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 OBE is Founder and President of Camfed, an international non-profit organisation tackling poverty and inequality in sub-Saharan Africa by supporting girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as leaders of change.
Camfed’s goal is to replace the existing cycle of poverty and inequality with a new cycle of empowerment and opportunity. The organisation’s unique approach is to not only support girls and young women through school, but also on to new lives as entrepreneurs and community leaders. To complete the “virtuous cycle”, graduating students become alumnae and many train and mentor new generations of students. More than 3.5 million children have already benefited from Camfed’s programmes in a network of 5,270 partner schools across Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi. In 2014, Camfed was recognised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for best practice in taking development innovation to scale.
Ann is an Honorary Fellow at Homerton College, and Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the Cambridge University Judge Business School. She is a noted speaker on international platforms, including the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Skoll World Forum. In 2014, she addressed the U.S.-Africa Summit hosted by the White House, George W. Bush Institute and U.S. State Department. Ann has won numerous awards for her work, including an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Cambridge University; an OBE in honour of her advocacy of girls’ education in Africa; the Skoll and Schwab Awards for Social Entrepreneurship; Woman of the Year in the UK; and UK Social Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2014, Ann received the 2014 WISE Prize as Education Laureate.
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Co-Founder, College for Social Innovation
Eric Schwarz is the Co-Founder and CEO of Citizen Schools, a leading education nonprofit that partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for low-income children. Schwarz served on the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Task Force on 21st Century Skills, the Center for American Progress working group on Expanded Learning Time, the transition team of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and New Profit, Inc.’s Social Entrepreneur Advisory Board. He is the author of “Realizing the American Dream: Historical Scorecard, Current Challenges, Future Opportunities”, and the co-editor ofThe Case for Twenty-First Century Learning. Previously, Schwarz served as a Public Service Fellow at Harvard University and Vice President at City Year.
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Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
Kirk Hanson is Executive Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, and holds the John Courtney Murray, S.J. Endowed University Professorship. He retired after 23 years teaching at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2001 to head the Markkula Center, one of the most active ethics centers in the world with a staff of 26. He has expanded the Center's staff, budget and influence in his 15 years there. The Center has programs in business ethics, medical and health care ethics, government ethics, nonprofit ethics, internet ethics, technology ethics, media ethics, and character development.
Hanson writes on managing the ethical and public behavior of corporations and other complex organizations. He recently co-edited a four-volume series titled The Accountable Corporation. His current research interests include the design of corporate ethics programs and the responsibilities of boards for the ethical culture of their organizations. He has always been fascinated by ethical issues which arise in Silicon Valley companies and life.
Hanson has been an ethics consultant to over 100 public corporations, government entities and nonprofit organizations. He has served on the boards of several foundations and nonprofit organizations, and currently serves on the board of the Skoll Community Fund, one of two entities which make up the Skoll Foundation.
Hanson received the 1997 John Gardner Award from the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley for contributions to the Silicon Valley community, the 2007 Aspen Institute Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to the study of business and society, and the 2012 Master Ethics Teacher Award from Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Business. In May 2013 he received an honorary doctorate and was the commencement speaker at the University of Portland.
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Wendy Kopp is CEO and Co-founder of Teach For All, a global network of independent organizations that are cultivating their nations’ promising future leaders to ensure their most marginalized children have the chance to fulfill their true potential.
Wendy founded Teach For America in 1989 to marshal the energy of her generation against educational inequity in the United States. Today, more than 10,000 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 50 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 in its eighth year, the Teach For All network is comprised of partner organizations in more than 35 countries around the world, 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.
