Aug 3, 2012 | Education, Female Empowerment, Health, m2m
Did you know that in resource-poor countries, in the absence of tests and treatment, 40 percent of children are infected with HIV? Thankfully, 2012 Kravis Prize recipient mothers2mothers is working to fill this gap through its treatment clinics across sub-Saharan Africa. The exclusive video is a conversation between Marie-Josée Kravis, selection committee chair for the Kravis Prize and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and mentor mother Tlalane Phafoli. Phafoli discussed m2m’s programs and the United Nations goal to end pediatric AIDS by 2015: “Right now, I think, mothers2mothers, we are in seven countries. Over a million women are HIV-positive and there are still a lot out there that are not being reached, which really is a pity.” She also shared her own experience: “After the tests were confirmed that I am HIV-positive, all I wanted was to die. I can tell you it wasn’t easy. … Look, I’m still standing, I have a job, I’m able to look after my own child. The minute they see me, that I get up every morning, I carry my bag, I go to work. And not just in work, the clinic, which is the most important place in the community. I’m talking on behalf of the 1,500 mentor mothers who are out there doing the work.” Thanks to m2m, Phafoli and her fellow mentor mothers are able to inspire, educate and guide HIV-infected women receive proper care and treatment! A true Kravis Prize... read more
Jul 27, 2012 | Education, FAWE, Female Empowerment
Kravis Prize winners are effecting change all around the world – and prominent policymakers are taking notice! For example, Claver Issa, acting permanent secretary of Rwanda’s Ministry of Education, commended the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) Rwanda Chapter at the organization’s seventh General Assembly earlier this month. Issa noted that the ministry is working to develop a special education policy with FAWE that targets all children with special needs. He added that FAWE Rwanda “has contributed much to the national steering committee in the promotion of girls’ education where schools competed and those who won awarded prizes with the help of the First Lady.” At the assembly, FAWE Rwanda Chairperson Rhona Nyakurama also shared the organization’s progress. The school is currently sponsoring 6,555 students in 62 schools around the country. Since the establishment of FAWE Rwanda, around 86 percent of the girls who have graduated were able to join higher institutions of learning. In addition, FAWE Rwanda has been able to mobilize girls’ education at the primary and secondary school levels, with 52 percent of girls now at the primary school level! To learn more about FAWE’s amazing work, go to our page. “FAWE Rwanda holds Seventh General Assembly” [The New Times, July 14,... read more
Jul 20, 2012 | Entrepreneurship, INJAZ Al-Arab, Soraya Salti
In light of last year’s Arab Spring and the recent presidential election in Egypt, it is clear that there are many socioeconomic issues that need to be tackled in the Middle East. Thankfully, 2012 Kravis Prize winner Soraya Salti and her organization INJAZ Al-Arab are working to ameliorate one of the underlying problems, youth unemployment in the region. INJAZ Al-Arab uses their network of Arab business leaders to inspire entrepreneurship and innovation among Arab youth. In an op-ed published in Right Side News, contributor Daniel Doron discussed how previous regimes in Egypt have discouraged entrepreneurship and commerce. Doron noted, “Growing unemployment is preventing a generation of youth from maturing with dignity. Most are too educated to consider working in manual labor, so they remain dependent on their parents.” The op-ed quoted Salti, who said in a 2009 interview: “Youth are marginalized from an opportunity to graduate into adulthood and to become independent, self-respecting human beings who are just able to do the normal things in life, like getting married and having a home.” Now that Salti and others have recognized these issues, INJAZ Al-Arab and their network of mentors are working to foster a new generation of independent, self-sufficient entrepreneurs in the Middle East! “Free Markets Can Transform the Middle East” [Right Side News, March 11,... read more
Jul 13, 2012 | Education, Female Empowerment, Health, m2m
The Global Post’s Tracy Jarrett recently went on a journey to learn about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the disease that took her mother’s life. She traveled to Cape Town, South Africa and met Maletsatsi Mbayi, a mentor mother at mothers2mothers. Mbayi discussed her duties at the organization, but also shared her story and how m2m changed her life. After learning that she was HIV positive and pregnant, Mbayi said she contemplated committing suicide. However, Mbayi eventually began treatment and told her friends about her disease. She joined a support group at church where she was recruited to be part of the m2m program as an example of someone who had the courage to speak out about her status. Jarrett noted how m2m had changed Mbayi: “It is clear that working for mothers2mothers has empowered Mbayi, who now stands strong and confident, and is noticeably pained when she remembers her darkest hours, when she thought that taking her own life was the only way forward. Her knowledge and her dedication to helping other HIV positive women signify how far she has come.” While listening to Mbayi’s stories, Jarrett thought of her mother. “If my mother had lived, would she also have helped support other HIV-positive mothers? Would she have needed a job like that to help her cope?” she wrote. “As I left I gave Mbayi a hug, squeezing her as if she were my own mother. When I got back to my apartment near the city center, tears swelled in my eyes.” Yet another example of how Kravis Prize winners are changing lives all around the world! “A Daughter’s... read more
Jul 5, 2012 | BRAC, Community Development, Poverty Reduction
In their efforts to tackle some of the world’s most challenging social issues, Kravis Prize winners always go one step further. BRAC works to alleviate poverty in Bangladesh by offering support services in the areas of human rights and social empowerment, education and health, economic empowerment and enterprise development, livelihood training, environmental sustainability and disaster preparedness. In fact, when cyclone Aila hit Bangladesh’s southwestern coastal region three years ago, BRAC supported the villagers financially and helped build cyclone-resistant homes. According to the Guardian, BRAC University consulted the villagers and designed 43 cyclone-resistant structures at Adarsha Gram. BRAC also imported two desalination plants from China to provide drinking water for the village! Today, BRAC is promoting alternative economic activities for the villagers, since their livelihoods from shrimp farming were wiped out after Aila. These include teaching villagers to grow salt-tolerant rice and maize, as well as crab-fattening. Until June 2011, BRAC has covered almost 50,000 households in the region with different agro-based interventions. Jossi Rani from Deyara village, 23 kilometers from Adarsh Gram, shared how BRAC has impacted her life: “I’m earning good money. Crabs are more profitable than shrimp.” It’s plain to see that BRAC really goes the extra mile in their initiatives! “Bangladesh villagers still struggling after Cyclone Aila’s devastation” [The Guardian, March 5,... read more
