Land Tenure: A Cross-Cutting Solution for Poverty, Climate Change, and Women's Rights
Women farmers feed their communities and the world. From the paddy terraces of Asia to the maize fields of sub-Saharan Africa, the woman farmer tills, plants, waters, and harvests crops…
How Land Tenure Reform is a Critical Climate Solution
To address the climate crisis and reach sustainable development goals, Indigenous, community, and Afro-descendant land rights must be secure. While communities claim and manage roughly half of the world’s lands—including…
Repairing the Past: What the United States Can Learn from the Global Transitional Justice Movement
Transitional justice is about the most difficult dilemmas facing a society during some of the most troubling and challenging moments of its history. It is applied when a country needs…
Rethinking Possible Episode Nine | Garrett Bucks | The Role of White People in Anti-Racist Work
Garrett Bucks founded The Barnraisers Project, an organization that “equips people who’ve never thought of themselves as organizers with the tools to move their social networks from denial and defensiveness…
Rethinking Possible Episode Eight | Colette Pichon Battle | Lessons from the Bayou on Climate Change and Community Power
Step foot into Louisiana's bayous and you’ll smell the strong scent of azaleas even before you smell the cooking. Amidst the sweet fragrance of flowers and mouth-watering cuisine, an odious…
How An Atlanta Park Became an Intergenerational Multiethnic Hub of Community Resources During the Turbulence of 2020
Like many people, at the start of 2020, I had big plans for the year ahead. In addition to family reunions and work trips, I intended to spend a few…
Rethinking Possible Episode Two | Alessandra Orofino | Democracy—There’s No App for That
If there’s one thing Alessandra Orofino won’t accept, it’s the status quo. She believes democracies can’t be healthy and thrive unless citizens roll up their sleeves and do the hard…
Funding Institutions Perpetuate Inequitable Global Health Partnerships: Here Are Three Ways to Stop That
In February, the New York Times Editorial Board announced: “Foreign Aid is Having a Reckoning.” This reckoning based on the Black Lives Matter movement is not just isolated to foreign…
Rethinking Possible Episode One | Rodney Foxworth | Community: The Driving Force Behind Economic Inclusion
Rodney Foxworth says the racial "wealth gap" is a misnomer because it implies something that’s achievable to close. "Wealth chasm" is more on the nose since we’re talking about disparities…
How Colombia Cuida Colombia Launched a Collective Movement to Address the COVID Crisis
Colombia Cuida Colombia (CCC) is a national COVID response movement of over 400 organizations across civil society and the private sector. It launched in March 2020 to mobilize a coordinated…
Kirk Hanson on Ethical "Bad Orchards" and Reflections from His Long Skoll Board Tenure
Stepping down from his role as Skoll Board member after 18 years of service, doesn’t mean Kirk Hanson will be less busy. His new book with co-author Marc Epstein, ROTTEN:…
De-Centering Whiteness in Public Imagination
The early months of 2021 have failed to mark a transition from the divisiveness and turbulence of the prior year—and not solely due to the disturbing acts of violence in…
Rebooting Community from the Frontlines in Bangalore
When I had the opportunity to reboot TEDxBangalore digitally as COVID-19 restrictions eased in India, I focused on the theme of "Living with the Pandemic." It was one that resonated…
Eight Breakthroughs for Land Rights in 2020
2020 was a tough year on many fronts, and land rights were no exception. COVID-19 hindered land rights advocates from doing field research, meeting with government officials, prioritizing policy initiatives,…
2020 Was the Year the Facts Fought Back
One of the themes of the last decade has been a frightening rise in misinformation and untruth. Social media platforms transmit falsehoods around the world with a single click. The…
Lessons from My Journey of Serial Social Entrepreneurship
I lay back in the ambulance early in the morning as it rushed through the dark streets of London. In those days there were no sirens but instead there was…
Ignorance is Not Bliss: Why We Should All Be Factivists
Let’s come together to accelerate progress in up-to-date data on the Sustainable Development Goals in an accessible and engaging way. Humans have a complicated relationship with facts—something we’ve seen clearly…
The Best Antidote to COVID-19? A Collective Approach
Collaboration and coordination are the only way to overcome COVID-19, says Don Gips, CEO at the Skoll Foundation, a private foundation working to drive social change through innovation and social entrepreneurship. “I…
Secure Land Rights: A Sustainable Solution at the Intersection of Climate Change and COVID-19
COVID-19 and climate change are impacting all of us, but the dual disasters have a disproportionate impact on communities in emerging economies. These impacts are felt most acutely in rural…
COVID-19 Action Agenda: Why Social Entrepreneurs Are Needed Now More than Ever
As the massive scale of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent, social entrepreneurs across the world, including many Skoll Awardees, have stood on the frontlines as first responders in this…
Collaborate Not Replicate: How Skateistan Scales Through Open Source Partnerships
It’s spring 2020 and, like much of the world, skateboarders are on lockdown. Around the world, there are over 200 social skateboarding projects, each aiming to empower young people and…
A Table for Two at Tostan: Organizational Wellbeing and Leadership Transition
For nearly three decades, Tostan has co-created and implemented human rights based-educational programs with communities across the African continent that inspire large-scale movements leading to dignity for all. Founder of…
How COVID-19 Has Forced the Overdue Adoption of Virtual Diplomacy
When Estonia held the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in May, it hosted the largest high-level gathering of UN Member States since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.…
COVID-19 in War Zones: A Peacebuilder's Perspective on the Pandemic
Jess Murrey, advisor at Search for Common Ground (2006 Skoll Awardee), recently spoke with two peacebuilders, Shoqi Al-Maktary from Yemen and Ehsanullah Abrar in Afghanistan, to learn how countries torn…
Essam Daod on Why Mental Health Support in Refugee Crises is so Important—and Underfunded
Essam Daod co-founded Humanity Crew in 2015 to provide first response mental health and psycho-social support for refugees and people in crisis. Journalist Ray Suarez sat down with Daod to…
We Must Demand More of Ourselves to Combat Systemic Racial Inequity
We at the Skoll Foundation are deeply shaken and angered by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and of so many other Black Americans. Injustice and…
The Story of Hem Moktan: 152 Million Children Around the Globe Labor in Bondage
To be a hero is to take a risk. Hem Moktan does this every day, facing his brutal past as an enslaved child. He is featured in the documentary film Hem…
Police Violence, Video, and Truth Telling at WITNESS
It’s been 55 years since police violence sparked the Watts rebellion. It’s been 28 years since the Rodney King arrest, beating, filming, and subsequent uprising in South Los Angeles. Today,…
How Amazon Conservation Team Approaches COVID-19 Response With Vulnerable Indigenous Communities During the Worsening Pandemic
Marginal access to healthcare, limited hygiene resources, and weak government support in deterring potentially contagious intruders put even the most remote communities in the Amazon at risk of the spreading…
Fragile Futures for Hidden Workers When Consumers Stop Buying
With demand for toilet paper and other household items in the headlines, the COVID-19 crisis has made supply chains news, highlighting what disruptions mean to consumers, companies, and workers. This…
Shattered Inside: How My Work As a Social Entrepreneur and Anti-Trafficking Activist Was Built on Unaddressed Trauma
I became a mother as I was leading the liberation movement in my home country of the Philippines. I hid in the mountains and the military ran an endless pursuit.…
Sohini Battacharya on How Small Sparks of Change Turn the Tide on Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination
Sohini Bhattacharya is the CEO and President of Breakthrough, a global human rights organization working to drive culture change to build a world where all people live in dignity, equality,…
Global Commons Alliance: Why This Historic Moment Demands Radical Collaboration
Hundreds of business, government, civil society, and other leaders recently weighed in on the most urgent threats confronting humanity and, for the first time in the Global Risks Report’s history,…
Adolescent Girls and Young Women Are New Frontline of HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Solution Lies Within Their Communities
Dimakatso, 23, lives in Soshanguve, South Africa. Her father passed away a little over a year ago, forcing her mother to relocate to a neighboring town for work, and leaving…
Ai-jen Poo on Her Vision for Universal Family Care
Ai-jen Poo is a leading labor activist and the founder of National Domestic Workers Alliance. The Alliance works to bring dignity and fairness to the growing numbers of workers who…
International Aid Reimagined: Participatory, Community-Driven Change
Degan Ali is the director of Nairobi-based Adeso, an organization that’s trying to change the way people think about and deliver humanitarian aid. Adeso envisions an Africa not dependent on…
Saving Rainforests with Indigenous Rights-Based Conservation
Suzanne Pelletier is the Executive Director of the Rainforest Foundation US which partners with indigenous peoples in Central and South America to help them assert their rights and conserve their…
A Youth Refugee Crisis Response Centered on Education and Emotional Development
There are more than 25 million people registered as refugees today, displaced by conflict, volatility, or climate change. Of this community, half are children under 18. Their lives have been…
How Social Entrepreneurs Brought Hope to 2018
Much of the news from 2018 doesn't paint a pretty picture of the world. But we won't dwell on that. Instead, we'd like to wrap up the year by turning…
Secure Land Rights for Climate Resilience
The world’s attention this week has turned to Katowice, Poland, where leaders and advocates have gathered to discuss the global climate change agenda at the COP24 United Nations Climate Change…
Measuring for Impact in Human Rights: What, Why, How, and For Whom?
“If you don't account for your impact properly, you have no right to call yourself a social anything” – Alex Nicholls. Measuring impact: it’s a challenge all social entrepreneurs face. Is…
We Stand #WithRefugees
Today, we are committing to standing #WithRefugees. By the end of 2016, more than 65.6 million people had been displaced by conflict or fled human rights violations—22.5 million were refugees,…
The Far-Reaching Economic Impacts of Child Marriage
Every minute of every day, 28 girls under age 18 are married off against their will. Child marriage has broad and devastating impacts, and a new study from the World Bank…
Human Trafficking: Where's the Progress and What Comes Next?
Some 20 million people around the world are victims of human trafficking, and nearly 70 percent of those are trapped in forced labor. The International Labour Organization reports that this dark…
Raj Panjabi’s TED Wish and the Power of Storytelling for Social Change
No condition is permanent. That’s the refrain of tough-minded optimism that Raj Panjabi, founder of Last Mile Health, grew up with in Liberia. It’s the mantra often repeated by his…
Michael Franti and Bono Celebrate Our 2017 Skoll Awardees
Invest. Connect. Celebrate. This is the Skoll Foundation’s mission and deep commitment to the field of social entrepreneurship. The Skoll World Forum is one of our greatest opportunities for the 'celebrate'…
Highlights from the Social Progress Imperative 2017 Summit
“What if sociologists had as much influence as economists?” That’s the provocation with which Bjarni Benediktsson, Iceland’s 46-year-old Prime Minister of Iceland, set the tone for recent global summit of…
Skoll World Forum 2017 Reflection: Global Health, from Innovation to Implementation
"Global health is a marathon, not a sprint." -- Barbara Bush, Global Health Corps The race often starts with great excitement over big breakthroughs: new vaccines and treatments, new technologies…
The Skoll Foundation Approach to Visual Storytelling
Invest. Connect. Celebrate. That’s the Skoll Foundation mission in a nutshell, and the ‘celebrate’ part of that triad is where Skoll’s storytelling resources take center stage with the medium of…
Anatomy Of A Tiger: With all Eyes on Myanmar, See How Land Reform Shaped Asia's Tiger Economies
Asia’s Tigers, the collection of booming economies that emerged in the East following World War II, are often hailed as economic miracles. There was, though, no “secret sauce” behind that sustained…
Skoll World Forum 2017 Reflection: Civil Society Under Fire
In the past five years, 70 countries have passed restrictive laws controlling civil society organizations, with more than half of them restricting foreign funding. There is a crisis of effectiveness…
10 Signs of an Impending Global Land Rights Revolution
The development community has experienced various ‘revolutions’ over the years – from microfinance to women’s rights, from the green revolution to sustainable development. Each of these awakenings has improved our…
Fear Doesn’t Live Here: Fighting Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa
By: Fiona Mavhinga, Founder, Camfed’s CAMA alumnae network “I have seen girls suffer,” Mary told me. “And I knew I had to speak for them.” Mary was born poor and grew…
Why I March: A Personal Message from Sally Osberg
Friends, Over my lifetime, the course of human events here in the US has always found its way forward. While far from perfect, our union has been characterized by its…
Reflections From Standing Rock
At the Skoll Foundation much of the work we support—and the stories we seek to tell—has to do with organizations and movements seeking to protect the environment and indigenous land…
#StandWithMe: Empathy Builds Gender-Inclusive Safe Spaces
I was moderating an open discussion at a program on “safety in public transport” in a college in the state of Haryana, India. The students had heard about how girls…
Bryan Stevenson’s Blueprint for Racial Justice Inspires Aspen Changemakers
In July I attended the Aspen Institute’s Resnick Aspen Action Forum in Aspen, Colorado, along with a number of Skoll Awardees. The Skoll Foundation sponsors this annual four-day event, where…
One More Look at Rio: The Necessity and Complexity of Systems Change
Over the course of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, we’ve delved into some of the challenges facing Brazil. We began with the Social Progress Index’s (SPI) assessment of Brazil’s performance…
“Visibility is the First Stepping Stone For All Our Other Rights”: How WITNESS is Using Video to Fight Abuses in Rio
Social entrepreneurs aim at the root causes of social problems. For WITNESS, one of the main reasons human rights abuses persist is a lack of visibility. WITNESS empowers citizens to…
South Asia: Skoll Awardees Drive Change in Health and Gender Equality
Last month I traveled to Nepal and India to meet with Skoll Awardees and partners and learn about their progress in deploying mobile health solutions, fighting gender bias, and expanding…
Communications as Critical Change Agent
During the July 2016 AWNY Stages Summit in Chicago, the Skoll Foundation’s Director of Public Engagement & Communications Suzana Grego delivered a speech about her experiences working in human rights…
