So, what do the kids think?

Nokia has teamed up with WWF and IUCN to create a website called connect2earth.org. The aim of the site is to encourage young people to speak out about environmental issues. They are also running a competition which will ultimately select the best idea from the site and present it to the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona in October 2008.

The site is aimed at people aged 13-35 (luckily I still fit in this age bracket, just in case you were wondering). It only launched today but looks very busy already! Although I have to say the logo is appalling and the site design is a bit ropey – but I wish them luck nevertheless.

Earn your green points at Greenopolis

A new green social network has been launched (in beta at the mo) – you join up, get access to a load of environmental tools and information and get to earn green points which you can then use to save money through the Greenopolis partners.

The site mixes education, interaction and collaboration for on and offline activities. It hopes to bring people together to make incremental and positive environmental changes in their every day lives.

Schwab Foundation searches the globe for the social entrepreneurs of 2007

Last week The Independent announced that Belu Water founder Reed Paget won the 2007 social entrepreneur award.

It turns out that The Schwab Foundation and the Boston Consulting Group have been the driving forces behind the search for social entrepreneurs not just in the UK, but throughout the globe. The Independent award for the UK is just one of 22 different country awards. The winners from the other countries have been announced over the last 12 months (with a few more to come):

France: Anne-Karine Stocchetti for Gepetto – a network that delivers childcare in the home for parents that work odd hours (nights, weekends, early mornings).

Singapore: Kenny Low for CHEC – an education centre that targets youths that have dropped out of the mainstream school system.

Israel: Bilha Piamenta for Kav-Or – distance learning for children in hospital using computers and tailored software to provide education, companionship, and opportunities to play.

Germany: Rose Volz-Schmidt for Wellcome – a support network for families with newborn children, providing help and respite if the mother feels overwhelmed.

Canada: Geoffrey Cape for Evergreen – whose missions is to bring communities and nature together for the benefit of both.

India: Harish Hande for Selco Solar Light – provides access to rural solar electrification for below poverty line families.

Brazil: Sebastião (Tião) Rocha for Centro Popular de Cultura e Desenvovimento (CPCD) – romote informal education and community development through reciprocal leaning, play, games, mobile libraries, theatre and music.

Indonesia: Anton Sudjarwo for Yayasan Dian Desa – focuses on product and service innovations that enhance the quality of life of marginalised communities, as well as to set them on a path towards self-reliance.

Argentina: Gustavo Gennuso for Fundación Gente Nueva – the foundation focuses on education and enterprise development for at-risk youths.

Colombia: Alvaro Dávila for Fundación Social – the foundation uses the interest of community savings accounts to invest in for-profit business enterprises. This has helped them towards their missions of “contributing to overcome the structural causes of poverty in Colombia by building a more humane, prosperous and just society”.

Chile: Mary Anne Müller for Fundación Origen and The Escuela Agro-Ecológica de Pirque – a revolutionary educational model taking organic agriculture as the inspiration for the work undertaken with at risk youth from low income families.

South Africa: Taffy Adler for Johannesburg Housing Company – refurbishing occupied buildings and construct new ones to offer affordable, safe housing in the Johannesburg inner city.

Turkey: Mustafa Sari for Nature Observers’ Society – by reversing the extinction of a commercial species of fish Mustafa Sari came up with a new approach to fishery management which he has been using since 1996 in the Lake Van region. As a result of this approach, fishermen have seen their revenues rise from 10% to 60%.

Czech Republic: Vojtech Sedlacek for Agentura ProVas – a venture that incubates projects and businesses that employ disabled individuals; a percentage of whom are employed in highly public areas to increase the awareness of the public and policy makers.

Switzerland: Markus Gander for Infoklick – focuses on promoting activities for children.

Sign the declaration of human rights – 60 years on

2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. For the last 60 years, governments across the globe have signed up and pledged their support for the Universal Declaration. The Elders (includes Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan amongst others) have launched a site and a campaign (Every Human Has Rights) that urges every individual to sign up and pledge to live their lives by the principles of the Universal Declaration.

The Pledge:
I wish to take responsibility for upholding the goals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in my daily life and in my community.
I will do my best to speak out to protect the freedom and rights of others in my community.
I affirm the following principle:
“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
I believe Every Human Has Rights.

The aim is to capture 1 billion signatures. Make sure yours is one of them.

DonorsChoose.org wins award at 2007 Crunchies

The ‘Most Likely To Make The World a Better Place’ Award at the inaugural Crunchies (a start-up flavoured awards cermenony lead by Techcrunch in partnership with Read/Write Web, VentureBeat and GigaOM) went to Donorschoose.

Donorschoose is a US site that highlights the needs of public schools and enables users to donate to help schools get the proper teaching materials and improve the quality of teaching. The concept was started by just one teacher in the public schools of the Bronx back in 2000 when he saw first hand the effects of the inequality of funding and distribution of funds for learning materials.

Sign up and get nagged into doing something good

The idea behind The Nag is so simple, it’s brilliant. If we all did one simple thing every month to make the world a better place… then it would become a better place. So, when you join The Nag, you then get a ‘nag’ once a month which details what you can do this month to make a difference. You then do it. And the world gets better, bit by bit.

The design of The Nag is innovative and makes you want to join (well, it worked for me). Sign up now and give it a go.

E-petitions – voice your opinion

In the last week I have signed two petitions; one for the review of compulsory teaching and assessment of reading and writing in 3-4 year old children (leave those kids alone..!) and the other for reviewing the UK’s position on internet radio (RIP Pandora).

While I am personally skeptical about the Government’s ability / willingness to respond to my oppostion, it makes me feel good to be able to voice my opinion.

You can view and sign any current petitions, and see the Government’s response to any completed petitions. If you have signed a petition that has reached more than 200 signatures by the time it closes, you will be sent a response from the Government by email.

All petitions that are submitted to the website will be accepted, as long as they are in accordance with the terms and conditions. The aim is to enable as many people as possible to make their views known.

The Independent newspaper searches for top social entrepreneurs

Back in May 2007, The Independent newspaper launched its search to find the top social entrepreneurs of 2007. The exercise was carried out in partnership with The Schwab Foundation and the Boston Consulting Group. It’s pretty close to Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Awards, but this time, from a UK perspective.

The winner will be announced later today (14th January) based on this shortlist of six:

Belu Water – sells bottled water and uses 100% of the profits to fund clean water projects.

MEND – the MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do It!) programme was set up to offer children and families free after school sessions for a 10-week period. The programme focuses on lasting change and has had very positive results. It has secured further funding to roll it out to 27,000 children across 300 sites by 2010.

The Hub – according to founder Jonathan Robinson, The Hub’s mission is to “inspire and support social innovators to realise imaginative initiatives for a radically better world.” The idea is based on the members club principles, but clearly it has a different raison d’être. There are six hubs (Rotterdam, Sao Paulo, London, Bristol, Soweto and Jo’burg).

Community Food Enterprise – based on a belief that eating healthy food should be a right, not a privilege, CFE provides affordable fruit and veg through mobile shops.

The Eden Project – established as an educational charity, this amazing project brings together science, art, technology and commerce by showcasing 1m plants in the world’s biggest conservatories.

Cosmos Ignite Project – its mission is to provide a cheaper alternative to 1.6 billion people without electricity who currently use kerosene for lighting.

I will post details of the winner when it is announced later.

Using the web to improve the neighbourhood

mySociety are best known as the people who built E-Petitions for 10 Downing Street.

But they are a hell of a lot more than that. With a mission statement that promises to build websites that give people simple and tangible benefits to their lives AND to also teach the public and voluntary sectors how to better use the internet to improve lives, they are responsible for a number of local projects including HearFromYourMP and PledgeBank.

I have just come across their latest project, FixMyStreet, which is a UK website that aims to enable people to report, view or fix local problems. The idea is, you spot some graffiti or vandalism, you go to FixMyStreet, type in the postcode and pin point where the problem is on the map. FixMyStreet then reports this to the local council and (critically) reports back on the website when the problem has been fixed. This is a very simple idea but that could make a big difference to local communities.