoka’s Changemakers creates opportunities for organizations and individuals to drive meaningful and measurable social change. Through collaborative competitions, Changemakers connects Ashoka’s elite fellowship, an online community of social innovators, and pioneering investors to inspire and drive innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. By focusing on how leading social entrepreneurs, government agencies, corporations, and citizens solve vital problems and build their communities, Changemakers and its partners spark promising ideas for further development and investment. Learn more at www.changemakers.com.

About the International Center for Research on Women
The International Center for Research on Women is a leading international research organization that works to empower women, advance gender equality and fight poverty in the developing world. To accomplish this, the International Center for Research on Women works with partners in the public and private sectors and civil society to conduct empirical research, build capacity and advocate for evidence-based practical ways to change policies and programs. Learn more about the International Center for Research on Women and its work at www.icrw.org.

For more information please contact:

ExxonMobil Media Relations
(972) 444-1107

Ashoka’s Changemakers
(250) 352-0616

International Center for Research on Women
(240) 755-2703

Over 100 Global Social Entrepreneurs Convene to Discuss Revolutionizing Social Change through Invention

tspalding — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:37:53 -0600

International Leaders Gather with Ashoka and The Lemelson Foundation at Tech4Society in India

Portland, Ore. (January 4, 2010) Ashoka and The Lemelson Foundation, with support from Microsoft®, will bring together inventors and social entrepreneurs from February 11 to 13, 2010, in Hyderabad, India. The goals of this first-of-its-kind meeting, called Tech4Society, are to bring greater attention to the importance of technological innovation in driving global development and to highlight effective strategies for cultivating the next generation of inventor-entrepreneurs and scaling their world-changing ideas. The event will attract over 250 of the world’s foremost social entrepreneurs, innovators, business leaders and movers and shakers to showcase technological advances and entrepreneurial business models that are revolutionizing social change.

Over the past three years, the Ashoka-Lemelson Fellowship has brought together two organizations that work passionately to find, support and celebrate social innovators whose technologies offer fresh, effective approaches to advancing social change. These innovators—a cohort of 106 Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows—have been chosen for their unique and cutting edge uses of technology, education, capital and support as tools for community development, policy setting and poverty alleviation. They will be in attendance at Tech4Society, sharing best practices, demonstrating inventions and developing partnerships that can work toward solutions to economic, environmental and societal challenges.

Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow examples include: Harish Hande, whose organization, SELCO-India, brought affordable and reliable solar-powered electricity to more than 100,000 homes and businesses in India; Isaac Durojaiye, who created Nigeria’s first mobile toilet initiative to remedy rampant urban unemployment and poor sanitation conditions; David Green, based in the U.S., who is producing and globally disemminating socially-useful products, including affordable hearing aids, using a tiered price-structure; and Tri Mumpuni, founder of People Centered Economic & Business Institute, who is tackling challenges of rural electrification and economic development by creating community-owned, micro-hydropower systems throughout Indonesia.

“Inventor-entrepreneurs such as these Ashoka-Lemelson Fellows can help lead the way to eradicating poverty,” says Bill Drayton, CEO and Chair of Ashoka. “They have the ability to think creatively and systemically to design appropriate solutions; profoundly increase markets for life-changing products; increase incomes; and advance sustainable rural development.

“The people who will attend Tech4Society demonstrate the power of uniting social entrepreneurship with invention and technology. Their successful approaches will help international policy makers and actors in the private sector, financial industry and civil society learn how to support invention-led development, a bottom-up entrepreneurial approach to economic-inclusion,” adds Julia Novy-Hildesley, Executive Director of The Lemelson Foundation. “The conference attendees work in greatly varying fields, from low-cost alternative energy development to science education to agricultural innovation, but they are all brought together by a singular goal: to harness their inventiveness to be changemakers.”

The three-day conference will include plenary panels and break-out sessions covering topics such as mobile technologies for social change; women and girls in science and invention; venture capital; and intellectual property. Tech4Society is also supported by Microsoft, Infosys® and will take place at the Indian School of Business.

For more agenda, attendee and speaker information about Tech4Society, please visit: http://tech.ashoka.org/hyderabad_info.

About Ashoka
Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgenet social problems. Since 1981, Ashoka has elected over 2,500 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries. More information is available at http://www.ashoka.org.

About The Lemelson Foundation
Established in 1993 by Jerome Lemelson, one of America’s most prolific inventors, The Lemelson Foundation uses its resources to inspire and recognize inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs to support invention-led sustainable development. It has donated or committed more than $150 million to improve lives through invention in the U.S. and developing countries. For more information, please visit http://www.lemelson.org.

Advancing Solutions to the World’s Social and Environmental Challenges — Ashoka and YPO Launch Groundbreaking Partnership

tspalding — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:51:55 -0600

Washington, DC (December 16, 2009) Ashoka, a global network of leading social entrepreneurs, and YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization), a networking and education organization of 17,000 young chief executives in more than 100 countries, today unveiled a new strategic partnership. Together the two organizations will collaborate to enable their members to effectively address and mitigate social and environmental challenges facing the world today.

“This partnership with Ashoka fits well with our mission of ‘Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange’,” said Simon Preston, a YPO member from Manchester, England and the organization’s 2009-2010 International Chairman. “We hope many more YPO members will take an interest in the innovative and impactful work undertaken by the Ashoka entrepreneurs.”

Commenting on the impact of this partnership, Bill Drayton, Founder and CEO of Ashoka said, “By bridging the worldwide networks of Ashoka and YPO, we are recognizing and harnessing the power of collaboration between business leaders and leading social entrepreneurs to accelerate widespread social change.”

Effective immediately, Ashoka and YPO will focus on three strategic components in this relationship: knowledge transfer, skills and expertise exchange, and special projects. Each component will facilitate greater learning and engagement opportunities between YPO members, their families and companies, and Ashoka Fellows who will bring their knowledge of social entrepreneurship and specific social issues to YPO.

Jim Greenbaum, a YPO member from San Diego, learned about Ashoka three years ago. “I met with Ashoka’s founder, Bill Drayton, and it became clear what we had to do — that was to bring together YPO’s business entrepreneurs and Ashoka’s social entrepreneurs to collaborate to make this world a better place,” Greenbaum said. “I’m delighted that a formal agreement now exists between these two outstanding organizations.”

Ashoka Fellows will benefit from the business and operational expertise of YPO members in areas such as strategic planning, scaling of enterprises, finance and other business-related topics. “This global agreement represents a wonderful opportunity to bridge the worldwide networks of Ashoka and YPO, and to combine the power of business leaders and leading social entrepreneurs to accelerate widespread social change,” said Lisa Nitze, Vice President for Global Engagement at Ashoka.

ABOUT ASHOKA
Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world’s working community of more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capacity to integrate and connect social and business entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure comprised of a series of global initiatives that support the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka’s vision is to create change today, for an Everyone A Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.

ABOUT YPO
YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) is a not-for-profit, global network of young chief executives connected around the shared mission of becoming Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange.TM Founded in 1950, YPO today provides 17,000 peers and their families in 100 countries with access to unique experiences, world-class resources, alliances with top learning institutions, and specialized Networks that help them enhance their business, community and personal leadership. For more information, visit www.ypo.org.

For additional information on this partnership, please contact:

Ashoka
Neema Mgana
+1.703.600.8248
nmgana@ashoka.org

YPO
Michele Foster
+1.310.993.5432
mfoster@ypowpo.org

Push to Globalize 25 Social Solutions—Bill Drayton and Ashoka Receive Largest Cash Prize in Social Sector

tspalding — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:42:25 -0600

Washington, D.C./Vienna, Austria (December 2009) Which force in the world will find scaleable solutions to eradicating poverty, improving education, providing housing for all, ending discrimination, and preventing climate change? As governments struggle to reach consensus on the road to Copenhagen or achieve targets like the Millenium Development Goals, the world's social entrepreneurs have been given a vote of confidence for their potential as changemakers. Today, the Essl Social Prize committee announced its 2010 awardee, Bill Drayton, Chairman of Ashoka and father to the field of social entrepreneurship.

"This prize has been given by a true entrepreuneur to fellow entrepreneurs, with the intention not only to reward the successes of thirty years of Ashoka and 2,000 Ashoka Fellows but to push the entire community to take the next step - to go global" Bill Drayton said.

Ashoka will match the prize money and invest in a number of initiatives with partners in the field that all aim at bringing leading social innovations from national to global impact.

Most prominently, Ashoka announces the Ashoka Globalizer, a program that will identify 25 social entrepreneurs who are now ready to scale their innovations worldwide. The program will systematically equip these Ashoka Fellows with the support they need to scale up quickly and effectively, culminating in a series of intimate sessions with 25 global business entrepreneurs and members of Ashoka's Global Academy. These conversations will be held at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, April 18-19, 2010, and live streamed to a worldwide community of potential supporters and partners. Applications from all over the Ashoka community are already coming in.

About Ashoka

Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world’s working community of more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capacity to integrate and connect social and business entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure comprised of a series of global initiatives that support the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka’s vision is to create change today, for an Everyone A Changemaker™ society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.

About The Essl Social Prize

The Essl Social Prize was founded last year by Austrian business entrepreneur Martin Essl and his wife Gerda. It awards EUR 1 million to one groundbreaking social entrepreneur each year. In 2009, Ashoka Fellow Erzsebet Szekeres of Hungary received the honor.

Bill Drayton Contributes Lead Article to MIT Press's Innovations Journal

tspalding — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:40:17 -0600

“Engage People, Retire Things” Explains the Connection Between Unemployment and Climate Change, and How to Get the Jobs/Climate Synergy Working Positively

William Drayton, board chair of the fuller employment policy group Get America Working!, and founder and CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, has contributed one of the lead articles to a forthcoming special issue of MIT Press’s Innovations Journal on energy and climate solutions, to be published this month. Entitled “Engage People, Retire Things,” Drayton’s essay explains the profound connection between combating the employment crisis and fighting climate change: labor and non-labor inputs to business (such as natural resources, energy and land) are substitutes. The less labor developed economies use, the more resources and energy they use, and the more greenhouse gases they emit.

Drayton argues that changing perverse incentives in the tax code that reward natural resource exploitation and penalize hiring would dramatically increase job creation and dramatically cut GHG emissions by correcting the current imbalance in which non-labor production factors, including burning fossil fuels, predominate at the expense of labor utilization. He writes:

Even as they encourage rapid exploitation of natural resources, our current policies so discourage labor demand that available labor resources are dramatically underutilized. The result is madness. Not using labor is enormously costly and hurtful (exactly the reverse of what holds true for natural resources). The most effective way of moving society back toward a healthy mix of using more people and fewer natural resources is to send a simple price signal: make employment cheaper and natural resources dearer by shifting taxes away from payrolls and onto the use of natural resources…
…Facing up to climate change also virtually compels us to face up to the economy’s fundamental need to increase demand for labor, structurally and very significantly…
Today’s two giant imbalances—in climate and in jobs—are in fact a giant opportunity. If we break out of the narrow conceptual frameworks around them, if we allow ourselves to see and act in terms of all the forces at play, this moment in history offers us a chance to create an unstoppable, probably permanent, alliance of everyone who gives him/herself permission to help the world change.

Other contributors to the Innovations special issue include White House Science Adviser John Holdren, who wrote the introduction, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Economics Thomas Schelling, and the Director of MIT’s Washington office, William Bonvillian to name a few. Drayton will join them and other contributors to the special issue at a launch event entitled “Time for Change: Reframing the Conversation on Energy and Climate,” November 24, 2009 from 1:00 to 6:45PM at the National Academy of Sciences, 21st and Constitution Avenue NW in Washington, DC.

In his introduction to the special issue, Holdren writes, “Drayton emphasizes the need to get prices right. He focuses on the tax system, arguing that it makes no sense to subsidize the use of machines by keeping energy prices low while penalizing the use of labor through payroll taxes. Urging structural changes in the economy to “favor people, not things,” he advances a proposal to both create jobs and meet climate goals by reducing the tax on employment and
increasing the tax on gasoline.”

Holdren’s introduction states that the forthcoming publication is “as thorough a survey of energy and climate solutions as has yet been compiled.” The Director of the MIT Press, Ellen Faran, states that “the Innovations special issue reflects the commitment of MIT and the MIT Press to promote innovative solutions to global issues and to encourage the widest dissemination of its
scholarship.”

Other contributors to the special issue include: Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures; Eileen Claussen, Pew Center on Global Climate Change; Arthur Rosenfeld, California Energy Commission; Melinda Kimble, UN Foundation; Shai Agassi, BetterPlace; and Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism, Inc.

The full text of “Engage People, Retire Things” is posted here. For more information or a media interview with William Drayton, send a request to: skent@kentcom.com. Members of the media wishing to see an advance copy of the entire Innovations special issue should contact: editors@innovationsjournal.net.

For more information, please contact:
Stephen Kent
skent@kentcom.com
914-589-5988

Innovative Health Pilot Launched in Rural India by Ashoka and Partners

tspalding — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:47:29 -0500

Punjab, India (October 30, 2009) Earlier this week, Ashoka announced the launch of its Healthcare for All pilot in the Punjab region of India, in partnership with the Naandi Foundation, the Government of Punjab, and Healthpoint Services India Pvt. Ltd.

With over 1,000 people in attendance three pilot E Health Point units -- facilities providing telemedical consultation with doctors, a wide range of advanced diagnostics, licensed pharmacy, and clean drinking water, serving communities of up to 10,000 local residents -- were inaugurated by General (Rtd.) S.F. Rodrigues, Governor of Punjab along with other governmental officials. Services are offered on a fee-for-service basis at prices affordable by most rural Indian households; most services cost less than $1. The Finance Minister of Punjab, Mr. Sardar Manfreet Badal, said “We are very pleased that the pilot of this unique E Health Point concept is taking place in Punjab, because we believe it has the potential to greatly improve delivery of quality healthcare to our rural communities.” The finance minister publicly asked Healthpoint Services and its partners to build many more.

Ashoka is fulfilling its goal of transforming rural healthcare having incubated Healthpoint Services, which is in turn partnering with local organizations, such as the Naandi Foundation. The partnership allows each organization to leverage its strengths and combine them to provide access to high-quality, low-cost healthcare for thousands of low-income individuals. Amit Jain, CEO of Healthpoint Services India Pvt. Ltd., expressed his confidence in the market response to E Health Points saying, “Our waiting rooms are full, customer satisfaction is high, and we are hiring more people as fast as we can.”

The model, financially sustainable and scalable, will serve as demonstration of the opportunities available when companies and local organizations work together to create innovative business models and technological solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Dr. Al Hammond, Co-founder and Chairman of Healthpoint said, “It has taken the support of many people and especially two organizations, Ashoka and the Naandi Foundation, to get this far. We still have a lot of work to do, but it is thrilling and satisfying to see low-income patients getting much needed treatment and prices they can afford.”

Going forward, the partners will continue to refine their business model and focus on scaling the E Health Point concept to have close to 2000 units on the ground over the next 5 years.

About Ashoka

About the Naandi Foundation

The Naandi Foundation is a leading Indian NGO with a mission to eradicate poverty and has played a major role in launching this new service in India. Founded in 1998 its work has 3 broad sectors: Child Rights, Safe Drinking Water and Sustainable Livelihoods. The Naandi ideology revolves around building sustainable models within the social sector that deliver critical services efficiently and equitably to underserved communities. For more information visit www.naandi.org.

About Healthpoint Services

Healthpoint Services is a privately-financed company, incubated from Ashoka’s Full Economic Citizenship program, which catalyzes market-based solutions in key sectors such as housing and healthcare.

For further information contact:
Chloe Feinberg
cfeinberg@ashoka.org

Ashoka Community Members to Receive Prestigious Latin Trade Bravo Business Awards

tspalding — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:21:46 -0500

Arlington, VA (October 20th, 2009) On October 30, 2009 Latin Trade, Latin America’s leading international business magazine, will be presenting two of its prestigious Bravo Awards to distinguished members of the Ashoka Social Entrepreneur community: Rebecca Villalobos, an Ashoka Fellow from Costa Rica who promotes quality eye care for all, and Ashoka Support Network member, Lorenzo Mendoza, Executive President of Empresas Polar.

Rebecca Villalobos, Ashoka Fellow since 2002, will receive the Bravo Humanitarian Award. With just $500 of start-up capital and a few borrowed chairs, she launched her first clinic and began providing medical treatment for just $2 a visit. Through her organization Asembis, Rebecca has reached over 3 million Costa Ricans, providing quality, affordable care to people of all economic backgrounds and in the most remote areas of the country.

Lorenzo Mendoza, who has been involved with Ashoka to support social entrepreneurship in Latin America since 2007, will receive the Bravo Social Responsibility CEO Award. His Empresas Polar is not only one of the largest group of companies in Venezuela, which Mendoza has managed to hold together in tough economic and political times, but he has also become a champion of social entrepreneurship through the Polar Foundation and his own personal involvement.

“We are very proud of both our Ashoka community members: Rebecca, for showing how social causes can be sustainable and generate huge impact, applying a mixture of business concepts with deep concern and commitment to those who have the least and Lorenzo, for his continued commitment to promoting social entrepreneurs through his investment and his advocacy among Latin American business leaders,” says Nadine Freeman, Ashoka’s Director of Engagement for Latin America. “We are pleased to see both the business and social sector generating such important impact, demonstrating that everyone can be a changemaker.”

In addition to receiving their important Bravo awards, both Villalobos and Mendoza will participate in a special event with a select group of Latin American business leaders, including Grupo Bimbo CEO, Daniel Servitje, prior to the Bravo Awards in Miami on October 30. The objective of this gathering of leaders will be to build a strong network of support for social entrepreneurship in Latin America.

About Ashoka
Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs – individuals with system-changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Ashoka is strengthening the global citizen sector by connecting the work of individual social entrepreneurs to their business counterparts, creating a system of collaborative entrepreneurship. The network effect of these partnerships drives the sector forward by creating new solutions in new markets.

To date Ashoka has elected and supported over 2,000 social entrepreneurs across 70 countries in five continents. Ashoka has offices in Bogota, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City and Sao Paolo. Throughout Latin America, Ashoka has elected and invested in over 600 leading social entrepreneurs and has a growing network of business leaders who dedicate their time and resources to support Ashoka and to strengthen the work and impact of these social entrepreneurs.

For more information please visit www.ashoka.org.

About the Latin Trade Bravo Business Awards

The Latin Trade Bravo Business Awards are one of the most prestigious and longest-running annual ceremonies in the Americas, honoring business and political leaders for their contributions to progress in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 15th edition of the awards will be presented at a black-tie gala on October 30th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami, bringing together 300 leaders, including presidents, business executives and government ministers from across Latin America and the United States, to celebrate and recognize excellence in the region.
For more information, please visit www.ltbravo.com.

For more information contact:
Nadine Freeman
Ashoka Latin American Engagement
011 (51.1) 252.9981
nadine@ashoka.org.pe