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‘We’ve forgotten we’re one human family’: The woman bringing optimism back to innovation

2/17/2020

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From The Independent:
​

"Amy Goldman, a philanthropist and chief executive and chair of the GHR Foundation, believes innovation combined with some optimism and solidarity can contribute to solving at least some of the greatest social issues facing our world today.
​
“There’s an overarching problem that spans across various areas we work on. It’s a lack of solidarity in the world, a lack of understanding that we are all one human family,” she told The Independent. “I think optimism is key for this work to be effective. It’s because of the quality of our internal team and our partners that we are continuing to reimagine what’s possible and not just going for the status quo.”"

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Forbes: Winners Of BridgeBuilder Challenge Work To Improve Life For 70 Million Refugees

1/30/2020

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From Forbes:

"There are more than 70 million displaced people—refugees—around the world. A social impact and innovation contest called the BridgeBuilder Challenge identified five social enterprises around the world making a difference for that huge population.
The challenge was organized by OpenIDEO, the open innovation practice at IDEO, in partnership with the GHR Foundation, which focuses on design-build models for philanthropy."

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La Noticia: Programa de tarjeta de identificación de FaithAction gana reconocimiento internacional

12/20/2019

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From La Noticia: 

"Estamos profundamente agradecidos con todo nuestro personal extraordinario, voluntarios, socios de la comunidad, donantes y participantes que han creído y contribuido al programa FaithAction ID a lo largo de los años. Es sorprendente ver cómo este pequeño proyecto piloto que comenzó en Greensboro ahora resuena como una solución innovadora para servir, amar y proteger mejor a las personas en movimiento en todo el mundo", agregó Fraccaro.

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The Guardian: The Upside's Best Things that Happened in 2019

12/18/2019

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From The Guardian: 

"Where was the Upside?
​
At the BridgeBuilder Awards, which doled out $1m in seed funding for ideas to help refugees and displaced people."
 

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News & Record: 'We are blown away': FaithAction wins share of $1 million to expand its ID program

12/18/2019

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From News & Record: 

​"FaithAction International House has won a share of a $1 million prize for its innovative and thoughtful approach for getting immigrants, the homeless and others a form of identification that's recognized by agencies — populations that typically don't have the necessary documents needed to get traditional forms of ID.

​
The international BridgeBuilder 2019 Top Ideas competition sought out new approaches to some of the world's most urgent needs involving migrants and refugees."

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Reuters: Paris charity gets share of $1 mln prize for training refugees as museum guides

12/12/2019

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From Thomas Reuters Foundation News:

"Syrian businesswoman Souad Nanaa, a refugee who co-founded SAMA for All, said she wanted to promote cultural exchange.

"In the minds of the people, culture is for the elite – it's not for all," she said by phone from Paris.

"I decided to take on this challenge because of my belief that these people have their own culture, and exchange of culture among people is very good."
​

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GHR Foundation Announces BridgeBuilder™ Top Ideas to Help Migrants, Refugees and Displaced People

12/9/2019

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GHR Foundation today announces the winners of its BridgeBuilder global innovation challenge, awarding $1 million to the best ideas that address urgent global issues relating to ‘People on the Move’.

There are currently more than 70.8 million men, women and children who are forcibly displaced worldwide – more than at any time in the past 70 years – and there is an urgent need for radical, innovative solutions.

This year’s BridgeBuilder Challenge saw social innovators, including currently or previously displaced persons, design approaches that will improve conditions for those displaced or better support host communities.

The top five Ideas have been selected for their promise to promote meaningful engagement, greater social cohesion and sustainable, community-led change. They will each receive a share of $1 million in seed funding from GHR Foundation and will join a cohort of innovative organisations working to address urgent needs.

The BridgeBuilder 2019 Top Ideas are as follows:

• Top Manta (Barcelona, Spain) – Activating a migrant-led streetwear movement for opportunity and solidarity

• Five One Labs (Kurdistan Region, Iraq) – Incubating the post-conflict potential of youth- and women-founded start-ups

• SAMA for All (Paris, France) – Transforming cultural exchanges by training newcomers as art interpreters

• FaithAction (United States) – Reimagining the i.d. card to foster trust and safety among newneighbors

​ • Talent Beyond Boundaries (MENA, Australia & Canada) – Unlocking global pathways to international employment and safety for refugees

Minneapolis-based GHR Foundation runs the annual Challenge in collaboration with OpenIDEO, the open innovation practice from global design firm IDEO. In its third year, BridgeBuilder gathered over 450 ideas from 30,000 participants in 165 countries. Materials were translated into 11 languages resulting in 71 ideas submitted by people who are currently or have previously experienced displacement.

Submissions were collaborative, principles-based, community-rooted and people-centered – all building bridges in unique, innovative ways.

Amy Goldman, chief executive officer and chair of GHR Foundation, said:
“For our third BridgeBuilder, People on the Move was a natural focus. We wanted to spotlight and support ideas that are desperately needed to improve the lives of migrants and refugees. More than that, though, we wanted to help change the narrative – to elevate the status of those who have experienced displacement as skilled and creative innovators themselves.”
​
Jason Rissman, managing director of OpenIDEO, added:
"We’ve been so inspired by the global response to BridgeBuilder this year. Yet again, all of the ideas submitted were bold, creative and full of potential. We are especially delighted to count people with firsthand experience amongst our winners – and we’re confident that this cohort will continue to build on their successes to date, creating genuine impact for this often underserved and overlooked community."

Watch the video to learn more about this year's BridgeBuilders.
GHR Foundation BridgeBuilder 2019 Top Ideas Announcement
File Size: 277 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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GHR Foundation and OpenIDEO Launch Third BridgeBuilder™ to Identify Radical Ideas to Help Migrants, Refugees and Displaced People

7/3/2019

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In collaboration with open innovation platform OpenIDEO, Minneapolis-based GHR Foundation has launched its third annual BridgeBuilder™, awarding $1 million to the best ideas that address urgent global issues in radically new ways.

This year’s challenge focus, People on the Move, will invite social innovators and individuals with experience of displacement to come together to address challenges faced by migrants, refugees, and displaced people as well as host communities. The challenge will be a collaborative process that aims to identify promising ideas that promote meaningful engagement, greater social cohesion and sustainable, community-led change.

Submissions are open from July 2nd-August 17th, with Top Ideas announced in mid-November following a refinement process using human-centered design. Top Ideas will each receive a share of $1 million in seed funding from GHR Foundation and will join a cohort of innovative organisations working to address urgent needs.

This year, BridgeBuilder launches in response to the more than 70.8 million men, women and children who are currently forcibly displaced worldwide. With more people on the move today than in the past 70 years, and with women and children disproportionately impacted, the 2019 Challenge invites social innovators and currently or previously displaced persons to design approaches that enable individuals to create a life of meaning, filled with hope and dignity, and to support host communities in being their most welcoming.

Entrants are requested to consider the following question:
How might we, as people on the move and neighbours, build bridges to a shared future of stability and promise?

In 2018, BridgeBuilder gathered 690 collaborative, principles-based, community-rooted, people-centered solutions, all building bridges in unique, innovative ways. These were narrowed down to five Top Ideas, which convened in Rome for a design-build workshop with GHR and OpenIDEO.
The 2018 Top Ideas include:
  • This is My Backyard (TIMBY) - Equipping indigenous peoples with mobile technology to protect land rights in Kenya
  • Found in Translation - Empowering bilingual women as medical interpreters to fight healthcare disparities in Boston, USA
  • Producers Direct - Unleashing the potential of rural youth to drive sustainable small- scale agriculture in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
  • War Child Canada - Investing in young peace-building entrepreneurs via cash transfers and start-up grants in South Sudan
  • My Choices Foundation - Facilitating women-led community transformation for families facing domestic violence in India

Amy Goldman, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of GHR Foundation, said, “The opportunity for meaningful engagement with people on the move is immense, and BridgeBuilder seeks to harness the hospitality and solidarity that lies within each of the 7 billion humans on our planet. GHR is proud to launch this third BridgeBuilder, which builds on each of our previous challenges that have sought new approaches to solve pressing global issues at the intersections of peace, prosperity, and planet.”

Jason Rissman, managing director of OpenIDEO, added, "We’ve been so inspired by the global response to BridgeBuilder the past two years. The creativity infused in the ideas has been outstanding, as has been the impact of these bold innovators on their respective communities. I look forward to welcoming the next generation of BridgeBuilders in the third challenge and continuing to grow this important movement."

To participate in this year’s Challenge, please visit: GHRfoundation.org/BridgeBuilder
Entries open July 2nd and close August 17th 2019.
​
Notes to Editors
Challenge Process
During the Ideas Phase, BridgeBuilder calls on the global community to share approaches that bring people together to address urgent challenges faced by people on the move. The proposals do not need to be perfect or fully polished—in fact, early entry in the Ideas phase will allow teams to iterate and improve an idea through community engagement. Throughout this Phase, participants are encouraged to include voices of people with experience of displacement in their communities to design ideas and provide feedback.
Currently and previously displaced people will help select a shortlist of submitted ideas to move into the Expert Feedback Phase, where teams will have the opportunity to be matched with experts with lived experience and from various fields to gather feedback and additional insights. After expert feedback, the Improve Phase gives each team three weeks to apply the expert feedback to their proposal, finalize and resubmit it along with a project budget.
Top Ideas will be announced in mid-November and receive seed funding and post-Challenge support from GHR, as well as connection opportunities with other BridgeBuilders and OpenIDEO.

Selected top ideas will:
  • Receive a share of $1 million in seed funding from GHR Foundation
  • Join a BridgeBuilder cohort of innovative organizations working to address urgent needs
  • Take part in a kick-off workshop, during which they will meet other social innovators and further design and build their approaches with tools and expertise from GHR and OpenIDEO
  • Receive ongoing partnership support from GHR, potential connection to other funder networks, and media exposure
​
Submission Guidelines
Ideas are invited from individuals and teams currently or previously experiencing displacement as well as registered nonprofit, civil society, community-based, and for-profit organizations working anywhere in the world.
  • Actionable and tangible: Idea must be actionable and build tangible results in the community of focus, rather than research, convenings, policy development, or advocacy.
  • Within scope: Idea must be implemented within a 36-month timeline and within a budget up to US$200,000.
  • Representative: Idea must show evidence that the voice and perspective of a person currently or previously experiencing displacement is part of the ideation, process, and project.
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Wired: Tropical forests are dying. Seed-slinging drones can save them

4/30/2019

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From Wired:

"Working at full capacity, BioCarbon’s drones, flying in six-strong autonomous swarms, can plant 400,000 trees in a day, according to BioCarbon’s co-founder Irina Fedorenko. 

In 2017, an old contact from Fedorenko’s time as an activist in Russia approached her, and together they secured a $240,000 grant from the GHR Foundation, a US philanthropic organisation, to set up trials in Ayeyarwady Region. “I knew that it was going to be tough,” Fedorenko says. “Environmental restoration is always a question of governance and management. It’s never a question of technology. We were ready for that.”

Read more...
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NaTakallam: Learning Without Borders

3/25/2019

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GHR Foundation staff hear from two NaTakallam Conversation Partners at a Community Session.
​A 2017 BridgeBuilder Top Idea, language learning startup NaTakallam has forged a unique way to build bridges in a bordered world. Leveraging technology and their native tongue, NaTakallam connects refugees to remote work opportunities in the language sector, providing them economic empowerment, honing their marketable skills, and fostering global friendships.

NaTakallam began, first and foremost, with addressing the problem of being a displaced person without a job and/or a sense of purpose. Whether being barred from legal access to the local workforce, unable to find work due to a dearth of opportunities, or struggling because of cultural or language barriers, refugees and displaced individuals are at great risk of falling into depression, poverty, and desperation.

While the organization began by focusing on Arabic speaking refugees, over the past three years NaTakallam has expanded its offerings to include  Spanish, Persian, Arabic and French. NaTakallam recruits, trains and hires refugees as Conversation Partners (CPs), and then connects them with students around the world for language practice. They offer a range of learning options, including one-on-one tutoring, guest speaker sessions, integrated K-12 curricula, university programs and translation services in 9+ languages. Providing students the chance to learn a new language while building a relationship with someone whose life is very different than their own, NaTakallam expands much more than just their user’s linguistic repertoire.

As NaTakallam continues to evolve and develop new programs, expanding its ability to provide displaced persons with access to income and a sense of purpose, they play a key role in fostering empathy, dialogue and intercultural understanding worldwide. With the introduction of their new community session programs, NaTakallam is now expanding its reach to include workplaces and community spaces.

GHR Foundation was fortunate enough to host a lunchtime community session event with NaTakallam at the close of their grantmaking, where staff and special guests got to hear from two CPs, who shared their stories and described their experiences working with NaTakallam. Both CPs expressed a profound sense of gratitude for the chance to share their language skills while connecting with a diverse range of people, allowing for friendships to form even across great distance. 
 
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