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Community Development: Transforming What Is Possible

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Session Description

Practitioner Showcase: It has long been recognised that real change for real people in communities around the world happens from the ground up. Social entrepreneurs have learned that it is only with the support of community members – from tribal chiefs to the school teachers, midwives to factory managers – that long-term, sustainable social change can be achieved. Three leaders will discuss the strategies they used to develop and maintain engagement with local communities to create new opportunities for economic self reliance and poverty alleviation.

 

Time & Location

Time:
10:45 - 12:15, Thursday, March 26, 2009 BST
Speakers
  • Speaker
    Founder & Chairwoman of the Board, Instituto Dara
    Founder and Chairwoman - Vera Cordeiro graduated in medicine from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) in 1975. From 1978 to 1998, she worked at Hospital da Lagoa, a Federal Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, originally working as a general practitioner. She founded and led the Psychosomatics Department in 1979. In 1991, she founded Instituto Dara (former Associação Saúde Criança), a social organization that uses a pioneering methodology to promote the well-being of families in situations of social vulnerability, with long-term results, as proven by researchers at Georgetown University in 2013. Instituto Dara has been awarded among the many prizes received in Brazil and abroad Dr. Vera is an Ashoka fellow, Avina leader, Social Entrepreneur of Schwab Foundation andSkoll awardee. Honorary Member of the Ashoka World Council. Member of the Academy of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro and former board member of the PATH: A Catalyst for Global Health from 2005 to 2011.
  • Speaker
    Keely Stevenson is an entrepreneur and an investor. She is CEO and Co-founder of Weal Life, a digital health company focused on leveraging mobile technology to make it easier for people to care for each other during times of health crisis, advanced aging or chronic illness. She has served as a board member, mentor and advisor to start-ups and established companies in healthcare, biotech, energy, housing, education and finance around the globe. Previously, she’s built global initiatives, including in her role as CEO of Bamboo Finance USA. Bamboo is one of the world’s first and largest private equity firms focused on balancing social impact and commercial returns ($300M AUM). She’s also led the world’s first online community for social entrepreneurs as an early Skoll Foundation team member. She has worked on five continents. She studied politics at UC Berkeley and received an MBA from Oxford University where she was a Skoll Scholar.
  • Speaker
    Founder & Executive Director, Fundación Paraguaya
    Dr. Martín Burt is a world-renowned social entrepreneur who has developed anti-poverty and educational social innovations that are currently being implemented worldwide. He is founder (1985) and CEO of Fundación Paraguaya, a social enterprise named Latin America’s most impactful and innovative development organization in 2018 by the IADB. Dr. Burt is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum. He has also served as Chief of Staff to the President of Paraguay, was elected Mayor of Asunción, and was appointed Vice Minister of Commerce. His latest book “Paraguay without Poverty” was published in November 2023. He has received several international awards. He holds a PhD from Tulane University and is Lecturer & Social Entrepreneur in Residence at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Research Associate at University of California, Irvine, and Professor, Master’s Program in Microfinance, at Universidad de Alcalá.
  • Speaker
    Co-Founder, WE
    Craig Kielburger is a social entrepreneur and the co-founder of a family of organizations dedicated to the power of WE, a movement of people coming together to change the world. Along with his brother Marc Kielburger, Craig co-founded WE Charity, which provides a holistic development model called WE Villages, helping to lift more than one million people out of poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Back at home in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, WE Schools & WE Day provide comprehensive service learning programs to 10,000 schools, engaging 2.4 million young change-makers. Lastly, he is the co-founder of ME to WE, a pioneering social enterprise, the profits from which help sustain the work of his charitable organization. His work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes and the BBC. Craig is the youngest ever graduate from the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program. He has also received 15 honorary doctorates and degrees for his work in the fields of education and human rights. Craig is a New York Times bestselling author who has published 12 books, as well as a nationally syndicated columnist. Craig has received The Order of Canada, the Nelson Mandela Freedom Medal and the World Children’s Prize.