by lwang | 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,...
by lwang | Jun 22, 2012 | AIL, Award Ceremony, Community Development, Education, Female Empowerment, Health, Sakena Yacoobi
On June 7, Sakena Yacoobi, 2009 Kravis Prize winner and founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), was honored with the Asia Foundation’s 2012 Lotus Leadership Award. The award recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations that have made major contributions to the wellbeing of women and their communities in Asia. At the awards ceremony, the Foundation screened this never-before-seen video of Yacoobi discussing the circumstances under which she started her organization. “It was scary. If I was caught, or if one of my teachers would be caught, they would be killed because the policy of that time was … no education at all. But we were doing something against the system. Through education, you can really, completely change an entire family. … Through this program, we graduate thousands and thousands of students.” Yacoobi also discussed the impact and goals of AIL: “Today in Afghanistan, AIL has reached 9.1 million people. I am proud of that. And when you have the power of people, you don’t have to fight with gun[s]. You can communicate and through understanding, you can really bring peace to Afghanistan.” She closed with a powerful message: “I will continue this fight because this fight is not finished yet, for the women of Afghanistan.” Another example of a Kravis Prize winner perpetually fighting for social...
by lwang | May 23, 2012 | Community Development, Entrepreneurship, Female Empowerment, INJAZ Al-Arab, Soraya Salti
What sets Kravis Prize winners apart from other social entrepreneurs is their aim to empower those who do not have their own voice. 2012 Kravis Prize winner Soraya Salti’s INJAZ Al-Arab is a perfect example. Youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa is the highest in the world and INJAZ Al-Arab is working to remedy this problem. As part of the Global Journal’s series on the New Global Generation of Female Change-Makers, the publication interviewed INJAZ Al-Arab Executive Director Soraya Salti, who discussed the importance of youth entrepreneurship. “[The youth] realize that due to population demographics governments are no longer hiring – they can’t cope with the influx of graduates – and the private sector discriminates against them. So their only avenue for economic inclusion is entrepreneurship, and we see that reflected very, very strongly in the motivation of young females we work with. They take the entrepreneurship experience and opportunity we give them as a raison d’etre. They put their hearts and souls completely into it.” Salti also offered some insight into how and why the government is beginning to work with the organization: “I think it was a moment of awakening for governments, that the biggest national security issue is unemployment. In the short-term, we have been looked upon as a solution provider – by the Jordanian government, by the Saudi government, by the Bahraini government. It’s made our life a lot easier in a way, because so much of our effort went into piloting, and proof of concept, and convincing ministries of education to really take us seriously and invest and give us the...
by lwang | May 4, 2012 | Community Development, Landesa, Roy Prosterman
In the mid-1960s, 2006 Kravis Prize winner Roy Prosterman founded Landesa, using his knowledge and expertise to fight global poverty. Armed with his background as an attorney, he set out to tackle one of the root causes of poverty – rural landlessness. The organization’s work spans across the globe, including India. In fact, Landesa has partnered with India’s Andhra Pradesh government for a legal aid program. Through the program, young people can be trained as paralegals and spread their knowledge to help others understand their rights and secure title, or “patta,” to their land. Reuters shared one individual’s story: “My father-in-law pawned the land for food,” said Kowasalya Thati. “When he returned the grain later, the land owners refused to give it back. They claimed it and we had no document to prove otherwise. For 28 years, we had to work on the land we once owned. Without land, we had nothing … not even enough food. It’s a miracle we got it back.” Landesa says there are plans to bring these barefoot lawyers to other states in the country, further expanding the organization’s impact and reach. Landesa’s India country director Gregory Rake says, “The community-based paralegal model has emerged globally as a cost-effective solution to the problem of access to justice for rural communities.” In fact, a similar scheme is already running in India’s impoverished state of Orissa and will aim to provide half a million poor families with security over their land. “FEATURE-Barefoot lawyers bring food security to India’s tribes” [Reuters, May 2,...
by lwang | Apr 19, 2012 | Community Development, Education, Female Empowerment, Health, Sakena Yacoobi
Last month, Kravis Prize winner Sakena Yacoobi attended a 10th-anniversary gathering of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, where she discussed global issues including peace and reconciliation with religious leaders. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the event in Kenya, “Awakening the Healing Heart: Transforming Communities through Love and Compassion,” was conducted over eight days. Yacoobi shared her thoughts with people including Shomberwa Marina Ntamwenge, president of the Federation of Protestant Women in the Ecumenical Church of Democratic Republic of Congo, and Jessica Okello, general secretary of Pan Africa Christian Women Association. What’s even more fascinating is Yacoobi’s story. The article provided a synopsis of her amazing journey: “Dr. Sakena Yacoobi seemed to exemplify the possibilities of the individual against great odds in the extreme. The 61-year-old from Afghanistan came to the United States as a lone teenager just out of high school in the early 1970s at the encouragement of some U.S. Peace Corps volunteers who, she said, recognized that she had potential and that it would not be fully realized in her home country. … She eventually did a master’s in public health at Loma Linda University, and later completed a doctorate in that field.” In addition: “Along the way, she worked four jobs simultaneously at times to supplement scholarship money and in 1987, after her family escaped during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to refugee camps in Iran, she was able to purchase a house in Michigan and sponsored 13 members of her family to the United States. Once they were settled, she took off for the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan and began collecting the...
by lwang | Apr 13, 2012 | Community Development, Education, Female Empowerment, Health, Kravis Prize, m2m
As one of the Mentor Mothers at mothers2mothers (m2m), our 2012 Kravis Prize awardee, Nozi Samela has an amazing story to share. As she recently blogged for One.org, Nozi described the transforming power of mothers like her who are living with HIV and are providing education and support to HIV-positive pregnant women and new mothers across sub-Saharan Africa through their work at m2m. “Before I came to work for mothers2mothers, I was a client of the program at a clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. When I learned that I was both pregnant and HIV-positive, just sharing my story with a Mentor Mother helped to lift some of the despair and loneliness I felt. When I joined a mothers2mothers support group and learned how to keep my baby free from HIV, I decided that my story was something that I would determine on my own. And when I gave birth to a healthy baby boy, I learned how important my story had become to women who, like me, were looking for a source of hope where there seemed to be none.” Today, Nozi is inspiring other mothers to spread the impact of mothers2mothers by sharing their own stories. Across nearly 600 m2m sites in sub-Saharan Africa, she is part of an effort that encourages women to help others by telling their stories of how the organization helped them overcome the “fear and stigma of HIV, give birth to healthy children and become role models in their communities.” mothers2mothers was established in 2001 to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV through the education and support of pregnant women and new mothers...
