Fellowship Bulletin

Fellowship Bulletin JULY 2009 CONTENTS • FELLOW NEWS • AWARDS/ FUNDING • CONFERENCES • INFORMATION FOR FELLOWS • CHANGEMAKERS® • VOLUNTEERS/ INTERNS/ PARTNERS SPECIAL EVENT This just in from US Fellow Billy Parish: I want to invite you to join me in the biggest day of grassroots action on global warming ever. On October 24, I'll join with over 1,000 groups in over 60 countries for an International Day of Climate Action. This December, leaders from around the world will gather in Copenhagen, Denmark to reach agreement on a new climate treaty. We need to do everything we can leading up to Copenhagen. 350 parts per million is the safe upper limit of CO2 in the atmosphere. The bad news is we are already at 389ppm. Churches will ring their bells 350 times. Buddhist monks plan to form a huge 350 with their bodies against the backdrop of Himalayas. There will be events from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef to Abaikalike, Nigeria where they'll be planting 3,500 trees. But we need it to be much larger—we need you, in your village or town or city, to take part. That's why I'm reaching out the Ashoka community. You are the best organizers, idealists, and world changers alive. Please go to 350.org and sign up for the International Day of Action. 350.org can help you with materials and ideas. FELLOW NEWS Sri Lankan Fellow Darin Gunesekera’s “Social Real Estate Investment Trust” was one of the organizations selected for the UN-HABITAT “Good Practices 2009 Award.” His trust offers slum dwellers the opportunity to trade in the land they occupy and then choose from available new apartments.These good practices were all deemed to have made outstanding contributions to improving the quality of life in their cities and communities. For more details, click here. Kenyan Fellow David Kuria has been named a Schwab African Entrepreneur of the Year. David and his team are working on bringing affordable, high quality sanitation services to thousands of people every day. Currently, Ecotact serves more than 9,000 customers daily through 10 toilets operated throughout the city of Nairobi, Kenya. Find more details about this award on this press release and this blog post. Indian Fellow Ishita Khanna's organization Ecosphere Spiti has won Sierra Club's inaugural “Green Energy & Green Livelihoods Achievement Award” in India for 2009. This new award recognizes community initiatives to promote green economic development, adaptation of renewable energy alternatives and organizational leadership in a grassroots environmental campaign. For more details, click here. 1 AWARDS/ FUNDING Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships Deadline: August 1, 2009 The Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF) is an American non-profit, non-governmental organization that gives developing-world journalists the opportunity to work as reporters in American newsrooms. The program, which runs from mid-March to September, is offered annually to approximately ten professional print journalists between the ages of 25 and 35. For details, click here. Mama Cash Deadline: check back after August 1, 2009 Mama Cash supports groundbreaking initiatives by women who strive to strengthen women's rights worldwide. By financing women's self-initiated projects in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Netherlands and the former Soviet Union, Mama Cash supports the efforts of women empowering themselves and gaining influence over their own lives. Mama Cash invests worldwide in the future of women. Furthermore, Mama Cash supports small groups, often newly established, and ones that have difficulty finding resources elsewhere. For more details, click here. UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Deadline: August 15, 2009 This year, a special focus will be given to achievements made by cities in dealing with major challenges of the 21st century especially those pertaining to environmental sustainability, equity, gender parity, pro-poor growth and participatory governance. For details, click here. The Japanese Award for the Most Innovative Development Project Deadline: August 24, 2009 An Award of US $30,000 will be given to the institution whose project embodies a fresh approach to an important development need and holds the greatest promise for benefiting the poor in developing and transition countries. Criteria include the degree of innovation and the potential for broad application of the project in other countries. The award is open to all development projects in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, and the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia. For details, click here. The Western Union Foundation Deadline for Letter of Inquiry: August 28, 2009 The Foundation provides grants to non-profit organizations around the globe. In assessing eligibility for grants they look for organizations and programs that are aligned with one of the following three categories: creating pathways to opportunity, supporting cultural inclusion, and fostering hope in the developing world. For details, click here. Malaria Awards 2009 Deadline: August 31, 2009 This award was established to honor and inspire individuals and organizations dedicated to the prevention and treatment of malaria. For details, click here. Yayori Award 2008 Deadline: August 31, 2009 The Yayori Award focuses on women activists, journalists, and artists (individuals or groups) who work at the 2 grassroots level with socially marginalized peoples in order to create a 21st century free from war and discrimination against women. An individual or a group from the Asian region will be selected and awarded ¥500,000. For details, click here or send an email. Mission Sustainability - We Face the Challenge Deadline: Rolling This German Council for Sustainable Development competition seeks your personal, original actions for how to make your everyday life and that of others more sustainable. This can include ideas regarding everyday situations such as your consumption habits or your use of energy, or how you—together with others—could transform your immediate surroundings or area into a community. For details (in German), click here. Open Society Institute Deadline: Rolling The Open Society Fellowship supports outstanding individuals from around the world. The fellowship enables innovative professionals—including journalists, activists, academics, and practitioners—to work on projects that inspire meaningful public debate, shape public policy, and generate intellectual ferment within the Open Society Institute. The fellowship focuses on the following categories: • National Security and the Open Society • Citizenship, Membership and Marginalization • Strategies and Tools for Advocacy and Citizen Engagement • Understanding Authoritarianism • Open Category View the Open Society Fellowship guidelines. The Skoll Foundation Deadline: Rolling As always, Skoll is looking for social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale positive change in the areas of tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity. Within these issues, Skoll is particularly interested in applications from social entrepreneurs working in five critical sub-issue areas that threaten the survival of humanity—climate change, nuclear proliferation, global pandemics, conflict in the Middle East and water scarcity. Award winners are celebrated at the annual Skoll World Forum following their selection, at the end of March in Oxford, England. You can read the Award Guidelines, take our eligibility quiz and fill out an application on our website. To view a one-page fact sheet outlining the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, click here. Small Grants for Nature Conservation (RSGs) Deadline: Rolling These are aimed at small conservation programs and pilot projects and are not designed to be a small part of a large undertaking. For details, click here. The Wallace Global Fund Deadline: Rolling The Wallace Global Fund aims to promote an informed and engaged citizenry to fight injustice, and to protect the diversity of nature. Working in the areas of natural resources, woman’s human rights, justice, media, as well as leadership and civic engagement, the fund supports activities at the global and national level. For more information, click here. 3 CONFERENCES The Gender Symposium Cairo, Egypt // November 25, 2009 This is an annual event that is designed to provide a platform for gender-focused debates. The theme for the 2009 symposium is Gender and Sports in Africa’s Development. The sporting arena retains its attraction for developmental projects. Most sporting activities offer opportunities for inclusive participation irrespective of gender, class, race, literacy, and other otherwise marginalizing attributes. In recent times, a lot of sporting activities have also contributed to the development of individuals, communities, countries, and the African continent in various ways. At a political level, sport in Africa has made possible the renewal and expression of a continental African identity. For details, click here. INFORMATION FOR FELLOWS Maker Faire Africa Accra, Ghana // August 14-16, 2009 Makers Entry Deadline: July 15th, 2009 This celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention is free to the general public. The aim of a Maker Faire-like event is to create a space on the continent where Afrigadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, brought to life, supported, amplified, propagated. For details, click here. CHANGEMAKERS® Breaking News! As you are probably now aware, Changemakers® has launched a brand new site, changemakers.com, that is full of new and exciting opportunities. In just one short month, we’ve already noticed a marked difference in our traffic and feedback. All positive! We know that if you’re looking to seed new solutions or network with innovators and funders, then you’ll find opportunities to do so in our Groups section or the Competitions pages. Or, if you’d like to find others who are doing similar work and get inspired, you can find your way to our Stories section. Check out changemakers.com and get immersed in our hub of social change. *Current Competitions – Share the wealth of your expertise We’ve now closed the Champions of Quality Education in Africa competition and we are looking for members of the social change community to make comments and share your knowledge with our entrants. Your voice and expertise will be influential when it comes time for voting and we’re confident you’ll find a lot that inspires. Since the beginning of the competition in March, we’ve looked to schools, teachers and administrators to find the best practices for changing lives at the local, district or national levels and we’ve found nearly 200 of them. Comment now and leave your mark on quality education in Africa. Our new Community Challenge powered by the Pittsburgh Foundation, Art in Public: Expressing Youth Voices in Pittsburgh, is now gearing up for the voting process and we thank you for all your valued input. All 4 through May we asked artists, youth and community groups to come up with innovative ideas to “paint the town” and foster youth expression through public art in the Pittsburgh area. You and the Changemakers community then commented and voted on your favorite entries. Voting begins July 20th, 2009, cast your vote soon. We’ve had a record-breaking number of entries—more than 600 in total!—for our Geotourism Challenge 2009: Power of Place, Sustaining the Future of Destinations competition. Since February we have been building out our community focused on ecotourism and travel that supports the local communities and environments. From tree lodges to underwater resorts, this competition has it all. Beginning July 14th, cast your vote for your favorite of these amazing tourism innovations that are shaping the way we travel now and in the future. Are you passionate about improving the quality of life in rural communities around the world? The Changemakers community is getting ready to vote and you can have your say! Visit the Cultivating Innovation: Solutions for Rural Communities competition now and vote for the entries that inspire you the most. Be quick though, the voting period ends July 8th and you’ll want to get your two cents in on this unique competition. VOLUNTEERS/ INTERNS/ PARTNERS Executive in Residence Program Ashoka’s Executive in Residence Program connects corporate executives and law firm associates with incountry volunteer opportunities with Ashoka Fellows around the world. Executives and attorneys committed to social change will spend 3, 6, or 12 months with an Ashoka Fellow’s organization, working on a tangible project. In return, they will experience social entrepreneurship in action. Each placement is designed jointly by Ashoka, the law firm/corporation, and Ashoka Fellows for an intimate set of participants. Placements are managed by experienced and informed Ashoka staff, both on global and local levels. For details, please contact Bruno Borges at bborges@ashoka.org Volunteers Need help with Strategic Planning? Fundraising? Translation? Volunteers can help! In-person assistance? Virtual help? Volunteer teams? Let us know what you need, and we’ll help you find what you’re looking for! Please give specific details regarding your plans for using a volunteer and information about what type of work they’ll be doing, special skills required, time-frame, accommodations available, etc. Email Beth Inabinett at volunteers@ashoka.org Interns Would you like to advertise for a summer intern on the Ashoka Volunteer website? Many capable undergraduate and graduate students are visiting the website looking for a way to get involved and gain experience in their field of study over the summer. Contact Beth Inabinett for an Intern Request Form at binabinett@ashoka.org Partners Assistance to Ashoka Fellows is being offered by a small group of U.S. based professional business and banking analysts and statisticians with skills in model building, risk analysis, market assessment, and financial valuations. Secondary abilities include web design, product strategy, and marketing. Language skills include English, Spanish and Chinese. If interested, contact Ashoka Volunteer Coordinator, Beth Inabinett at binabinett@ashoka.org 5