As Pope Francis apologizes to Canada's native people for the Catholic Church's role in the forced cultural assimilation and resultant abuse of Indigenous children, he offers a humbling example of efforts towards acknowledging and responding to the intergenerational trauma caused by government-funded Christian schools that separated families and isolated children from their culture. Part of a colonial project of assimilation, Pope Francis recognized these atrocities as “the colonialist mentality (which) disregarded the concrete life of people and imposed certain predetermined cultural models.” He reminds us, as Indigenous communities have long known, that “colonization has not ended; in many places it has been transformed, disguised and concealed.”

This represents a first step in a long process, as true acknowledgement of the indelible harm caused by the Church will need to be accompanied by meaningful action. The wounds of forced separation and abuse continue to mark the lived experiences of Indigenous communities today, a painful truth echoed in the responses of many Indigenous leaders to the Pope’s apology.

Through our work, GHR has learned about the vital importance of family care for a child’s long-term development and overall wellbeing, prompting our efforts to help strengthen families alongside Catholic communities, especially with Catholic Sisters. We know the Church has the potential to be a dynamic force for good in the world, as Pope Francis illuminates, and that it will take the support of a global community to continue the healing process.

While the Pope’s visit cannot erase the trauma of the past, GHR in inspired by Pope Francis’s steps toward reconciliation. The Foundation embraces similar opportunities to model his example and reflect on ourselves, our work, the communities we serve and opportunities for reconciliation from structural and systemic harm along the way.
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Learn more about GHR’s work with the Church and family strengthening here, and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition’s work for truth, healing, and justice for boarding school survivors and descendants.

From Inside Philanthropy:

"Looking at the extraordinarily diverse group of ideas that came out on top in last year’s challenge, one thing is clear: Bridgebuilder is making progress toward reaching organizations from around the world. It’s encouraging to see a funder live up to its talk of diversity, and then go the extra mile by translating its materials into multiple languages.
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While it’s not easy to keep track of the all grant competitions going on these days, Bridgebuilder is definitely one worth keeping an eye on..."
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With 690 ideas from participants in nearly every country, the Ideas phase of the 2018 BridgeBuilder Challenge has come to a close! We called on our global community to submit ideas addressing urgent global challenges at the intersection of peace, prosperity and planet in radically new ways, and were blown away by the creativity, dedication and collaboration of everyone involved! Participants will no longer be able to alter ideas until the Beneficiary Feedback stage begins on June 21. You can, however, continue to review the ideas, comment on your favorites, make connections between organizations and participate in the Challenge community.
 
We believe new and existing ideas become better through collaboration, transparent feedback and iteration. Participants of the BridgeBuilder Challenge are encouraged to build on each others' concepts, collaborate, share insights and combine ideas to reach innovative new places. Throughout the various phases of the Challenge, we encourage everyone to continue engaging and pushing each other forward.
 
The Review phase has now begun, during which GHR and OpenIDEO are reviewing submissions based on our evaluation criteria. We encourage you to use this phase to leave and respond to comments, feedback or insights that may fuel idea development.
 
After the Review phase will be the Beneficiary Feedback phase, during which we’ll ask participants to get feedback from their communities, consider their end users and apply these learnings to their proposal. Though only shortlisted ideas will be required to complete this step, we encourage the entire BridgeBuilder community to continue through the refinement process—even if your idea is not selected, collecting and applying beneficiary feedback will improve your idea.
 
Shortlisted ideas will have the opportunity during the Expert Feedback phase to be matched with experts who will provide feedback and additional insights, helping inform the evaluation of their proposal. Last, during the Improve phase, each shortlisted idea will have two weeks to apply feedback to their proposal. We encourage all participants to incorporate constructive feedback from the BridgeBuilder community to make your idea the best it can be.
 
View the ideas and participate in the BridgeBuilder community!

In collaboration with open innovation platform OpenIDEO, GHR Foundation is inviting social innovators to come together to address urgent global challenges at the intersections of peace, prosperity and planet in radically new ways. The second annual BridgeBuilder Challenge is a five-month collaborative process that aims to identify promising ideas that promote meaningful engagement, greater social cohesion, and sustainable, community-led change. The top iterative ideas will each receive a share of $1 million and benefit from ongoing collaboration among the cohort and GHR’s global development experts.
 
The first BridgeBuilder Challenge in 2017 collected more than 650 ideas from social innovators in 185 countries, 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. These wide-ranging approaches are already resulting in meaningful change, with project scopes between 12 and 36 months.
 
The 2017 Top Ideas include:

• Ethical gold mining as a pathway to peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- Peace Direct
• Tree-planting drones for restoring mangroves and livelihoods in Myanmar -- BioCarbon Engineering
• Creative skills for peace among youth violent offenders in Cameroon -- Local Youth Corner Cameroon
• Lifting up and empowering families on Chicago's Southside -- LIFT Chicago
• Connecting displaced persons with Arabic language learners around the world – NaTakallam

 
“The challenges our world faces today are complex and interwoven,” said Amy Goldman, chief executive officer and chair of GHR. "BridgeBuilder is teaching us a lot about how communities far and wide are designing innovative solutions, and the power of building bridges to create lasting change. Through this second Challenge as well as the work of our current cohort, we hope to continue ‘bridging’ between people and communities to support and unleash the promise of locally-rooted ideas and assets.”
 
Whether working to advance peace, ensure prosperity, or protect our planet, successful BridgeBuilders design and build approaches that incorporate multiple perspectives, keeping pace with the speed at which the global community is moving and evolving.
 
“The response to our inaugural BridgeBuilder Challenge was amazing,” said Jason Rissman, managing director of OpenIDEO, of the 2017 BridgeBuilder Challenge. “The collaborative, transparent nature of last year’s Challenge inspired social innovators from nearly every country to offer insights and connections that brought value to submitted ideas, even if they weren't ultimately selected as Top Ideas. It’s exciting to consider the world-changing potential of our community of BridgeBuilders in this second Challenge.”
 
OpenIDEO Challenge Process: During the Ideas phase, GHR and OpenIDEO will call on the global community to share ideas that address urgent challenges at the intersections of peace, prosperity and planet in radical new ways. The ideas do not need to be perfect or fully polished—GHR encourages entry early in the Ideas phase to allow for community engagement and iteration to improve ideas. GHR will then select a shortlist of submitted ideas to move into the Beneficiary Feedback phase. During Beneficiary Feedback, contributors will test ideas in their communities and apply feedback to their project idea.
 
During the Expert Feedback phase, shortlisted ideas will have the opportunity to interact virtually with experts from various fields to gather feedback and additional insights. After expert feedback is the Improve Phase, during which each idea will have two three weeks to apply the expert feedback to their project idea. After these phases, GHR will review the shortlist, evaluate the ideas and announce the Top Ideas—a cohort representing promising approaches that best reflect the spirit of BridgeBuilder.
 
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

 
Eligibility: Submissions are welcome from registered nonprofit, civil society, community-based and for-profit organizations working anywhere in the world. Ideas must touch on two or more of the topic areas (peace, prosperity and planet). Ideas should strive to create unique encounters between people, issues and beliefs that promote meaningful engagement, greater social cohesion and sustainable, community-led change. Ideas must center on action and tangible results in their communities of focus rather than research, convenings, policy development or advocacy. Last, BridgeBuilder is seeking ideas with timelines up to 36 months and budget requests of less than US$500,000.

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.”

The BridgeBuilder Challenge is moving into an excited new phase, and we’re thrilled to announce a shortlist of the top 100 ideas. With more than 660 ideas connecting peace, prosperity and planet, the decision could not have been more difficult—both the GHR and OpenIDEO teams were thrilled with the volume, creativity and quality of ideas. Beyond the ideas, a community has taken shape around the Challenge, and we’ve seen connections and relationships form that we hope will strengthen each other’s work.
 
The shortlisted ideas will be moving on to the Beneficiary Feedback phase, during which they will have the opportunity to practice human-centered design on their ideas in the field, gathering feedback in local communities and sharing key insights.
 
Take a moment to check out some of the shortlisted ideas and join the conversation—we encourage you to connect with others working in regions or sectors in which you are interested. Your thoughts are essential in helping the shortlisted ideas expand their potential for impact, so share your feedback, expertise and questions!
 
Due to the unprecedented volume of ideas, we were unable to shortlist some amazing, impactful organizations doing groundbreaking work. If you submitted an idea that isn’t moving on to the Beneficiary Feedback phase, we encourage you to continue innovating with the help of these resources from OpenIDEO. By continuing to harness OpenIDEO’s approach and engaging with like-minded collaborators, you have an opportunity to increase the impact of your idea, and even prepare it for next year’s BridgeBuilder Challenge.
 
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed their passion and creativity to this Challenge—we look forward to sharing updates as we move into the Beneficiary Feedback phase. If you have any questions about the Challenge process or are interested in strengthening your idea with human-centered design, contact us!

Catholic sisters have always crossed boundaries between countries and cultures, but as congregations become increasingly diverse, we recognize the need for more knowledge and collaboration. GHR recently commissioned ‘International Sisters in the United States,’ a first-of-its-kind study that is gaining traction and opening a new dialogue on the challenges faced by international sisters, as well as the benefits of growing diversity.

Conducted by the Center of Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown (CARA) and Trinity Washington University with support from GHR and first shared at a convening in March, the study brings international sisters to the forefront as we celebrate their remarkable contributions to religious life. Since its launch, lead researcher Sr. Mary Johnson has reported on the findings at the University of Notre Dame and plans to present to the Association of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland in Dublin.

The issue of Catholic sisters moving between countries is not unique to the United States—the insights in this report apply to women's religious life globally. To continue this conversation, GHR and the International Union of Superiors General are hosting a convening on May 4 in Rome. Those gathered will have the opportunity to learn about the research and use it as a starting point as they consider its implications in their home countries. 

To learn more about how GHR is working with Catholic sisters to build bridges between communities and foster peace, contact us.

From Grantmakers for Effective Organizations:

"How co-designing with grantees and partners from Day 1 can lead to stronger collaborations, flexible solutions and more meaningful impact.
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The call for greater collaboration has been persistent in philanthropy in recent years. The message is clear: The scale and complexity of the problems that the sector seeks to address require collaborative approaches and an independent, go-at-it-alone mentality..."
​Read more

With 662 ideas from participants in 185 countries, the Ideas phase of the 2017 BridgeBuilder Challenge has come to a close. We called on our global community to submit solutions addressing urgent global challenges in radically new ways, and were presented with an unexpected number of ideas from social innovators around the world. A huge thanks to everyone who participated, whether you submitted an idea, gave feedback or helped spread the word—you made the Ideas phase a tremendous success!

We at GHR are energized and inspired by the quality of submissions, and humbled by the expertise and dedication of everyone who participated in the Challenge community. We received ideas building bridges between peace, prosperity and planet in innovative ways, finding intersections in unexpected places. The reach of the Challenge provides us with diverse perspectives and opportunities outside our usual funding areas, which we hope pushes our work to the next level. 

​As we enter the Review phase, the GHR and OpenIDEO teams are eagerly digging into Challenge submissions. On May 1, after close and thoughtful review, we will announce the shortlisted ideas. We are excited to explore the ideas, learn from the creativity of Challenge participants and ensure their contributions help push the Foundation's work to the next level. The ideas selected during the Final Evaluation phase will be announced in July. 

GHR has committed $3 million to three challenges with OpenIDEO, and we will be conducting a second Challenge around this time next year. Until then, stay plugged in to the Challenge community—you can continue commenting on the ideas and discussing them with one another!

GHR recently partnered with Global Minnesota to host a reception attended by 150 guests honoring two extraordinary women—Sister Carolin Tahhan Fachakh (Sister Carol) of Syria and Jannat Al Ghezi of Iraq. Sister Carol and Jannat are both recipients of the 2017 Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage award. Each year, this prestigious award recognizes women who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for human rights and women's empowerment, often at great personal risk.
 
Born in Aleppo, Syria, Sister Carol has remained in Damascus throughout the war. She was nominated by the Vatican for her ongoing service to refugee communities and children. The nursery school she runs provides a safe and friendly environment for more than 200 children, and a tailoring workshop she manages economically empowers women who have been internally displaced by the war. Jannat is the deputy director of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq, and her organization has helped more than 500 victims of rape and domestic abuse by offering shelter, education, legal services and practical skill training.
 
GHR had the honor of meeting these incredible women of courage, and introducing Sister Carol, whose work has special importance to the foundation. GHR’s Sister Support Initiative is rooted in the fact that Catholic sisters are on the front line of every tough issue in the world, and Sister Carol is living proof if this. The world is enriched by the faith, dedication and service of Sister Carol, Jannat and sisters around the world facing great risks on a daily basis. To learn more about how GHR is working with Catholic sisters to restore communities and build peace, contact us.
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