Nov 30, 2012 | Community Development, Landesa, Poverty Reduction, Roy Prosterman, Sustainable Development
When President Obama made history by becoming the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar, he caught the attention of inaugural Kravis Prize winner Roy Prosterman. Prosterman founded Landesa to advocate for international land law and policy reform, and his latest contribution to Landesa’s Field Focus blog applauds President Obama’s remarks on the importance of land rights. Prosterman’s post noted that the president’s Nov. 19 speech at the University of Yangon drew a clear connection between the right to self-government and property rights – and the fact that the two together can help lead to prosperity. In his speech, the president said: “When ordinary people have a say in their own future, then your land can’t just be taken away from you. And that’s why reforms must ensure that the people of this nation can have that most fundamental of possessions—the right to own the title to the land on which you live and on which you work.” That notion is central to Landesa’s mission and its work, and Prosterman’s blog post asserts that securing farmers’ rights to the land they till and the crops they raise is key to fulfilling Myanmar’s agricultural promise and improving rural livelihoods: “If Myanmar does not protect the land rights of its largely rural citizenry who have labored for years in their fields with government control of their planting and marketing, and address the further issue of its large population of completely landless rural poor, it cannot build a solid foundation for sustainable development that will lift the country out of extreme poverty.” His post also quotes President Obama’s offer of assistance to Myanmar’s... read more
Nov 16, 2012 | Education, Poverty Reduction, Pratham
Pratham, the 2010 Kravis Prize recipient, is a renowned leader in the field of education, and frequently praised for presenting innovative, low-cost solutions for mass literacy and numeracy in the developing world. The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) recently announced Pratham CEO and co-founder, Madhav Chavan as this year’s winner of the WISE Prize for Education. According to an article in MarketWatch, the WISE award was established in 2010 to recognize “world-class” contributions to education. This prestigious accomplishment reflects Chavan’s dedication to social justice, and his application of years of scientific training to develop systems that revolutionize access to education in the world’s most impoverished areas. “Just like you need air, just like you need water, just like you need food, you need education,” he has said. The WISE announcement singles out Pratham’s work in the slums of Mumbai, noting that its students perform at a higher level than other children in their age group. Chavan and the Pratham team have long been winners to us, and the Kravis Prize is proud to congratulate them on this latest recognition. 2012 WISE Prize for Education Award to Madhav Chavan [MarketWatch, November 13,... read more
Nov 9, 2012 | Community Development, Landesa, Poverty Reduction, Roy Prosterman, Sustainable Development
Inaugural Kravis Prize winner Roy Prosterman founded Landesa to apply his expertise in land reform, rural development and foreign aid to addressing the challenges of landlessness around the world. According to a recent article in Context China, Landesa has worked with the Chinese government since 1987, paying particular attention to state expropriation of farmland and compensation for farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture, among other organizations, has helped Landesa secure land ownership for nearly 86 million Chinese farming families. Context China contributor Wen Liu recently interviewed Prosterman about the organization’s work in China, including a discussion about what led attracted him to the country: Our work in China began in 1987, quite straightforwardly, because we saw initial publicity that China had broken up its collective farms and that agricultural production had substantially increased as a result. If this were true, we thought, it would be a striking instance of an erstwhile centrally planned economy of great size abandoning collective farming as a failure and replacing it as family farms, and we wanted to see it for ourselves. We did field work on this in 1987 (invited by the Foreign Affairs office of Sichuan province) and again, more extensively, in 1988 (invited by the Development Research Center of the State Council). The article highlights China’s sixth land rights survey, published by Landesa in 2011 and identifying the widespread problem of Chinese farming families lacking proper documentation of their land rights. Prosterman elaborated on the finding: Under the law, Chinese farm families are supposed to receive two documents confirming that they have 30 year rights to the small parcels of land that... read more
Nov 4, 2012 | Community Development, Education, Pratham
2010 Kravis Prize winner Pratham, one of India’s largest non-governmental organizations committed to educating underprivileged children, has a leadership team dedicated to representing the educational interests of the country as a whole. Pratham News shared a column by Pratham program director, Dr. Rukmini Banerji, on what she calls the myths of education in India. Banerji breaks down five basic assumptions underlying the country’s education department, supporting her argument with data from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a nationwide survey performed by citizens to gauge the success of school systems throughout the country. Originally published in the public policy and economics website, Ideas for India, Banerji’s analysis reveals the reality of the education department’s following assumptions: 1. High enrollment means children are in school; 2. Children are in school from age six onwards. India’s RTE Law “guarantees” education from the age of six to the age of fourteen; 3. Children in a given grade or class are homogenous (similar in age, ability etc.); 4. Textbooks are at appropriate age/grade level; and 5. Every year the country’s capability to deliver education is improving. Banerji’s comprehensive snapshot evidences how these assumptions misrepresent India’s educational climate and, ultimately cheat, underprivileged children of the education they deserve. She closes by challenging education department officials to “stick to reality”: “If we don’t look hard at our own reality, we will be constructing schools and curriculum for children who do not exist. If we don’t look hard at our own reality, we will be creating laws for situations that are far from real. If don’t look at our own reality, we will not be... read more
Oct 29, 2012 | Community Development, Education, Pratham
2010 Kravis Prize winner Pratham, one of India’s largest NGOs committed to educating underprivileged children, is constantly innovating in order to improve education in India. In a recent posting on the Friends of Pratham blog, Namrta Kaushal addresses the question, “How well is every child learning?” and explores the tools Pratham has developed to assess children’s educational attainment. Pratham recognizes the need for educational assessments to promote greater understanding of academic performance and achievement. The program asserts that finding out, on an ongoing basis, what a child knows and can do, helps parents and teachers decide how to pose new challenges and provide children strategic guidance. Namrta Kaushal writes: “There is an increasing pressure on the average primary school teacher, especially with large, overcrowded classes of pupils with varying abilities and languages. Understandably it can be difficult for the teacher to flag a child’s difficulties.” With the goal of assessing the learning level of children, Pratham Delhi Education Initiative conducted about 20 “Assessment Melas” (Sanskrit for “gatherings”) across Delhi this October. Please click here to read the full blog post and learn more about Pratham’s... read more
