Changemakers Ideas ExChange

#innovatehealth Interview Series: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:11:01 +0000

Last week, Michelle Larkin (Assistant Vice President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) took a few moments to share her thoughts about how the Foundation views health innovation, and how they would like to see the national debate around health, prevention and wellness develop. Here is what she had to say:

In case you don’t have 15 minutes to spare, here are some of the highlights:

The Sun Also Helps You Hear

cmblog — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:21:27 +0000

Editor's note: This article was written by Vanuza Ramos, contributing journalist for Ashoka Changemakers®.

A simple battery for a hearing aid costs four reais and lasts about seven days; the device itself costs 3,000 reais (about U.S. $1,750). It may seem a small price compared to the great impact these products have in the life of a deaf person, but in developing countries like Brazil, these costs exclude millions of people who are hearing impaired.

However, a major shift is underway: the social entrepreneur Howard Weinstein has developed a low-cost technology to produce solar-powered hearing aids, along with a manufacturing process that involves training and employing people with disabilities.

Save the Date! Join @Changemakers for a #SocEntChat about Empathy!

John Converse Townsend — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:01:27 +0000

February 14^th is a day the world beams with love – and what better way to capture that love, by cultivating empathy in ourselves and in our communities?

Join us, the 1440 Foundation, experts and innovators between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. EST on Valentine’s Day for a conversation about empathy: its power, its impact, and its future.

This is your chance to share your thoughts, ideas, challenges, and perspectives—and to connect with innovators and thought-leaders!

Five Tips for Creating Learning Spaces that Lead to Change

cmblog — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

When Vishal Talreja started Dream a Dream with friends in 1999, he was armed more with passion than experience in education or development. But after a transformative and boundary-shattering experience working with HIV-positive children in India’s shelter homes, Talreja felt the very real need to put his empathy into sustained action.

Q&A with James Waruiru, Community Health Activist

John Converse Townsend — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:49:28 +0000

Changemakers is changing. Through the new Changeshops platform, we now offer improved ways to help build the world of social good. Changeshops users will be able to tell the online community what they need to grow their projects; search for collaborators, innovators, and competitions in the field; and access funding opportunities for world-changing ideas.

The Changeshops community is growing each day; to get a preview of what might be in store, Changemakers is catching up with a few of the platform’s top users.

Q&A with Idit Harel Caperton, Education Entrepreneur

John Converse Townsend — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:39:44 +0000

The Changeshops community is growing each day; to get a preview of what might be in store, Changemakers is catching up with a few of the platform’s top users.

Our first interview is with Dr. Idit Harel Caperton, president and founder of the World Wide Workshop, the New York-based foundation that is powering ideas for global learning and leadership in the 21^st century. Caperton’s Globaloria project is the world’s first and largest social learning network where students develop the digital citizenship skills the global economy demands. Globaloria helps both youth and educators learn to participate as leaders of change in the global knowledge economy.

Caperton sat down to talk with Changemakers about the organization’s early success with Changeshops.

Ben & Jerry’s Scoops Up New Ideas on Changemakers.com

John Converse Townsend — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:16:51 +0000

What happens when you blend Ben & Jerry’s environmentally-friendly business model with Ashoka Changemakers’ dynamic platform for innovation? You get an international competition sure to delight young entrepreneurs throughout Europe.

#innovatehealth Interview Series: Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI)

EmilyTav — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:09:23 +0000

As we continue to explore reverse innovation in health and health care, we talked with Donika Dimovska and Rose Reis at the Center for Health Market Innovations about their new report, Highlights: 2011. The report offers insights into market-based health programs, including:

Five health models emerging around the world during the past decade.
Six ways enterprises, NGOs, and others can mobilize private providers to deliver better care through franchising, high-volume specialty hospitals, and other commercial models.
Five approaches to expand access and give purchasing power to the poor, including government insurance programs, contracting with the private sector, and mHealth savings.
An analysis of how information technology can be effectively utilized in health care, presenting six key reasons why technology can improve access, quality, and efficiency.
Clear, quantifiable ways to report program performance in a simple and transparent way.
How to connect to CHMI hubs in 16 countries around the world.

Listen to this conversation about reverse innovation, and some of the highlights of this new report.

The solution to the latest bullying headlines? Forget legislation: It's time to Start Empathy.

cmblog — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:46:15 +0000

Earlier this week, reports surfaced about an 11-year-old boy with autism, who was beaten up by a fellow student while waiting at the bus stop. The event was filmed on a student’s cell phone, as his peers egged on his attacker, and subsequently uploaded to Facebook.

It later emerged that Kaleb Kula, the victim of the assault, had endured similar taunts beginning in the 1st grade, and his parents had repeatedly contacted the administration expressing their concern.

On the surface, the school had followed procedure, obeying the letter of the law. Maryland’s Cecil County Public School District upholds a strict anti-bullying policy, and maintains an online form where parents, peers, teachers, and other witnesses are encouraged to report incidents of bullying.

The form is in keeping with the Safe Schools Reporting Act of 2005, and a host of awareness-raising measures since, ranging from Bullying Awareness Week to enhanced legislation to high-profile media coverage. The result has led to adramatic increase in the number of incidents reported throughout the state, reaching 3,800 incidents in 2009-2010: nearly double that from the previous year.

Yet as Kaleb’s story shows, reporting incidents and dolling out reprimands only goes so far. Charging the student who attacked Kaleb with second-degree assault and laying blame on the district—which has called together parents to discuss bullying in wake of the incident—will not fix the problem. What’s needed is a concerted effort to address the issue at its root: equipping students with the ability to stand up when they see peers being mistreated and to avoid conflict in the first place.

Early Entrants & Honorable Mentions come together on Google+ Hangout

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:38:40 +0000

The early entry winners and honorable mentions of the Inspiring Approaches to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning competition were announced here a few weeks ago. Last week, these entrants came together for the first time to discuss the state of innovation in their communities, and the methods that they see are improving the lives of those around them.

The entrants came from across Canada, and by the end of the meeting they were conspiring to find ways to bring their programs together.

Meet The Early Entry Winners of the Innovations for Health Competition

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:14:43 +0000

A few months ago, Ashoka Changemakers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio launched the 'Innovations for Health' competition. Today we are happy to announce the early entry winners:

Growing to the Next Level of Change

benwald — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:10:09 +0000

Editor's note: This post was written by Ashoka Changemakers chief executive partner Ben Wald.

I am excited to let you know that Changemakers.com is about to get a new look.

Starting next week, the action opportunities for all who visit Changemakers are expanding from finding new innovations (through collaborative competitions, where Changemakers pioneered the open source method for recognizing and refining the best solutions to the world’s most critical issues) to connecting with a network that directs resources to the most promising solutions so they can grow.

Activate Empathy and Join the Movement to Teach What Matters

EmilyTav — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:44:38 +0000

Empathy. em·pa·thy [em-puh-thee]

It’s a beautiful word, derived from the suffix -em (meaning “to make into, to put into, to get into”) and -pathy (meaning “suffering”).

What I consider especially beautiful about this word is that, unlike “sympathy” (which translates literally to “with” + “suffering”), “empathy” is more internally focused, and action-oriented. It describes the transposition of the suffering, emotion, feeling, or experience of another person into oneself – and how it manifests itself through ones behavior toward others.

Here at Ashoka, we believe that empathy is central to our ability to imagine (and create) better communities, societies, organizations, companies, and institutions. We believe that empathy is a skill. We believe that empathy is a muscle we all have. And most importantly, we believe that, like all muscles, empathy is strengthened by use and exercise.

To this end, Ashoka Changemakers is launching a global competition titled: Activating Empathy: Transforming Schools to Teach What Matters.

#innovatehealth Interview Series: Fast Forward Health

EmilyTav — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:47:42 +0000

Changemakers caught up recently with two of the co-founders of the Fast Forward Health film festival: Andre Blackman and David Haddad. You can listen in on our conversation about innovations in health care and the film festival they launched in Washington D.C. this year:

And if you're strapped for time, here's a quick overview of the conversation:

#SocEntChat on Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders

cmblog — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:34:45 +0000

Do you have an opinion about what health care models might work in more than one country? Are you interested in what kinds of health care challenges are shared by communities around the world? Join Ashoka Changemakers on January 10, 2012, for an Asia #SocEntChat about Innovations for Health.

Join @changemakers from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Indian Standard Time (IST) — that's 3:30 to 5:30 a.m. EST — to participate in a Twitter-based discussion with innovators, social entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts about health care solutions that have the potential to be applied in other countries in order to improve health and health care. This is your chance to make your voice heard or to ask experts in the field your most burning questions.

Who Will Win the Duel? Building Full Information Citizenship

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:52:25 +0000

Editor's note: This post was written by Alison Craiglow Hockenberry, contributing editor at Ashoka Changemakers®.

It's a duel, quite possibly to the death. The bad guys: Censorship, surveillance, sabotage, fraud. The good guys: Freedom, access to information, quality of information, privacy, and security. The venue: the Internet. The stakes: Couldn't be higher.

Fighting for the bad guys: tyrants, police states, oligarchs, and quite a few unknowns. Fighting for the good guys: innumerable innovators, optimists, activists, and visionaries around the world who are creating the technologies and tools to build a world where everyone has access to the information they need to be effective, change-making citizens.

Year In Review: Making Change in 2011

EmilyTav — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0000

2011 was a big year for Ashoka Changemakers. Take a quick look at the milestones that amped up the momentum for Changemakers and our community

Early Entry Winners Announced in Inspiring Approaches Competition

cmblog — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:13:04 +0000

We've received an outstanding response for Inspiring Approaches to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning! Remember that you can share your idea or project until January 27, 2012.

Today we are excited to announce and congratulate our Early Entry Award Winners (follow the links to read their entries):

What Happens When HeroRATs Head Home?

John Converse Townsend — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:21:20 +0000

If you’ve been around these parts, you’re familiar with APOPO’s HeroRATs — the carefully trained, classically conditioned rodents that are bringing peace and security to countries with landmine legacies. HeroRATs founder Bart Weetjens and his talented critters have recently been featured at events like the 2011 Ashoka Globalizer and Skoll World Forum, heard over airwaves worldwide, and even captured on film in the field.

APOPO has successfully cleared more than 2,000 landmines and unexploded ordnances from land along the Thai-Cambodian border and in Mozambique. But what becomes of the reclaimed land after the HeroRATs head home?

Q&A: An Interview With Ben Wald

John Converse Townsend — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:18:32 +0000

On January 14, leading innovators in social and business entrepreneurship, technology, academia, and entertainment will meet at Pixar Animation Studios to discuss powerful and effective ways to address the most critical social and economic challenges of our time. They include Google vice president Marissa Mayer; Steve Case, founder of AOL and The Case Foundation; and Tim Brown, IDEO CEO, as well as Ashoka president Diana Wells and Ashoka Changemakers chief executive partner Ben Wald.

The event, dubbed “The Intersection,” will be a mash-up of 14 “innovation masterminds” from the business and social sectors exploring leading trends and ideas in personal creativity, team and organizational innovation, and social impact.

Wald recently talked with Changemakers about what he expects from the event—and what he is excited about.

Chatting with Social Innovators: Winners of the Making More Health Competition

EmilyTav — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:18:52 +0000

Earlier this month, we announced the winners of the Making More Health competition, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim:

ColaLife (Zambia)
United for Sight (Ghana)
Saúde Criança (Brazil)

While we learned a great deal from (and about) these incredible innovators through the competition, we wanted to learn more. And what better way to learn, than to speak directly with the brains of the operations themselves?

Changemakers brought together the three winners of this competition on Google+ Hangout to hear more about their work, and to give them an opportunity to connect with each other. These teams have been doing incredible work -- take a listen:

The New Farm Bill: An Opportunity to Create a Sustainable Agricultural System

kristiewang — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:54:00 +0000

Change could be on the horizon for agriculture and food in the United States. The controversial 2012 Farm Bill, which failed to pass in November, is back on the table and due for a rewrite. (For a recap of the original “Secret Farm Bill” and how it failed, read this).

The new Farm Bill could be a tremendous opportunity to finally introduce both incremental and systems-level innovation in the way we eat and grow our food.

It’s important to note that the Farm Bill affects more than just farmers—it impacts everyone who, well, eats.

Saúde Criança: A Program for Health and Social Inclusion

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:36:39 +0000

Editor's note: This post was written by Vanuza Ramos, a Brazilian journalist and collaborator with Ashoka Changemakers.

In 1991, Dr. Vera Cordeiro realized that the real cause of most pediatric visits to a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro wasn’t illness or accident: it was the children’s living conditions.

“When the patient is discharged, they normally return to their homes, to a social context of vulnerability where they lack conditions to continue treatment,” Cordeiro said. “This makes the condition worsen and the patient must return to the hospital, which is yet another problem for a family already weakened by adverse economic and social realities.”

With other professionals from the Lagoa Hospital technical staff, Dr. Cordeiro set out to break the cycle of hospitalization, discharge, and readmission by transforming the lives of the children and their families. They founded the Saúde Criança Association (ASC) to promote the physical, mental, and social health of children who were patients that were recently released to their families living below the poverty line.

Photo of the Day: Dec. 16, 2011

John Converse Townsend — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:54:41 +0000

Two female "enviropreneurs" unload crate of saplings from a pickup truck in Nicaragua'ss La Flor Wildlife Refuge. These environmental stewards work with Paso Pacifico's Environmental Learning, Leadership, Adventure, and Stewardship Initiative (ELLAS), and are hoping to avert (and reverse) large-scale environmental destruction in the coastal and marine protected area.

Gift Social Entrepreneurship This Holiday Season

cmblog — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:14:02 +0000

The holidays is the perfect time to join Ashoka in supporting remarkable social entrepreneurs who are changing the world one idea at a time.

Support outstanding people and their ideas by giving a gift that gives back, entrepreneurial style. From our editors, some ideas:

* Give insight. In 2011 alone, several books by Ashoka Fellows and staff have been published. Here are just a couple:

#InnovateHealth: Talking Health Innovation on Twitter

EmilyTav — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:25:44 +0000

On Monday, we hosted a Twitter-based discussion about health care solutions that have the potential to be applied in communities around the world. In case you missed it, find a neat wrap up of the #SocEntChat after the jump.

Visionary Entrepreneur Sets Sight on Eliminating Preventable Blindness

John Converse Townsend — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:56:24 +0000

Nearly 40 million people worldwide are needlessly blind and another 240 million have low vision. Virtually all of the world’s 285 million visually-impaired persons live in developing countries, suffering from uncorrected refractive errors and cataracts.

But Unite For Sight, a social enterprise headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, is empowering communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. The organization guarantees eye treatment—whether it’s medication, a $150 sight-restoring surgery or even a first pair of glasses—for patients living in poverty in Ghana, India, and Honduras, as well as the United States and Canada.

More than 1.3 million people worldwide have overcome barriers to eye care through Unite For Sight services, whether they can afford to pay or not—the bill is always covered by the nonprofit.

Coke adds life? Yes.

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:52:50 +0000

Editor's note: This post was written by Alison Craiglow Hockenberry, contributing editor at Ashoka Changemakers®.

As advertising slogans go, “Coke adds life” is among the most potent and memorable. Simon Berry wants to make it also true.

The visionary behind ColaLife, Berry uses Coca-Cola’s unparalleled distribution channels to deliver preventive medicines to the most remote places on the planet and save lives.

Photo of the Day: Dec. 9, 2011

John Converse Townsend — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:40:48 +0000

Riders for Health courier, Piero Sakala (center), delivers blood samples sourced from rural health centers to a medical lab in Zambia's Chadiza district. After testing, the results are transported back to clinics along the country's southeastern border, enabling medical staff to more effectively diagnose diseases (including HIV and tuberculosis) and treat patients.

Making More Health for More People — and Making it Look Easy

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:34:48 +0000

Editor's note: This post was written by Alison Craiglow Hockenberry, contributing editor at Ashoka Changemakers®, and originally featured on the Huffington Post.

If you ask Vera Cordeiro, good health is within reach for everyone, even the poorest of the poor. But this requires radical rethinking of what health care is.

Health is not merely the absence of illness. If a patient is released from a hospital into a situation that includes stress, poor nutrition, inadequate shelter and sanitation, he or she is likely to get sick again and again, putting pressure on the family's meager resources, deepening the poverty and increasing the suffering.

"I saw this vicious cycle: hospitalization, rehospitalization, many times," said Cordeiro of her early years as a pediatrician. "And I knew we needed to do something."