Call for Nominations: 2011 Gleitsman International Activist Award

The Gleitsman Program for Leadership in Social Change encourages individual commitment and leadership by recognizing the exceptional achievement of innovators who have sparked positive social change. We seek those individuals whose vision and courage inspire others to join with them in confronting and challenging injustice.

The Gleitsman International Activist Award, was created in 1993 by the late Alan Gleitsman to honor leadership in social activism that has improved the quality of life in countries and inspired others to do the same. The honoree receives $125,000 and a specially commissioned sculpture designed by Maya Lin, the creator of the Vietnam War Memorial. Past honorees have included Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Yunus, activists such as Dr. Jaya Arunachalam and Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, and, most recently, Karen Tse, founder of International Bridges to Justice.

For more information and to download the application materials, visit the Gleitsman Program's web site.

Vote your favorite social ventures!

Check out Best Buy and Ashoka Youth Venture's @15 Community Impact Challenge, in which five teams of young social entrepreneurs will be chosen from 15 finalists for prizes of up to $5,000. Cast your vote today. And, with inspiring ventures that are helping communities locally and around the world, everyone is a winner!

Call for Nominations: 2009 Gleitsman International Activist Award

HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL

The Center for Public Leadership Requests Nominations for the 2009 Gleitsman International Activist Award

Nominate individuals you believe have made a difference in their communities or countries. The award will be given in the fall of 2009 and includes a $125,000 prize and a specially commissioned sculpture designed by Maya Lin, the creator of the Vietnam War Memorial. For more information go to www.hks.harvard.edu/leadership/gleitsman.

Deadline: April 17, 2009 [Nomination and supporting material]

Win a scholarship for your social venture

Invent Your World is an international campaign sponsored by the Lemelson Foundation and Ashoka GenV to support young inventors in creating social change. Youth wishing to use new or adapted technology to address global challenges are encouraged to launch a "social venture" and implement their invention. Ashoka GenV will provide mentorship and seed funding to 50 new ventures. In addition, Lemelson and Ashoka will choose the best teams and offer additional support, including a visit to MIT to take part in a global roundtable discussion and $20,000 in scholarships.

Visit www.inventyourworld.org to learn more and enter an invention idea!

All things solar

Lately, I have been spending a lot of time reading about solar technologies. Since I think that there is a lot we can all learn about solar energy, I created a new Squidoo lens about the topic. Check it out and let me know what you think. (As for all of my other lenses, all proceeds from this Squidoo lens support the work of Young Inventors.)

Social Entrepreneur Chronicles

Some weeks ago, I received a really interesting email from Peep Laja about Sarah, a social entrepreneur who is chronicling her experiences about building her venture on her blog. I like Sarah's collaborative approach to building her start-up. I thought that Peep described Sarah's quest so aptly that I asked for his permission to re-post his entire email verbatum.

"A friend of mine is starting a social venture where she is helping to empower the indigenous women of Ngoble-Bugle (a tribe living in northern Panama) through giving them access to the world market by selling their amazing handicraft to the world. These women make the most amazing bags from plant fiber. It takes 2-3 months to make one bag, and they are awesome.

Until now these women had no access to the market. There are hardly any roads leading to where they live, not to mention anything else. Sometimes a buyer goes to the villages and forces these women to sell their bags for just a couple of dollars. Couple of dollars for bags which took over a thousand years to design and over 2 months to make. Now Sarah (the social entrepreneur in the making) is giving them a fair price for the work and providing these women access to the whole world.

She started a blog where she is talking about each step of setting up this venture. A great way to see positive change happening step by step.

Link: http://www.bagsmakeadifference.com"

Inspired by printer toner

Inspiration can strike anywhere!  Technology Review reports that researchers from the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) looked to printer toner particles in developing a low-energy water filtration system.  Because the filter is low-energy, it is more cost-effective than other filters.