An NGO partnership creating a pathway to peace for ex-combatants through ethical gold production in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a social enterprise employing drone technology to accelerate community-driven mangrove restoration for improved fish stocks and protection from natural disasters are among 5 social innovators whose solutions were chosen as 2017 BridgeBuilder Challenge Top Ideas. The cohort of Top Ideas will amplify their impact with a share of US$1 million and collaboration with GHR Foundation.

The Challenge sought ideas addressing urgent global concerns at the intersections of peace, prosperity and planet in radically new ways. Participants from 185 countries responded with more than 650 ideas.

“We look forward to partnering with each of these organizations to further develop their ideas and scale their impact,” said Amy R. Goldman, CEO and chair of GHR Foundation. 

The inaugural BridgeBuilder Challenge sought to support innovative projects bridging peace, prosperity and planet in the United States and around the world. The winning ideas include:

• ​Ethical gold mining as a pathway to peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peace Direct: Peace Direct provides a pathway to peace and environmental protection in fragile DRC while providing sustainable incomes to ex-combatants – now small-scale, subsistence miners. The miners and their families (approx. 3,400 people total) receive training in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and environmentally responsible gold production as they work toward a fair-trade-certified standard.
• Tree-planting drones for restoring mangroves and livelihoods in Myanmar, BioCarbon Engineering: Creating a strong bridge between prosperity and planet, Oxford-based BioCarbon Engineering employs drone technology to accelerate community-driven mangrove restoration to reforest depleted mangrove ecosystems in the fragile coastal regions of Myanmar, where more than 1 million hectares of forest have already been lost due to rising sea levels. In the process of planting 1 million mangrove trees annually, fish stocks will increase, a protective barrier against natural disasters will be restored, and local economies will be bolstered, leading to a more stable balance between communities and their surrounding ecosystems.
• Creative skills for peace among youth violent offenders in Cameroon, Local Youth Corner Cameroon: To counter violent extremism in Cameroon, Local Youth Corner promotes participation in peacebuilding by empowering violent offenders with leadership, vocational and entrepreneurial skills. Its Creative Skills for Peace program supports the rehabilitation and reintegration of 300 young offenders across 8 facilities in 6 cities, and trains staff members at rehabilitation facilities on countering violent extremism and peacebuilding.
• Lifting up and empowering families on Chicago's South Side, LIFT Chicago: Bridging prosperity and peace in Chicago, LIFT Chicago uses a two-generation, in-community ambassador approach to increase access to early childhood educations services and help parents and caregivers build social connections, strengthen personal well-being, and improve financial security to foster personal and community-level peace and prosperity.
• Connecting displaced persons with Arabic language learners around the world, NaTakallam: NaTakallam bridges peace and prosperity and encourages a culture of encounter by connecting displaced individuals (primarily Syrians) with Arabic learners around the world for online language practice, giving the former access to an income while fostering intercultural understanding. By 2018, it hopes to provide 150 refugees with sustainable incomes through their work with 2,000 language learners.

“The response to our inaugural BridgeBuilder Challenge was amazing,” said Jason Rissman, managing director of OpenIDEO. “Throughout the Ideas and Feedback phases, the global community offered insights and connections to contributors that added value to the ideas, even if they weren't chosen as Top Ideas. The collaborative and transparent nature of the OpenIDEO platform has far-reaching benefits, and BridgeBuilder inspired participants from nearly every country to address the critical social concerns of our day.”

From Forbes:

"Earlier this year, Minnesota-based GHR Foundation and San Francisco-based OpenIDEO joined forces to launch the inaugural BridgeBuilder Challenge, an opportunity that would award five top ideas a share of $1 million to pursue an idea that would make an impact around the world.

Today, five top ideas were announced..."
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Moving into 2016, GHR Foundation had an opportunity to reflect on progress made in the previous year and look to the future with a deep well of optimism. As a team, we often examine the future of GHR's work through the lens of a specific question: What would it take to ______?

What it would take to ensure all children are living in family or family-like environments? What would it take to prevent Alzheimer's disease? What would it take to close the educational achievement gap in the Twin Cities? What would it take to find new, innovative ideas from unlikely actors? These are the conversations that push us to think creatively as we examine our goals and seek to challenge the status quo. As we moved into a new year, we asked ourselves: What would it take to be the philanthropy our legacy demands?

GHR is pleased to share highlights of GHR Foundation’s progress in 2016. With an eye toward long-term, sustainable impact, we focused on asking those big questions and finding big, surprising, ambitious answers. We are excited by what we have learned, and we're even more excited to see what will happen next year. I look forward to sharing how thinking big will help us find and partner with those who make the world a better place.

From PEAK Grantmaking:

"We live in an exciting time, when the world’s changemakers can connect across enormous distances and from very different communities. Yet, with this interconnectivity comes a set of more complex, interwoven global challenges—the global economy is growing, yet much of this wealth is kept at the top and global inequality is at higher than ever.

At GHR Foundation, we recognize where our orbit—and the orbit of traditional philanthropy—is limited..."
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From the European Foundation Centre Blog:

"From Sihanoukville, Cambodia to Makululu Compound in Zambia, we are seeing children reunited with their families. These communities, recovering from issues like conflict or the impact of HIV/AIDS, are getting stronger day-by-day.
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One fact is central to our work in these communities: Most children living in orphanages..."
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