12 Visionaries Are Honored by the Ford Foundation

GADO
Syndicated Editorial Cartoonist Nairobi, Kenya

Godfrey Mwampembwa, better known by his pen name GADO, is the most syndicated political cartoonist in Eastern and Central Africa. Through his cartoons and satirical TV series, "The XYZ Show," he has increased awareness of social and political issues, encouraged public participation in discussions about governance and reminded elected officials of their responsibility to the public. With millions of viewers and nearly 120,000 Facebook fans just two years after its debut, "The XYZ Show" has already had an impact both in Kenya and throughout the region.


Ford Foundation Visionaries

“We can’t think of a more fitting way to mark our anniversary than to spotlight the people who continually infuse new energy and ideas into the effort to solve our most pressing social problems.”

— Luis A. Ubiñas, President


4 May 2011 05:01 Africa/Lagos


Twelve Social Change Visionaries Are Honored by the Ford Foundation

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, May 4, 2011

'Visionaries Awards' Mark 75 Years of Support for Courageous Leaders Worldwide

From Technology to Human Rights to Microfinance, Awardees Receive $100,000 to Advance Their Work

NEW YORK, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In recognition of its 75th anniversary, the Ford Foundation today announced $100,000 awards to 12 social innovators who, through their extraordinary vision and courageous work, are improving the lives of millions of people.

In a period of uncertain transformation in global society, politics and the economy, the Ford Foundation Visionaries Awards seek to raise the profile of leaders whose innovative efforts on the frontlines of key social issues offer pathways to improved economic opportunities and expanded political and social participation for millions of marginalized people worldwide.

"We can't think of a more fitting way to mark our anniversary than to spotlight the people who continually infuse new energy and ideas into the effort to solve our most pressing social problems," said Luis Ubinas, president of the Ford Foundation. "They are thinkers and doers-people who pursue their vision with determination and a laser focus on impact."

The 12 visionaries represent the thousands of brilliant people and organizations the foundation has supported since its founding in 1936. They come from diverse backgrounds and work in a variety of fields-from human rights to technology to education, both in the United States and around the world.

"Through these awards, we want to highlight the unheralded work of thousands of courageous leaders whose lives are devoted to improving systems and institutions so that all people have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives," Ubinas said. "These 12 individuals represent the courage, commitment, and innovative thinking of all the remarkable people who work on the frontlines of social change."

The foundation is using its 75th anniversary to explore the next generation of important issues facing America and the world, as well as highlighting the people and ideas making a difference today.

The awards will help these leaders share their work with a broad range of new audiences, allowing them to promote their ideas and ensure that their insights inform and advance the work of other social innovators.

From an indigenous women's rights leader in Peru to a political cartoonist in Kenya, the visionaries were selected for their pioneering work, exceptional leadership and the potential scale and impact of their visions.

The recipients of the Ford Found a tion Visionaries Awards are:

Enabling Community Ownership over Natural Resources
Alfredo Wagner Berno de Almeida
Coordinator, New Social Cartography Project of the Amazon
Manaus, Brazil

For centuries, traditional peoples have inhabited the forests of the Brazilian Amazon, preserving the forest through their wise stewardship. Despite this history, they have been denied their rights to their lands and livelihoods. In the 1980s, anthropologist Alfredo Wagner Berno de Almeida launched the region's first mapping project challenging official maps by making visible for the first time the claims of traditional communities over the millions of acres of their Amazonian homelands. Wagner's groundbreaking initiative became the model for the New Social Cartography Project of the Amazon, enabling communities to make use of the latest technologies to bolster their rights over their own territories and resources.

Helping Working Families Achieve Economic Security
Ellen Bravo
Executive Director, Family Values @ Work
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Ellen Bravo, a life-long advocate for women, has galvanized the movement to bring low-wage earning women the benefits and opportunities they need to support their families. For nearly 20 years, Bravo ran the influential organization 9 to 5, which has been at the forefront of the fight for pay equity, family leave, fairness for part-time and temp workers, and an end to sexual harassment and punitive welfare laws. Most recently, she founded Family Values @ Work, a network of state coalitions that has already led successful public campaigns to adopt paid family leave policies in California, New Jersey and Washington.

Empowering Women to Forge Their Own Futures
Ela R. Bhatt
Co-founder and CEO, Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)
Ahmedabad, India

Widely recognized as one of the world's most remarkable entrepreneurial forces in grassroots development, Ela R. Bhatt has dedicated her life to improving the lives of India's poorest and most oppressed women workers. A former parliamentarian, she founded the Self-Employed Women's Association-a trade union for poor, self-employed female workers in India with more than 1 million members. Bhatt also founded Sa-Dhan (the All-India Association of Micro-finance Institutions) and the Indian School of Micro-finance for Women, which together have created new financial opportunities for millions of women across India.

Making Art that Provokes and Transforms
GADO
Syndicated Editorial Cartoonist
Nairobi, Kenya

Godfrey Mwampembwa, better known by his pen name GADO, started drawing as a teenager and found that he had a flair for raising awareness through satire. The most syndicated political cartoonist in Eastern and Central Africa, GADO has given form and voice to a new vision of democracy. Through his cartoons and satirical TV series, "The XYZ Show," he has increased awareness of social and political issues, encouraged public participation in discussions about governance and reminded elected officials of their responsibility to the public. With millions of viewers and nearly 120,000 Facebook fans just two years after its debut, "The XYZ Show" has already had an impact both in Kenya and throughout the region.

Educating Today's Students for Tomorrow's World
Steve Barr
Founder, Chairman and CEO, Future Is Now Schools
Founder, Green Dot Public Schools
Los Angeles, California

In his push to help struggling urban schools act as better supporters of student achievement, Steve Barr has leveraged public dollars to transform public education in California. In 1999, he founded Green Dot Public Schools and has since propelled the organization to become the leading force for change in the region, overhauling deeply troubled schools and helping them achieve remarkable levels of stability. In 2010, Barr formed Green Dot America, recently renamed Future Is Now Schools, to bring the lessons learned and successes achieved on the local level to other communities around the country. Barr was also a co-founder of the nonprofit, nonpartisan "Rock the Vote" campaign.

Harnessing Technology for Social Good
Yochai Benkler
Co-Director, Berkman Center for Internet and Society
Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies, Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Yochai Benkler is recognized as a leading thinker on technology and the law. Since the 1990s, he has been working to pinpoint the importance of the "information commons" -systems such as libraries or online communities that exist to preserve information for current and future generations-to innovation, information production and freedom. His award-winning book "The Wealth of Networks" analyzes our increasingly networked economy and society, and illustrates the impact of networks on individual and group collaboration. Awarded the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award, Benkler is an important voice in the current debate about Internet freedom and access.

Lifting the Voices of Indigenous People
Tarcila Rivera Zea
Founder & Executive Director, CHIRAPAQ (The Center for Indigenous Peoples' Cultures of Peru)
Lima, Peru

Tarcila Rivera Zea started her teenage years as an indigenous servant in a small Quechuan village and today runs one of South America's most influential organizations for indigenous people. Over the 20 years since she founded CHIRAPAQ, she and her staff have worked to give indigenous people a national and global voice, secure equality and access to opportunities they have been denied, and develop pride for indigenous cultures. Rivera Zea helped create the International Forum of Indigenous Women of the Americas and other bodies working to strengthen the lives of some 25 million indigenous women across the region.

Challenging the Injustice of Poverty
Bryan Stevenson
Founder and Executive Director, Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)
Montgomery, Alabama
Law Professor, NYU School of Law, New York City

Every day Bryan Stevenson challenges the fundamental injustice of poverty and fights bias against people of color and the poor in the criminal justice system. "The opposite of poverty is not wealth-it's justice," he says. Through the Equal Justice Initiative, he advocates on behalf of juvenile offenders, poor people denied effective representation or wrongly convicted or charged, and others whose experiences with the criminal justice system have been marked by bias or misconduct. Driven by the belief that society's treatment of the disadvantaged is the real test of its commitment to social justice, Stevenson teaches law and has written extensively on criminal justice, capital punishment and civil rights issues.

Building 21st-Century Social Movements
Jeremy Heimans
Co-Founder and CEO, Purpose
New York, New York

Jeremy Heimans is a next-generation leader who is carving out new venues and strategies for social movements and proving that the power of online communities can translate to authentic social change. He co-founded Avaaz.org, the fastest-growing online movement in history with more than 8 million members from 190 countries, and GetUp.org, a grassroots community advocacy organization that has become Australia's largest political group. Today Heimans leads Purpose, a global initiative that draws on leading technologies, political organizing and behavioral economics to build powerful, tech-savvy movements that can transform culture and influence policy.

Bringing African Culture to New Audiences
Elsie McCabe Thompson
President, Museum for African Art
New York, New York

The Museum for African Art is one of only two major American museums devoted solely to African art, and it was Elsie McCabe Thompson's singular determination that made possible the opening of a high-profile showplace for the museum's collection. The lawyer and former city government executive was relentless in her quest to enrich the lives of all through a deeper engagement with African culture and art. After more than a decade of fundraising and planning, Thompson succeeded in establishing the $95 million institution on upper Fifth Avenue near Harlem, where New York City's cultural institutions and African, African American, Caribbean and Latino communities meet.

Creating Financial Opportunities for the Poor
Martin Eakes
Co-Founder and CEO, Self-Help
CEO, Center for Responsible Lending
Durham, North Carolina

Martin Eakes is a national leader in the fight against abusive financial practices-predatory home loans, payday lending, and exorbitant checking and credit card fees-that target poor people and trap them in cycles of poverty. Self-Help, the groundbreaking community development lending institution that he founded in 1980, reaches low-income families underserved by conventional financial institutions. Over the years, Self-Help has provided almost $6 billion in financing to more than 60,000 homebuyers, small businesses and nonprofits, and serves more than 25,000 mostly low-income families through seven retail credit unions. Standing in direct contrast to the predatory financial products that played a central role in the financial crisis, Self-Help's work demonstrates the importance of responsible and affordable financial products in helping low-income people achieve economic security.

Reimagining the Way We Think about Urban Design
Teddy Cruz
Co-Founder, Center for Urban Ecologies
Professor of Culture and Urbanism, University of California, San Diego
San Diego, California

Teddy Cruz was born in Guatemala City in an overpopulated old neighborhood teeming with people and life. Today he is an architect with a humane vision for metropolitan areas across America that breaks down physical and cultural barriers, and introduces social complexity and richness by mixing wealthy and poor, old and new, and public and private. Cruz is internationally renowned for his urban research on the Tijuana-San Diego border. His work focuses more broadly on traditionally overlooked poor, minority and immigrant communities and spaces, and has transformed border neighborhoods in California and communities in New York by creating affordable quality housing and public infrastructure.

In addition to its Visionaries Awards, the Ford Foundation will host a series of global conversations throughout its 75th year exploring the next generation of critical social challenges.

May 4: Fresh Angle on the Arts - An exploration of the role arts and culture play in social justice. For more information: http://www.fordfoundation.org/newsroom/events/473
June 30: A Metropolitan Vision - Identifying next-wave growth and opportunity in American cities.
Sept 20: Human Rights - A global conversation on the future of this vital movement.

Learn more about the Ford Foundation Visionaries Awards at http://www.fordfoundation.org/visionaries-awards

Explore our history and interactive timeline at www.fordfoundation.org/about-us/history

www.fordfoundation.org

SOURCE Ford Foundation

CONTACT: Suzana Grego, Ford Foundation Media Chief, +1-212-573-5128, grego@fordfoundation.org

Web Site: http://www.fordfoundation.org

Advocates for Health Millennium Development Goals Unite to Demand World Leaders Honor Funding Commitments

21 Jul 2009 12:17 Africa/Lagos

Advocates for Health Millennium Development Goals Unite to Demand World Leaders Honor Funding Commitments

Found: Hundreds of Billions of Dollars to Save the Wealthiest Corporations Lost: Billions of Dollars of G8 Commitments to Save Millions of Human Lives

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an unprecedented and historic show of unity, advocates for all the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have charged the leaders of G-8 countries with reneging on their commitments to health by chronically underfunding programs for AIDS, TB, maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, and health systems strengthening across the globe.


The coalition of advocates demands that world leaders make the health of men, women, and children around the world as important a priority as the health of banks, Wall Street investment firms, and auto companies and calls on donor governments to partner with civil society to strengthen accountability from recipient countries.


"We are already seeing people die and families forced further into poverty by healthcare costs as a direct result of this global economic crisis," said Dr. Lola Dare, Executive Secretary of the African Council for Sustainable Health Development (ACOSHED). "The fickle policy decisions of world leaders and national government are further compounding these problems. The global health community is speaking with one voice on this urgent need. We can no longer permit the world to be distracted by false choices -- between one disease and another, between a mother's life and that of her children, between treating sick people now, in their home communities, and building sustainable health systems for the future to deliver basic health care that can save lives."


"Investments now in HIV and health broadly are fundamental prerequisites for global development," said Julio Montaner, President of the International AIDS Society.


The global economic downturn is leading to significant backsliding in governments' commitments to funding for health programs in developing countries. "The rhetoric by heads of state at this year's G-8 summit was, as usual, noble and righteous. They produced statements about their support for health systems strengthening, maternal and child health, and integrated health service delivery," said Gregg Gonsalves, a co-founder of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition. "But, as has come to be the unfortunate pattern, the financial commitments made by the most powerful of the world were unacceptably low or worse, not made at all."


"At least a million additional lives are in jeopardy because of this economic crisis. We are calling for the world's richest countries to support their words with concrete action and back up their promises with the money necessary to fulfill them," said Ann Starrs, President of Family Care International.


"We estimate that to meet the promised health needs of less developed countries would take an increased investment by high income countries and developing country governments of around $150 billion a year(1). The AIG bailout alone was $170 billion," said Brook Baker, Professor of Law at Northeastern University and Policy Analyst for the US-based Health GAP. "Or to look at it another way, for 36% of what countries have spent in one year on direct bailouts of corporate and financial interests, rich countries alone could fully fund the additional $944 billion that we estimate is needed from now through 2015 to meet all MDG and health systems strengthening needs in less developed countries." Developed countries have so far contributed over $2.5 trillion in direct bailouts and over $6 trillion in 'guarantees.'(2)


"All we seem to be getting from the bailouts so far is record level projected bonus payouts for Wall Street," added Gonsalves. "But we know with one hundred percent certainty that many more people will die in 2010 because of this bailout, probably 100 times as many as the 13,000 Goldman Sachs employees who are projected to get compensation of over $500,000 each."


The coalition of global health advocates demands that each G-8 country pays 100% of the commitments they have made for 2010 including: for Universal Access to AIDS treatment, prevention, and care; full funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; as well as additional commitments made for maternal child health and health systems strengthening.


"The fact that governments have quickly passed legislation to bailout the banks and companies that created this global financial crisis proves that there is sufficient capital to support those whose lives have been most affected by the crisis. What is needed is sufficient will," said Donna Barry of Partners In Health in the USA.


The U.S. President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has been flat funded for three years; the G-8 countries have underfunded the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by $4 to 9 billion; donor country promises to fund maternal and child health and sexual and reproductive health programs are wholly insufficient to the task; and no G-8 country has made sufficient commitments to contribute significantly to expanding and strengthening the health workforce, to supporting community-based prevention and care, or to strengthening health systems and health infrastructure.


"The global economic situation cannot be used as an excuse to renege on financial commitments," said Kieran Daly, Executive Director of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO). "Hundreds of billions of dollars, pounds, and euros magically appeared to bail out global financial markets and corporations. We do not want to believe that this bailout came at the cost of millions of human lives."


"The only way we will make real progress on meeting the MDGs is for donor countries to engage with developing country governments, and for developing country governments to commit financially and politically to revitalizing their national health systems to meet the challenges of HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, child survival and other health problems. Governments also can not forget that before 2015, they have other goals to meet, including UNGASS-AIDS 2010 and the Cairo Plan of Action," said Alessandra Nilo of GESTOS in Brazil.


Leaders representing advocates for more than 25 organizations focused on AIDS, TB, maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health and primary health care came together in Stony Point, New York in May 2009 to initiate a partnership devoted to advocating for the universal right to health. A Declaration of Solidarity for a Unified Movement for the Right to Health was drafted at that meeting, and is being endorsed by health and human rights organizations around the world(3). This growing union of advocates, many of whom are signed on to this document, is now working in solidarity to hold the powers of the world accountable.


"We are all health and human rights advocates and we refuse to be pitted against each other," said Paula Akugizibwe of the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, "MDGs are simply categories of different needs that exist within the same human being. The same mother who needs ART to prevent the transmission of HIV to her infant also needs adequate nutrition and her children need clean water and immunizations. The same community that needs infection control for TB also needs it for influenza; and insufficient financial and human resources for health may prevent them from having any of these rights fulfilled."


Following is the initial group of health organizations supporting this statement:


A la Alianza Nacional "Campana por una Convencion Interamericana de los Derechos Sexuales y Derechos Reproductivos" - Bolivia


ABIA - Brazil
ACCSI - Accion Ciudadana Contra el SIDA, Venezuela,
African Council for Sustainable Health Development (ACOSHED)
African Council of AIDS Service Organizations (AfriCASO)
African CS Partnership for Health Systems Strengthening
AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa
AIDS and Society Research Unit, University of Cape Town
Aids Fonds
AIDS-Free World

Alianza Nacional de Grupos de Personas que viven con VIH o sida de Guatemala


Alianza Nacional de Hombres Gay, Trans y Hombres que Tienen Sexo Con Hombres (A-GTH) - Dominican Republic


Amigos Siempre Amigos (ASA) - Dominican Republic


Asamblea Nacional de ONG's y Organizaciones Sociales con trabajo en SIDA (ASOSIDA) - Chile


ASEPO - Uruguay
Asian Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS
Asociacion Nacional de Personas Positivas Vida Nueva - El Salvador
Asociacion Vida - Guatemala
Balance Promocion para el Desarrollo y Juventud - Mexico
BRAC
Caribbean Treatment Access Group
Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition
Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir - Mexico
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Central African Treatment Access Group
Centre for Health Sciences Training, Research and Development (CHESTRAD)
Centro de Informacion y Desarrollo de la Mujer - CIDEM.- Bolivia

Centro de Promocion y Defensa por los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos (PROMSEX) -Peru


CNS Mujeres - Uruguay
Colectiva Mujer y Salud - Dominican Republic
Colectiva por el Derecho a Decidir - Costa Rica
Colectivo Feminista Mujeres Universitarias.- Honduras
Colectivo TLGB de Bolivia

Comunicacion, Intercambio y Desarrollo Humano en America Latina A. C. -CIDHAL A.C.


Convergencia de Mujeres - Honduras
Cordaid
Corporacion Chilena de Prevencion del SIDA (ACCIONGAY) - Chile
East African Treatment Access Movement (EATAM)
El Closet de Sor Juana, Mexico
Equidad de Genero: Ciudadania, Trabajo y Familia A.C - Mexico
Family Care International
FEIM - Argentina
Foro de Mujeres y Politicas de Poblacion - Mexico
Forum de Ong Aids do Estado de Sao Paulo - Brazil
Fundacion Arcoiris pro el Respeto a la Diversidad Sexual - Mexico
Fundacion Buenos Aires SIDA - Argentina
Fundacion Igualdad LGBT - Bolivia
Fundacion REDVIHDA - Bolivia
GAPA-SP
GAPA/RS - Brazil
GAPA/SP - Brazil
GESTOS - Soropositivity, Communication and Gender Issues - Brazil
GRUPAJUS - Brazil
Grupo De Antropologia Medica Critica Universidad Nacional De Colombia
Grupo de Informacion en Reproduccion Elegida (GIRE) - Mexico
Guyana Human Rights Association. - Guyana
Health & Development Networks (HDN)
Health care is not for Commerce - LAC
Health GAP
Helene De Beir Foundation - Belgium
Instituto para el Desarrollo Humano - Bolivia
International AIDS Society
International Civil Society Support
International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS - UK
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO)
INTILLA Asociacion Civil - Argentina
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC)
ITPC India
ITPC Nepal
ITPC RU - Eastern Europe/Central Asia
Jovenes Feministas Universitarias - Honduras

La Coalicion Internacional de Activistas dn Tratamientos (CIAT) - Latinoamerica


La Red de Voluntarios de Amigos Siempre Amigos (RevASA) - Dominican Republic


Latin American and Caribbean Council of NGO with AIDS Services (LACCASO)
Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network (LACWHN)
LIGA Bonaerense de Diversidad Sexual - Argentina
Liga Colombiana de Lucha Contra el Sida - Colombia
Mujer y Salud - MYSU - Uruguay
National AIDS Committee - Guyana

Observatorio de Violencia Social y de Genero de la Sierra Norte de Puebla - Mexico


Partners in Health
Physicians for Human Rights
PLUS, International AIDS Coalition
Positive Action for Treatment Access (PATA) - Nigeria
Red Argentina de Mujeres
Red Argentina de Mujeres Viviendo con VIH-SIDA (RAMVIHS) - Argentina
Red Argentina de Personas Positivas (REDAR POSITIVA) - Argentina
Red de Personas viviendo con vih/sida- de Mar del Plata - Argentina
Red Latinoamericana de Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir - Latin America
Red por los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos - Mexico
Redlac - Honduras
RESULTS USA
Senderos Asociacion Mutual - Colombia
SIDACTION
STOP AIDS NOW!
Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)
Treatment Action Group (TAG)
West African Treatment Access Group
Women Won't Wait - Latin America


(1) Baker, B. The Long and Tortured Road to Adequate, Sustained, and Spendable Domestic and Donor Financing for Health. Available at http://www.icssupport.org/PDF/Discussion%20paper%20on%20Health%20Financing%20b y%20Brook%20Baker.pdf


(2) Grail Research, http://www.grailresearch.com/pdf/ContenPodsPdf/Global_Bailout_Tracker.pdf


(3)The full text of the declaration is available at: http://act.pih.org/page/s/declaration


Source: International Treatment Preparedness Coalition

CONTACT: Gorik Ooms, +27(0)727634603, or gooms@itg.be, Gregg Gonsalves,
+1-203-606-9149, or gregg.gonsalves@gmail.com, Kay Marshall, +1-347-249-6375,
or kaymarshall@mac.com, all for International Treatment Preparedness
Coalition

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