Thursday, March 26, 2009
Innovative Approaches To Educating The World’s Children
Session Description
Practitioner Showcase: Nothing cries out for innovation and new ideas more than education, and perhaps nothing is more universally understood to be the best way out of poverty, poor health and limited futures. Three leading social entrepreneurs will address the challenges facing this global human right – from inner city schools in the US to rural schools in Zambia – and demonstrate how caring, committed and professional teachers and mentors, parents and peer groups, can interest children in learning and lead them to a better future.
When | Where
14:00 - 15:30
Thursday, March 26
Session leaders
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Ann Cotton is the Founder and Trustee of Camfed International, an organisation advancing girls’ inclusion in education in Africa. Under her leadership over 20 years, the organisation expanded its work from Zimbabwe into Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, establishing programmes that enabled girls from poor families to travel through the education cycle from pre-school to tertiary level. Working in partnership with communities and African government ministries, Camfed has built around girls a social and institutional ecosystem in which they, and other children and young people, can thrive. In 2017, the 100,000th young woman joined the Camfed alumnae, each member transformed by education into a powerful role model and change agent. Ann’s vision of principle-based leadership continues to influence the international development sector. She has been awarded a number of honours including an OBE, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Cambridge, Skoll and Schwab Fellowships, and a WISE Laureate.
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CEO and Founder, The College for Social Innovation
Eric Schwarz is the Co-Founder and CEO of the College for Social Innovation, which brings together colleges and social sector organizations to create fully-credited, semester-long experiential learning opportunities that are meaningful, accessible, and life-changing. College for Social Innovation was incorporated in July, 2015 and began enrolling students in the 2016-17 academic year. The mission of the organization is to educate and inspire the next generation of social problem solvers.
Eric is also the Co-Founder and former CEO of Citizen Schools, a successful social enterprise that scaled to a $30 million annual budget and has had a positive impact on the after-school and extended learning time fields across the U.S. Schwarz is the author of the critically-acclaimed book, The Opportunity Equation, published by Beacon Press in 2014, the co-editor of The Case For 21st Century Learning, and the author of numerous articles and book chapters, including “Calling All Citizens” in The New York Times best-selling Waiting For Superman.
Prior to starting Citizen Schools in 1995, Schwarz served as vice president of City Year, the national service program, and as a journalist at The Oakland Tribune and The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA) where he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He is a member of the board of Beyond12, an organization focused on college completion for first-generation college students, and of Citizen Schools, and chair of the board of US2020, a national STEM mentoring initiative launched at the White House. Schwarz is a frequent speaker on education, opportunity, and the social sector at national and local conferences and convenings. He graduated from the University of Vermont (B.A.) in 1983 and from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (M. Ed) in 1997. Schwarz lives in Brookline, MA with his wife and two children. Twitter: @ericschwarz1984; Web: www.CollegeforSocialinnovation.org
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Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Kirk O. Hanson is executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and the John Courtney Murray S.J. University Professor of Social Ethics, positions he has held since 2001. In 2001, he took early retirement from the faculty of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he taught for 23 years and is now an emeritus faculty member.
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is one of the most active ethics centers in the world, working in the fields of business, government, journalism, engineering, internet ethics, health care ethics, social sector ethics, leadership ethics, and K-12 character education. Hanson coordinates the activities of over 25 staff members who work directly for the Center and 70 affiliated faculty scholars who work on all aspects of applied and professional ethics.
On the Stanford Business School faculty from 1978 through 2001, Hanson was a pioneer in the study of business ethics and business responsibility.
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Wendy Kopp is CEO and Co-founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent organizations that are developing collective leadership to ensure all children have the opportunity to fulfill their potential.
Wendy founded Teach For America in 1989 to marshal the energy of her generation against educational inequity in the United States. Today, close to 7,000 Teach For America corps members—outstanding recent college graduates and professionals of all academic disciplines—are in the midst of two-year teaching commitments in 53 urban and rural regions, and Teach For America has proven to be an unparalleled source of long-term leadership for expanding opportunity for children. After leading Teach For America’s growth and development for 24 years, in 2013, Wendy transitioned out of the role of CEO. Today, she remains an active member of Teach For America's board.
Wendy led the development of Teach For All to be responsive to the initiative of inspiring social entrepreneurs around the world who were determined to adapt this approach in their own countries. Now approaching its 10th anniversary, the Teach For All network is comprised of partner organizations in 46 countries on six continents, including its founding partners Teach For America and the U.K.’s Teach First.
Wendy has been recognized as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards for public service. She is the author of A Chance to Make History: What Works and What Doesn’t in Providing an Excellent Education for All (2011) and One Day, All Children: The Unlikely Triumph of Teach For America and What I Learned Along the Way (2000). She holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, where she participated in the undergraduate program of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Wendy resides in New York City with her husband Richard Barth and their four children.
