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.

Peter Gabriel honored as the MIDEM Personality of the Year in Cannes

Peter Gabriel, one of the world’s truly great men was honored by MIDEM (The World’s Music Market) last night at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes for his achievements in music, in technology as well as for his inspirational work for human rights, social and environmental causes.

As a musician, he is a legend. He built on his early success with Genesis and then become a globally successful solo artist. He also was hugely influential in bringing world music to the western world through WOMAD and his own label Real World.

As a pioneer and innovator, he has always been on the forefront of new technology whether through his use of video technology (Sledgehammer video, anyone?), multimedia/CD-Rom projects way before it was mainstream, launching the first online music distribution services (OD2) or more recently by being involved with two web startups we7 (ad-funded music downloads) and The Filter (personalised music recommendation service).

Peter Gabriel believes passionately about making a difference. Not only has he touched millions through his music and other projects, but he is also making a significant difference to the world. He has given his time and energy to a number of causes through the years including helping human rights through his Witness project that gives people the communication tools to document human rights abuses, as well as through the recent launch of The Elders which he set up with Sir Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela (see our Sign The Declaration of Human Rights story for more details on The Elders)

Peter Gabriel is an inspiration to anybody who wants to make a difference. He doesn’t just talk about it, he makes it happen. A truly great man. I am really pleased he has been honored in this way by the music industry.

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.

Crowd-sourced loans for entrepreneurs in the developing world

One of the more effective ways of helping people take steps to get out of poverty for good is to lend money to entrepreneurs and enable them work towards economic independence.

Kiva is a website that connects people willing to loan/donate money with projects that need microfinancing. We’re talking projects like the one that supports Nashravan Husneyov, a farmer in Azerbijan who needs a loan of $1,500 to buy two dairy cows (he’s currently got over 80% of the loan pledged), or the one that supports Ni Putu Mili, a pig farmer in Bali who needs $550 to buy piglets and feed. There are hundreds of projects on the site.

The way it works is that Kiva lists the projects. Visitors donate money using their credit card. once the full amount needed is raised, Kiva sends the money to the field partner that makes sure that the money gets to the entrepreneur. The field partner then collects the monthly repayments and at the end of the loan period the loan is repaid. You can then decide to use the money to fund a new project or withdraw your money.

This is such a rewarding way of helping. The field partners are very good at feeding information back to the website and to the lenders, so once you have contributed to a loan, you get updates on how your chosen entrepreneurs is doing. And, ultimately, you know that your money is really making a difference in lifting people out of poverty in a way that empowers them.

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.

Fast Company reveals 45 social entrepreneurs for 2008

The team at Internet mag Fast Company have recently announced the winners of their 2008 Social Capitalist Awards. I am really chuffed that awards like these exist. Though I’m not 100% sure of the ’social capitalist’ tagline. I prefer ’social entrepreneur’. But that’s not important.

What is important is the fact that they have listed 45 entrepreneurs that are really trying to make the world a better place. And they have highlighted some inspirational projects. There is a fair US bias to the results (Fast Company is American, so clearly, that’s normal), so we need to make it our aim on Web of Conscience to highlight great social entrepreneurs from outside of the US.

Out of the 45, here are the 10 that struck a chord with me:

Accion – microenterprise finance and business services in 25 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America; 97% of the loans have been repaid, which shows that it has helped the vast majority of its 3 million clients.

Ceres – bringing investors, companies, environmentalists and other key stakeholders together to build a sustainable and prosperous future.

Common Ground – Common Ground pioneered the concept of mixed-income supportive housing: affordable housing for a range of income groups with on-site social services. 93% of those they help stay in stable housing.

Donors Choose – schools submit projects that need funding to the website, and the visitors can then choose which projects to donate to. The donors then get some really cool feedback from the kids that benefit from their donations. I love this site.

Endeavor – Endeavor supports entrepreneurs in the private sector in emerging-market economies by offering them mentoring and access to connections and networks.

Network For Good – enables you to donate to 1,500 charities in one place, and keep all the info to help you when declaring your donations to the tax man. They make giving easy.

Path – Path find solutions to some of the world’s more challenging health problems. They think outside of the box and approach finding solutions from the user’s perspective.

Peace Works – the OneVoice project is designed to engage Palestinian and Israeli in civic involvement and get the moderate majority to help find solutions to the ongoing conflict.

Transfair USA – this is America’s official ‘fair trade certified’ label. If the world’s biggest economy can get behind fair trade, that would make a huge difference.

Witness – uses the power of video to highlight human rights abuses in the world.