by lwang | Mar 6, 2014 | CMC, Community Development, Education, Kravis Prize, Pratham
Knowledge that can radically change lives is a potent form of knowledge that cuts across categories and barriers — that’s been the key to Pratham’s success for more than 20 years, and it’s also the reason why the Mumbai-based organization and 2010 Kravis Prize recipient has been selected for a 2013 Frontiers of Knowledge Award from the BBVA Foundation. The BBVA Foundation, which serves as the charitable arm of the banking organizations Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, has announced the selection of eight 2013 laureates, including Pratham, which has been honored for “their originality, theoretical significance and ability to push back the frontiers of the known world.” The award includes a cash prize of €400,000 (approx. $570,000). While biologist Christopher Field was awarded for his work on climate change and British biochemist Adrian Bird for his discoveries in epigenetics, Pratham was honored for its educational work with disadvantaged children in the award category of “development cooperation.” “Pratham has expanded the scope of education in resource-constrained areas,” the BBVA jury announced in a prepared statement. “It has done so through two significant innovations: the creation of simple, accurate and reliable tools for communities to assess learning; and a process that uses scientific evidence to develop new cost-effective programs that drastically improve learning levels.” Though Pratham has been in operation in India since 1994, its profile outside the country remained relatively low until the awarding of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership in 2010. In the years since that award in recognition of the NGO’s work on improving literacy with programs such as Read India, Pratham has gone on to receive several more major international...
by lwang | Feb 13, 2014 | Community Development, Education, Entrepreneurship
The announcement of Helen Keller International as this year’s recipient of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership coincides with an article on the Kravis Prize featured in the latest issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. What challenges remain in the nonprofit sector? Read about the Kravis Prize and the enduring lessons of nonprofit management in the Stanford Social Innovation...
by lwang | Oct 23, 2013 | Education, Entrepreneurship, Kravis Prize, Pratham
Google’s Global Impact Awards are honoring the powerful ways that tech produces substantial, positive outcomes in the lives of communities around the world. A program related to Kravis Prize recipient Pratham is among 10 nominees for this year’s award as part of the Google Impact Challenge initiative. While three winners will be determined by a panel of judges, a fourth winner will be based on an internet-wide vote. The deadline for voting is October 30. Go here to cast your vote. The Global Impact Challenge is an award program providing help to Indian non-profits that are targeting some of that nation’s most serious problems. Among this year’s candidates are several employing digital tools to address situations including sanitation in India’s slums, gender-based violence, and education in rural areas. Pratham Books, which fits under the umbrella of efforts by Pratham (recipient of the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership in 2010), is under award consideration for its development of an easy access web platform to support children’s literacy throughout the country. According to their proposal, reading levels fall far below satisfactory standards — “Nearly 50% of Indian 5th graders currently read at a 2nd grade level” — and this dire problem is largely due to a lack of available age-appropriate reading materials. With the help of a Global Impact Award, Pratham Books will construct an open source website where children’s e-books can be created and existing children’s books from around the world can be translated into at least 25 languages. “The word Pratham means ‘first’ or ‘priority,’ and we think that having every child in school and learning well should be...
by lwang | Jun 18, 2013 | AIL, Education, Female Empowerment, Sakena Yacoobi
Sakena Yacoobi, Founder and Executive Director of the Afghan Institute of Learning, was among an esteemed group of recipients who were presented earlier this month with honorary degrees during the 266th Commencement Ceremony at Princeton University. Yacoobi, who was selected for her efforts to educate women and children in Afghanistan with her organization AIL, was joined on the Princeton stage by novelist Toni Morrison and architect Frank Gehry, among several others. Also in June, the Huffington Post featured a piece by Sakena Yacoobi entitled, “Literacy and Networking for Afghan Women Through Texting.” Yacoobi writes about the lack of literacy in Afghanistan, especially among women. The article documents the efforts of her organization to empower women through education and to improve conditions in Afghanistan as a whole. Sakena writes that the organization could be used as model by other nations that wish to accelerate literacy education and provides a network for Afghan women to build relationships and foster more interaction and dialogue in their society. In the West, we take this sense of interconnectedness for granted, but for the women of Afghanistan, Yacoobi says, it is an exciting, new development: “The women of Afghanistan become energized by learning and they are also excited to have a way to communicate with one another. This program could be used in other nations to help accelerate literacy education, but the impact that access to mobile phones and knowledge of how to use them has on Afghan women is far greater than just accelerating literacy. The women can build and maintain relationships with other women to whom they are not related, something which is incredibly difficult in Afghan society....
by lwang | Apr 15, 2013 | CMC, Education, Johann Olav Koss, Kravis Prize, Right 2 Play
In 2008, when Johann Olav Koss’s organization Right To Play set a goal to reach one million children weekly, the number was still a distant dream. This month, in the buildup to this week’s award ceremony for the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership, Right To Play has announced that this is a dream no longer: The organization has finally achieved that milestone. Right To Play, which works to teach life skills to urban youth around the world through games and sports, has grown significantly in the decade since its founding. In addition to reaching one million children (of which 49% are girls), as of 2012 the organization can boast that: Over 13,500 local volunteers serve as Right to Play Coaches, of which 56% are female. These coaches not only lead the local programs, but also serve as mentors for the children they work with Right To Play now includes 6,300 Junior Leaders, some as young as eight, who serve as role models for their peers 10,300 children with disabilities now participate in Right To Play’s programs in over 20 countries So what’s next for the organization? Right To Play hopes to reach two million children weekly by 2017. KRAVIS PRIZE CEREMONY AND RELATED EVENTS: This week: This year’s Kravis Prize winner Johann Olav Koss presents a CMC lunchtime lecture This week: Kravis Prize presents the “Global Leaders Forum” event ALSO RELATED: Where’s Right To Play headed next? The United States CMC Breaking News: The Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership for 2013 Awarded to Johann Olav Koss Celebrity support for mothers2mothers and Pratham...
by lwang | Apr 11, 2013 | Community Development, Education, FAWE, Kravis Prize
Who can solve the problems facing under-developed communities in Africa? FAWE girls! 2008 Kravis Prize Winner FAWE is teaching African girls not only to improve their own lives, but also the lives of all of those around them. And the work has paid off: A team of students from FAWE’s Girls School in Rwanda just won a debate on good governance in Rwanda. The high school debate, run by the Rwanda Governance Board, was centered on the question of whether the “private sector has contributed more than the public sector in the economic development of less developed countries.” The Deputy Director General of the Rwanda Governance Board, Fatuma Ndagiza, complimented the quality of the debaters, saying that the candidates spoke “with confidence and clarity. They provided rich ideas and documented on key sectors of the country’s development.” FAWE isn’t the only Kravis Prize winner to have an impact on international education: Pratham USA was recently awarded a Social Impact award in the category of “International Contribution to India” from the Times of India. The organization was acknowledged for its work to improve the quality of education in India. RELATED: FAWE: Gender is My Agenda (GIMAC) Summit Escuela Nueva: Learning Guides in Action Egypt: Soraya Salti puts her money on Egypt’s youth...
