Spotlight: Soraya Salti

Posted on March 9, 2012 by ademarest

In 2009, PBS’ Frontline/World discussed problems that youth are facing in Cairo, Egypt, noting that there is an average five-year wait for a decent job, even for college graduates. Thankfully, one of this year’s Kravis Prize winners, INJAZ Al-Arab Executive Director Soraya Salti, is working to broaden opportunities for Arab youth. INJAZ Al-Arab runs programs in a dozen countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, including Egypt, that aim to provide experiential education and training to Arab youth in work readiness, financial literacy and entrepreneurship. PBS interviewed Salti regarding the organization’s mission. She discussed the importance of teaching students practical business-related skills in conjunction with their regular educational curriculum:

“When you have youth who are educated and unemployed, what will they do with their lives? Either these youth become a burden on our economies or they become an engine of growth and prosperity. We want to catch them before they’re unemployed and we want to instill in them the entrepreneurial spirit and entrepreneurial skillset so that they can create their employment opportunity. We want to create excitement. What’s the best thing to do more than create the competition for entrepreneurs?”

As part of INJAZ’s goal to inspire entrepreneurship and invigorate Arab youth, the organization holds an annual competition for the best student company, which is judged by the innovativeness and profitability of the businesses. Watch the video to see how INJAZ is inspiring Arab youth to pave their own future through creative and interactive programs! You can also read PBS’ extended interview with Soraya Salti.

To find out more about Soraya Salti, check out her Kravis Prize profile.

Posted in Community Development, Education, INJAZ Al-Arab, Soraya Salti | Leave a comment

Spotlight: mothers2mothers

Posted on March 1, 2012 by ademarest

Here at the Kravis Prize, we are proud to sponsor some of the most innovative nonprofits, including one of this year’s Kravis Prize winners, mothers2mothers. Not only does m2m help to educate pregnant women and new mothers on how to prevent HIV transmission to their unborn babies, the organization also provides social support to HIV-positive women and helps them access existing healthcare services.

Unique in its innovative approach to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), m2m is widely recognized around the world and receives support from organizations including UNICEF. Studies have also been conducted to capture the impact of m2m’s programs, which show how m2m is truly a leader in this area.

In 2007, USAID, the Human Sciences Research Council and the Population Council conducted an evaluation of 17 m2m sites in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, which provide services five days per week to women at the clinics. m2m staff are also available to go home with a mother who requests support for HIV status disclosure to a partner and/or other family members.

Researchers interviewed HIV-positive pregnant and postpartum women that participated in the m2m program and those who did not. The study found that “m2m participants had greater psychosocial well-being, greater use of PMTCT services, and better PMTCT outcomes.” In fact, “more than nine out of 10 pregnant program participants felt that they could do things to help themselves, cope with taking care of their infants, and live positively.”

“The findings suggest that m2m plays an important role in providing a continuum of care for HIV-positive women and their infants. The program strives to keep women linked to health facilities, which is especially important after delivery since that is an identified weakness of traditional PMTCT services, where there are no established systems to follow up women and their infants. This evaluation found that there was an association between participation in the program and greater psychosocial well-being, increased uptake of PMTCT services, and more positive PMTCT behaviors, particularly among postpartum women.”

m2m’s dedication to global health has helped the organization create a groundbreaking model that increases awareness of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, women’s health and preventative care. Since the first site was established in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2001, the organization has expanded to over 500 sites in seven countries! Their impact is spreading far and wide – you can read the full evaluation here to see why their approach is so effective. You can also check out m2m’s Kravis Prize profile to learn a little more about the organization.

Posted in Female Empowerment, m2m | Leave a comment

Soraya Salti and m2m are the 2012 Kravis Prize winners!

Posted on February 22, 2012 by ademarest

Established in 2006, the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership recognizes and celebrates extraordinary accomplishment and bold leadership in the nonprofit sector. Over the years, the Prize has provided funding for the extraordinary efforts of the Rural Development Institute, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, the Forum For African Women Educationalists (FAWE), the Afghan Institute of Learning, Pratham and Escuela Nueva. However, the Kravis Prize offers much more than just financial support – we strive to share our recipients’ best practices with the nonprofit community and inspire future generations to become nonprofit leaders.

This year, we are delighted to announce not one, but TWO winners of the seventh annual Kravis Prize in Leadership: Soraya Salti, CEO of Arab educational mentoring program INJAZ Al-Arab, and mothers2mothers, an organization that helps to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS through the education and support of mothers with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa!

We’ll feature our amazing winners on our blog over the next few weeks, but check out the press release to learn some basic facts about Salti and m2m!

Posted in INJAZ Al-Arab, m2m, Soraya Salti, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Countdown to 2012 Kravis Prize announcement!

Posted on February 15, 2012 by ademarest

It’s that time of the year again!

We’re only one week away from the 2012 Kravis Prize announcement and we’ve got some very exciting news this year. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and Twitter feed to get all the latest news and join in on the conversation. We’ll also have highlights and updates about each of the past six Kravis Prize winners in the coming week!

We’ll of course feature the winner on our blog next week, so check back then, too!

In the meantime, you can get more acquainted with the Prize’s past winners here.

Posted in Kravis Prize | Leave a comment

FAWE: Investing in equality

Posted on February 7, 2012 by ademarest

Kravis Prize winners share many things in common, including an exemplary record of effective programs that drive socioeconomic development around the world.

In fact, 2008 Kravis Prize winner Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE) officially launched a $2.5 million program with children’s development organization Plan Liberia in Monrovia, Liberia last week! The five-year program, which will be implemented in the Montserrado, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Lofa counties, “seeks to empower over 40,000 girls and young women with education and other basic skills.” In addition, the program will protect girls from gender-based violence and increase access to post-primary education.

Read more about the program here!

You can also check out our page to find out more about FAWE.

Posted in FAWE, Female Empowerment, Poverty Reduction | Leave a comment

Landesa: Empowering Women to Fight Poverty

Posted on February 2, 2012 by ademarest

Did you know that 42 percent of children under the age of five in India suffer from malnutrition? Thankfully, international development organizations are working to eradicate this problem by implementing health programs and other community development initiatives. One area that might be overlooked, however, is how women’s rights contribute to reaching this goal. The Guardian’s Poverty Matters blog published an article by Renee Giovarelli, executive director of the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights, who discusses how female empowerment affects child malnutrition:

“There is growing evidence that the reason for India’s malnourished children is not just empty pockets – it is, specifically, women’s empty pockets. Women in India have a lower status and therefore less control over resources, both land and money, and consequently do not have the leverage to ensure that their children’s needs are met.”

Giovarelli also outlines how Landesa and the national and state governments of India are tackling this issue:

“Across India, national and some state governments are recognising this and are working to put a powerful asset – land – into the hands of women. … Just last year officials in Odisha state opened the first Women’s Land Rights Facilitations Centre. And officials in West Bengal state have begun adding the names of women to all the land titles they distribute in their micro-plot poverty alleviation programme. Officials in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal are working to ensure that more women find their names on the title documents to the land they till.”

“Land rights for women can help ease India’s child malnutrition crisis” [Poverty Matters, January 20, 2012]

To learn more about Landesa Founder and 2006 Kravis Prize winner Roy Prosterman, check out our page.

Posted in Female Empowerment, Landesa, Poverty Reduction, Roy Prosterman | Leave a comment

Kravis Prize winners are some of the 100 Best NGOs!

Posted on January 26, 2012 by ademarest

The Global Journal just released their January/February 2012 issue, which for the first time ranked the top 100 best nongovernmental organizations in the world. We’re delighted to announce that FIVE Kravis Prize winners were ranked among the top 50 NGOs!

BRAC even made it into the top five and has a nice feature on the website, which also mentions 2007 Kravis Prize winner Sir Fazle Abed.

“Established by former Shell Oil executive Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the independence of Bangladesh, BRAC was part of an influential wave of organizations – alongside the Grameen Bank and ASA – that went on to revolutionize development strategies not only in their home countries, but across the world. Unlike its counterparts, however, which focused on refining and expanding their pioneering micro-credit and micro-finance models, BRAC also added a range of social programs to the mix and has continued to diversify and leverage its unique ability to achieve economies of scale over time.”

Check out what else they had to say about BRAC here and the other Kravis Prize winners that are part of this year’s list, including Escuela Nueva (Founder Vicky Colbert, 2011), Pratham (2010), FAWE (2008) and Landesa (Founder Roy Prosterman, 2006).

Posted in BRAC, Escuela Nueva, FAWE, Fazle Abed, Landesa, Pratham, Roy Prosterman | Leave a comment

Attempting to Ace the ASER

Posted on January 20, 2012 by ademarest

2010 Kravis Prize winner Pratham, the largest non-governmental organization in the world, works to provide quality education to underprivileged children in India. But that’s not all! The organization is also a reliable research source and released their seventh Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) this week, which was cited by the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development. India’s National University of Educational Planning and Administration also released a comprehensive report this week that echoes the findings of Pratham’s ASER. The report has sparked discussion in media outlets about what can be done to improve the educational system in rural India.

The Times of India published several articles about the study, pointing out important statistics. The Hindu and other Indian news outlets also discussed the results of the report. Here are some highlights from the study:

• The dropout of female students in the age group of 11 to 14 years is currently 9.5 percent in the state of Jaipur. This was 20 percent in 2006.
• The rate of enrollment in private schools has gone up from 19.15 percent to 26.6 percent since 2006.
• The number of class III students able to solve subtraction problems fell from 36.6 percent in 2010 to 29.9 percent in 2011.

“Rural India going to private schools: Report” [The Times of India, January 18, 2012]
“Sharp decline in dropout of girl students” [The Times of India, January 18, 2012]
“Enrollment of marginalized primary students on the wane” [The Times of India, January 18, 2012]
“Alarming decline in reading and mathematical skills in 6-14 age group, says ASER” [The Hindu, January 18, 2012]
“Failing the test” [Indian Express, January 18, 2012]

And you can always find out more about Pratham’s great work on our page.

Posted in Education, Pratham | Leave a comment

A Title to Education

Posted on January 12, 2012 by ademarest

2006 Kravis Prize winner Roy Prosterman’s organization, Landesa, which helps the world’s poor secure land rights, has come a long way since its inception in 1981. Today, their work spans all across the globe, including Odisha, India, and impacts development in a variety of ways. For example, did you know that the lack of land titles could affect one’s access to educational opportunities? In an article published in the Huffington Post, Landesa President and CEO Tim Hanstad explains that owning land titles is crucial to improving school enrollment rates in developing countries:

“So, what can be done to make sure that all children get that chance? Part of the answer lies in the land. In the [Indian] state of Odisha, at least 40 percent of rural families, many of whom are tribal, lack legal rights to the land on which they depend. Often they’ve been farming this land for generations but without legal title. Without this documentation, they often cannot access the free tuition and related services and subsidies to which they are entitled.”

Thankfully, Landesa has partnered with the Odisha government to help families gain their land patta, or land title document, which has helped many children receive the free admission or stipends that the Indian government provides to certain tribes. During a visit, Hanstad made some observations on how the land titles have impacted the society:

“As I saw in Odisha, land rights not only yield productive farmers. They also nurture students who grow to become engineers, doctors, executives, parents, elected officials, scientists and productive members of society in countless other ways. That ‘second harvest’ has an impact far beyond the initial crop.”

To find out more about inaugural Kravis Prize winner Roy Prosterman, click here.

“Growing Tomorrow’s Leaders, One Land Title at a Time” [The Huffington Post, December 9, 2011]

Posted in Education, Landesa, Roy Prosterman, Tim Hanstad | Leave a comment

Where in the World is Sakena Yacoobi?

Posted on January 5, 2012 by ademarest

In 2010, Sakena Yacoobi participated in the public forum “Health at Whose Cost?”, part of the Melbourne Conversations series, as a delegate at the United Nations Advance Global Health conference.

She shared her thoughts about Afghanistan and discussed how the Afghan Institute of Learning is working to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by generating awareness and educating Afghan society about pertinent issues:

“Our organization decided to really target universal education, gender equality and child maternal health. … As an individual, everyone is responsible to take care of everyone else’s health and to try to help. In order to help, you must give them training to be able to teach them how to help [themselves].”

While discussing the importance of women’s rights, Yacoobi said:

“Why [do] we target gender equality? Because in Afghanistan, you know, always half of the population has been considered. The other half, or more than the other half, are women. Women have been completely ignored. So if you really want to have a healthy nation, you must target the other half of the population. Because those half are the ones who are taking care of the rest of the population. So we must really try to teach them and work with both sex[es], male and female.”

How’s that for food for thought? Listen to Yacoobi speak at the 0:29:15 mark and check out other inspiring speakers in the video:

Posted in AIL, Community Development, Female Empowerment, Sakena Yacoobi | Leave a comment