The Skoll World Forum brings together a global network of change agents to discuss, collaborate, and celebrate social progress. We curate invitations each year to convene 1,200 delegates—about a third of whom are social entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders, a third are funders spanning philanthropic to commercial, and a third are other ecosystem actors. We intentionally curate a bit differently each year, to balance the Foundation’s portfolio and partners with new voices.
To that end, we launched the Skoll World Forum Fellowship last year with Johnson and Johnson to bring leaders who have emerged from—or are working in lockstep with—communities to drive lasting solutions. We’re excited to continue the program, with J&J and The ELMA Philanthropies, to support an incredible cohort of 75 senior leaders. Based in 35 countries across the Americas, Africa, Middle East, and Asia, Skoll World Forum Fellows exemplify the Skoll network of ecosystem actors. They are social entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, storytellers and filmmakers, policy makers, healthcare innovators, and indigenous rights activists.
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Skoll Foundation on the Fellowship program that we launched together last year,” said Alice Lin Fabiano, Global Director of Social Innovation, Global Community Impact, Johnson & Johnson. “Our global J&J Fellows are some of the strongest innovators in healthcare transforming how we deliver care on the front lines. There’s no better place than the Forum to support our approach to inclusive social innovation in health.”
Our hope is that the Forum Fellowship creates a meaningful avenue for leaders outside typical philanthropic circles to engage and advance impact. As we continually analyze the strengths and gaps of our Foundation’s network, we work to improve the balance between western influencers and global south leaders. Given our Silicon Valley and Oxford roots, geographic and exposure gaps are no surprise. To address these gaps we need to get beyond typical (and often overlapping) networks, fellowships, event platforms, and portfolios. We feel the responsibility to expand who is invited, and the 2019 cohort of Forum Fellows will join nearly 500 executive-level delegates who will attend for the first time.
Johnson & Johnson is joined by The ELMA Philanthropies underwriting this year’s program. “The ELMA Community Grants Program supports over a hundred grassroots organizations that have demonstrated the ability to drive improvements in the lives of children in remote and often underserved areas in Africa,” said Bernadette Moffat, Executive Director of ELMA Philanthropies Southern Africa. “The Forum is a unique opportunity for the social entrepreneurs running these community-based organizations to engage with peers and investors and build partnerships that will continue to expand their impact.”
Special thanks also to many additional network partners that helped identify the leaders who will participate this year–Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, TEDx, Aspen Global Leaders Network, Sundance Institute Stories of Change, Nexus Global, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, UN Solutions Summit, and Falling Walls Foundation.
We look forward to the new connections and the proximity that live convenings provide. If you’re coming to Oxford for the Forum in April or the many independent Ecosystem Events, I hope you can meet the 2019 Skoll World Forum Fellows.
For those unable to attend the Skoll World Forum in person, take it all in with the Forum Digital Pass.
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