Harmony in Music and Effort

The Harmony Program is a New York-based non-profit music education organization that “provides daily after-school music lessons to children from economically disadvantaged communities. Harmony's unique model taps the city's college- and graduate-level music students as teachers, training them to develop the talents of young people who would not ordinarily be exposed to music education.”

The program is modeled on a popular music project started in Venezuela 36 years ago called El Sistema. It’s a social activity that is less about music than about developing the child. Music is used to help children commit to something, including time and effort. And the music is also used as a tool to teach children to listen to each other, and to give them the sense that they belong to something. It gives them self-confidence. Since it was started in 2008, students in the Harmony Program have attended school more regularly.

Public school 129 in Harlem is one school that has adopted the Harmony Program. It is offered every day after classes to 3rd through 6th graders from 3:00-5:00 PM. The students are provided free instruments and free instruction, as well as a safe and supportive environment to develop their talents, strengths, and potential.

The Program is funded through private donations. Learn more here.

Making the Impossible Possible

It's expensive to keep people poor!" Those are the words of Bill Strickland, CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporatio​n. His business aims "to create empowering educational environments for adults-in-transition as well as urban and at-risk youth, enriching Southwestern Pennsylvania and, eventually, the world." In particular he has built the Bidwell Training Center in Pittsburgh, an adult career training institution that offers horticulture, pharmaceutical and culinary art studies. But Bill believes in bringing art and business practices together, so his educational centers also teach orchid care, real estate, music and ceramics.

As described on his website, Bill Strickland is indeed a "visionary leader who authentically delivers educational and cultural opportunities to students and adults within an organizational culture that fosters innovation, creativity, responsibility and integrity." He calls himself a "wild dreamer" and says "life is about exposure - if exposed to opportunity, you can start to conceive them." He also says his dream is constantly evolving - it's a process. What is sure is that Bill has given opportunity and hope to a multitude of disadvantaged people and a second chance to those who want to seize the opportunity he offers.

His book is Make the Impossible Possible.

How a Titanic Telescope Could Equal African Development

Africa is a contender, along with Australia and New Zealand, in a project to build a really huge telescope – the Square Kilometer Array. Although the decision on where to build it won’t be known until late March or early April at the earliest, the project is already in full swing. Made up of 3,000 radio-frequency receivers, it will cover a collective area of 1 square kilometer, hence its name (see artist’s rendering of SKA dishes below, courtesy SKA website). The receivers will range from large dishes to small fish-eye antennas, all aimed at a different radio frequency in the sky.

Only 20% of the antennas would be located in this square kilometer, 50% would be located within 5 kilometers and some would be located as far away as 3,000 kilometers – giving the scientists who will eventually work on the project access to the entire universe, and giving the project access to an entire continent, and maybe more. If it is built in Australia, the SKA could stretch all the way to New Zealand. If built in southern Africa, it could stretch to the Indian Ocean islands.


Astronomers and engineers from more than 70 institutes in 20 countries are designing it. It will be 50 times more sensitive, and will survey the sky 10,000 times faster, than any other telescope. And they are looking to study some pretty cool things:

• How do galaxies evolve and what is dark energy? (See artist’s rendering of dark energy below, courtesy SKA website.)
• Are we alone? It will be able to detect very weak extraterrestrial signals and will search for complex molecules, the building blocks of life, in space.
• How were the first black holes and stars formed?
• What generates the giant magnetic fields in space?
• Was Einstein right? It will investigate the nature of gravity and challenge the theory of general relativity; it will explore the unknown and, if history is any guide, it will make many more discoveries than we can imagine today.

The 20 participating countries share the nearly $2 billion cost, as well as its operating costs of $130 to $200 million per year. That is a lot of money, especially for countries in southern Africa where the development possibilities attached to such a huge project are endless: millions for power, communications and data processing alone. And let’s not forget all of the side businesses and other business spin-offs that would come from the work.

“The impact on Africa would be very far-reaching and a lot more than anywhere else in the world,” said Bernie Fanaroff, Project Director, South Africa, in a recent Time magazine article on “Africa’s Eye in the Sky”. “It would be good for getting business into Africa, and we would be creating people with skills and expertise to solve problems not just in astronomy, but energy, water, food security, disease and transport.”

As a matter of fact, some smaller dishes that will be used for the project are already in the pipeline or active in Africa, and it is local populations, not foreigners, who are reaping the benefits. These include general investments in the regions where they are being built, and full-fledged programs aimed at training local populations – scientists, engineers, physicists, especially women and blacks – creating world-class astronomy teams.

Thus this program isn’t only about reaching out into the cosmos, but about the far-reaching impacts it can have right here on planet Earth.

First published as an S3 communiqué on Scientifically Yours at www.spacebridges.com/S3-blog-English/.

AppBridge.com: Empowering through Mobile Applications

The AppBridge.com initiative aims to empower “the Bottom Billion” through the development, implementation and promotion of education and health-focused mobile applications.

Here in AppBridge's own words is an overview of the initiative: "Through collaboration and in partnership with others, we are developing an open source, cloud-based digital platform designed to connect talented mobile application developers with formal and informal education and health content providers, and co-create a powerful distribution channel to bridge the digital divide and educate young people in the bottom billion through their cellular phones. Each educational app will be submitted to The AppBridge platform, vetted, distributed to partner Telecom Operators and promoted in 'The AppBridge Zone', where it will be available to end-users. The AppBridge platform will track the download activity and usage of each distributed app, enabling 'real time' feedback and allowing for a dynamic, evolving virtual educational experience for users.

"With an estimated 3.8 billion mobile subscribers in the developing world, there is enormous opportunity to provide formal and informal educational tools to individuals who do not otherwise have access to basic math, literacy, and health information. The AppBridge is committed to co-creating an important 'blueprint' for how digital and information based solutions can be launched in a frictionless way in critical environments. This is a non-profit social enterprise."

Intended to distribute educational apps for young adults with limited access to education, this is definitely an idea to follow!

The Olevolos Project: Developing Young Leaders in Tanzania

Dory Gannes is director of the Olevolos Project, which helps orphans and disadvantaged children in Tanzania. The Project's website states that, founded in 2007, it seeks "to create educational opportunities for disadvantaged children from the Olevolos Village in Tanzania, Africa. Our mission is to develop young leaders through formal schooling, tutoring programs, and extra-curricular activities. Because we aim to improve access and equality to education, we pay for all the expenses for students who are unable. Given that many of these kids lack proper nutritional meals, we have developed a school-feeding program. ...

"Engagement with the local community is a defining part of our project. Understanding the importance of this engagement, we work closely with the District Commissioner, Village Council, and village people to leverage goals and maximize impact in the community. Because of this, they are incorporated into every aspect of our programming. Villagers volunteer at the site, join us in parent meetings, and sit on our advisory board. We believe the ultimate success of the project lies in the hands of the Olevolos people."

Go to the Olevolos Project's website to glimpse the novel ways others have contributed and to get good ideas on how you can help this non-profit achieve its mission.

Preparing Afghanistan's Future Civic Leaders

Recently the Boston Globe profiled the work of Qiamuddin Amiry, President and co-founder of non-profit organization, the Afghan Scholars Initiative, which enables students from Afghanistan to attend American high schools and universities.

Raised in Kabul, having himself won a scholarship to a high school in Hong Kong, Amiry decided to find a way to bring higher education to other Afghans. He and fellow student at Colby College, John Campbell, therefore founded Afghan Scholars Initiative (ASI). The project's website promotes Peace through Education. It states: "The key to the rebuilding of Afghanistan is in the education, training, and dedication of its next generation of leaders. In a country with too much poverty, too many guns and too few roads, hospitals and schools, Afghans must struggle against the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, a culture of corruption and a booming drug trade.

"By giving Afghanistan’s brightest and hardest-working students a chance to learn at the best schools in the world and work with the most influential non-profits and companies in the world, ASI promotes the human development and cultural understanding Afghanistan needs to move forward."

You can help ASI get additional Afghans into schools by learning more about the initiative and sharing information on what it's doing or by making an online donation.

Empowering Women in the Workforce

Founded in 1991, Phulki demonstrates how investing in on-site daycare services at the workplace, be it in factories, companies or government offices, can benefit working mothers as well as their employers. The organization was started in Bangladesh by Suraiya Haque as a way to allow disadvantaged mothers to breastfeed their infants while at work and gain access to childcare during the day. Today Phulki operates 130 childcare facilities, which the company either manages for a fee or runs with the help of the employers whose company personnel are trained in daycare management by Phulki. Business owners in Bangladesh who have worked with Phulki concur that Phulki's daycare services lead to employees who are more productive at work, happier and absent less often. Haque's efforts have also helped women stay in jobs, allowing them greater economic security and independence as well as increased gender balance and empowerment.

Excerpt from Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2010, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

Free Education For All - "The First Grader"

"The First Grader" is a film infused with inspirational messages, advocating tolerance, tenacity and determination. It forcefully argues that education is a right and shows one fight for the right to a free education. "The First Grader" also communicates messages about the possibility of changing and growing at any age, and about the healing power of children. In a world where baby boomers are retiring and where many countries have huge populations of young people, this film also inspires us to think about the opportunities afforded by combining nurseries with old-folks homes or giving grandparents and seniors greater opportunity to care for grandchildren and youth. Here's a glimpse of this movie, based on a true story:



GoldcrestFilms
Writer: Anne Peacock (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Director: Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl, Bleak House)
Producers: David M. Thompson, Sam Feuer, Richard Harding
Cast: Naomie Harris, Oliver Litondo

Driving Sustainable Development in China

ITT, a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company, operates on all seven continents, but is currently seeing its fastest and largest growth in China – where ITT’s water and wastewater pump systems play an increasingly prominent role in that country's expanding infrastructure development. By investing and establishing a presence in China over the past century, ITT has built credibility and a reputation for reliability among the Chinese people and government officials.

ITT has demonstrated its commitment to promoting sustainable development in China through the installation of energy- and water-efficient products and technologies in small- and large-scale projects, thus tackling China’s water access and quality issues.

Frequently, ITT’s customers in China are cities and project-based corporations working on major government infrastructure projects such as Three Gorges Dam, the South-North Water Diversion Project, the Suzhou Subway and the country’s numerous wastewater initiatives in Beijing, Shenyang and Kunming. Most recently, ITT committed to helping China’s Chongqing Water Group construct the sustainable water transport networks that are necessary to improve the quality and supply of freshwater in Chongqing, the largest city in Western China.

Internally, ITT’s manufacturing plants in Shenyang and Nanjing incorporate "green" practices, such as water treatment technologies that enable almost total water reuse and zero wastewater discharge – with the Nanjing plant conserving over 18,000 liters of water and wastewater each day.

To address the country’s water access and quality issues, ITT collaborated with the Center for Rural Drinking Water Safety, part of China’s Ministry of Water Resources, to complete two water treatment plants in China as part of a pilot project to find sustainable solutions for rural drinking water issues. The two plants supply more than 15,000 local residents with purified water that meets or surpasses national standards.

ITT also promotes sustainable development in China through its philanthropic efforts in the region. ITT Watermark, ITT’s signature corporate citizenship program, partnered with the China Women’s Development Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children, to provide eight rural schools with safe drinking water, new sanitation facilities, and education on water safety and hygiene. ITT also deployed its technology to address water distress following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, providing safe drinking water to more than 200,000 earthquake survivors.

Offering a Jumpstart in Life

The Leapfrog Scholarship was established in 2010 by Maya Grodman and her family, as an extension of the Maya Library project started in 2004. Only 13 years old at the time, Maya wanted to make a difference in the world. So she collected used books she donated monthly to the Charis Center, an orphanage and primary school in Uganda. Her idea was to promote reading for the orphans aged 4 to 14. Since that first book project, the initiative has grown to include the Leapfrog Scholarship, which provides funds for Charis graduates to continue their studies in secondary school. The Charis Center is an orphanage sponsored by Children's Hunger Relief Fund. The first Leapfrog Scholarship winner is 14-year old Lovisa, pictured here. Lovisa's father died of AIDS and her mother is suffering from the disease, but Lovisa is AIDS free.

The Leapfrog Scholarship will allow her to attend high school for the 3 years of secondary education in Uganda.

More information on the scholarship is available at the Leapfrog Scholarship website. Or, if you wish to contribute pocket change (every little bit helps) or donate a fixed amount of money each month (even just a few dollars), write to

LeapfrogScholarship@gmail.com or HGrodman@hotmail.com

Growing with the Chinese Mainland Sustainably

Many of the communities that the company CLP serves are in urgent need of power to support their economic and social development. Bringing affordable energy on a long-term and sustainable basis means that CLP must work with coal as it is the dominant fuel of choice in the Asia-Pacific region, but the company intends to do so responsibly. CLP also works with cleaner sources of energy such as gas, renewables and nuclear when it is practical to do so.

Founded in Hong Kong over a century ago, CLP is a leading power company in the Asia-Pacific region. CLP is committed to providing energy solutions in a financially, socially and environmentally responsible manner.

CLP’s investments on the mainland epitomize its approach to powering Asia responsibly. Supporting the Chinese government’s goal of reducing the carbon intensity of its economy, CLP has been actively pursuing clean energy opportunities on the mainland. From a small hydro project in Guangdong province started in 1997, the company’s portfolio today includes wind, nuclear, hydro and biomass. Where CLP works with coal, it uses more efficient and cleaner technology. The company’s goal is to maintain a balanced portfolio that allows it to produce power in an affordable manner, while meeting the promise of decarbonizing its generation portfolio by 75% by 2050.

In addition to commercial investments, community investments also play a role in supporting sustainable growth on the mainland. Recognizing the importance of preparing the next generation of leaders for complex challenges, CLP has been supporting a number of education initiatives in China.

In November 2009, the company established the CLP-Tsinghua University Clean Energy Education Fund to support students with financial difficulties at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University and to support research programs on clean energy. Through these efforts, the Fund aims to contribute to the mainland’s electricity sector by developing a pool of experts in clean energy.

At the basic-education level, CLP also runs a Young Power Program to promote environmental awareness and social responsibility through activity-based thematic learning, and has been contributing to the establishment of 11 Hope Schools with the goal of raising the literacy level and improving the learning conditions for rural children in Guizhou and Sichuan.

CLP recognizes that sustainable growth requires collective action and will continue to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability and to exchange information so that a low-carbon future becomes a reality in China.

Article originally published in the November 2010 edition of Sustain, the magazine of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Child-Driven Education

Sugata Mitra is an educational scientist who has done a great deal of research on the social context of learning and technology. He makes clear that the social context where children are working together yields great benefits. One of his simple, optimistic messages is that, "If children have interest, then education happens." Mitra's research is powerful, as you'll hear in this video.

Women Making a Difference

Unite for Sight, an organization founded in 2000 to provide "high quality eye care for all," was created by Jennifer Staple-Clark. The non-profit's website celebrates having provided eye care services to 1 million people, performed over 36,800 sight-restoring surgeries and trained 7,450 fellows to help eliminate preventable blindness. The eye care is administered by local optometrists and ophthalmologists to patients in their own villages. Unite for Sight also supports eye clinics worldwide.

First Book, also a non-profit social enterprise, was founded in 1992 by Kyle Zimmer, who realized that the children she tutored at a soup kitchen had no books. Today, First Book lays claim to having delivered more than 70 million new books to children in need in communities across the US and Canada. It thus addresses "one of the most important factors affecting literacy -- access to books". Volunteer to distribute books to the needy by contacting First Book.

Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), founded by Elizabeth Scharpf, aims to "improve the quality of life for people in developing countries" via market-based means. A major project has been the development of a low-priced sanitary pad from natural raw materials for women in Africa and Asia. The idea is to help women start their own businesses making and locally distributing eco-friendly pads. Meanwhile, SHE is helping girls stay in school rather than staying home during menstruation because of the lack of sanitary facilities.


These women are not drops in the bucket. Every person they educate, every person they help can in turn help others and teach others to acquire the skills needed in their own villages and towns. Altruism is indeed contagious. Thanks to The New York Times' Nicholas D. Kristof for pointing that out.

Swiss Association Kaicedra Funds Classroom in Remote Village

This story begins in December 2009 under the "village tree" of Gorin, in northern Burkina Faso. The "ancients" and the women welcomed members of Kaicedra to their town and asked their help in providing an adequate learning environment for their children. With their meager means, the community had built a temporary shelter that was bound to be destroyed in the next rainy season (which it was).

Back from their trip, the Kaicedra team chose to make the Gorin classroom their main project for the year. The budgeted 19,000 Swiss francs were raised in the first half of the year and construction began in June 2010. Just a couple of weeks ago, on October 1st (official back-t0-school day in Burkina Faso), children from the village of Gorin had their first lesson in their new classroom.

Kaicedra supports education and health community projects in Burkina Faso. It also sponsors children in kindergarten so they can enter primary school and young girls so they can continue their education. (www.kaicedra.org/)

Greater Balance and Joy in Education

The good news on the education front is that there is great momentum building among teachers across the United States (and abroad) to bring a more balanced and joyful approach to the education of children. I feel fortunate to work with an organization (the Northeast Foundation for Children) that is making a positive impact in the lives of children and adults. We are a mission-driven foundation that strives to create joyful and challenging schools, where equal emphasis is placed on social and academic curriculum. Our approach to teaching is known as the Responsive Classroom approach, and we believe that children’s (and adults’) best learning occurs in social contexts, and that schools have a responsibility to teach the skills needed for living and learning in community (skills like cooperation, assertion, empathy, self-control and responsibility).

This type of approach is very much needed in the stardards-based and testing-focused educational climate of today. When we work with teachers and schools, it’s as if we are giving them the skills and permission “to teach,” versus “preparing children to take a test.” In a workshop a few years ago, I had the privilege of working with a group of teachers and a parent who had traveled from Israel to Nashville, TN to learn more about Responsive Classroom. During the course of the week, these women shared poignant stories about how Responsive Classroom practices, like daily Morning Meetings that provide opportunities for students to become know and to know others, were helping to plant seeds of hope and compassion among students, families and the larger community. I hear similar stories of hope and inspiration every day from teachers across the country.

Remarkable Results from Simple Solutions

Providing free school uniforms in Kenya actually decreased girls' dropout rates by 15%, teen marriage by 12% and childbearing by 10%. The rationale for providing the uniforms was to decrease the cost of education, empower children and increase motivation. By raising the girls' ability to conceptualize themselves and increasing their self-esteem, while lowering costs, those who received free uniforms were significantly more likely to stay in school, thus reducing the likelihood of getting married and having babies. These results were published in World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4024 following a randomized evaluation of 70,000 students in 328 primary schools in rural Kenya.

Introducing cable television in rural India has been shown to improve the status of women there. In particular, a study published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (MIT Press) in 2009 found "significant increases in reported autonomy, decreases in the reported acceptability of beating and decreases in reported son preference [over daughters]. [The authors] also find increases in female school enrollment and decreases in fertility (primarily via increased birth spacing). The effects are large, equivalent in some cases to about five years of education ...". The report suggests that exposing women and men to new and more diverse sets of information via the cable TV has produced these positive results.

Education and Opportunity at the Grass Roots

Friends of India's mission is to "fight poverty and create opportunities for children and women in Tamil Nadu, India, by supporting basic education for underserved children and investing in vocational training, life-skills development and income generating activities for women." A non-profit, charitable organization, Friends of India was founded in 2001 by its current President, Pamela Walsh.

Friends of India supports skills training for impoverished people who need to take on menial labour to supplement their family’s income. One young woman, for example, learned computer skills and typing, and now works at a local software company. Another learned to make detergents and cleaning products for sale, generating a regular income. The organization has also made the women of Sembakkam aware of their rights and helped them form a self-help group that empowered them to petition local authorities to pipe water to their village rather than spending hours each day walking long distances to collect and carry water home. In 2009 the Richard Walsh Music Project was established to teach music and the performing arts to disadvantaged children in southern India. In addition, the organization has provided financial and advisory assistance and helped fund Anbumalar School for handicapped children.

If interested in these or other Friends of India programs, contact: info@friends-of-india.org

Reaching New Heights for Nepalese Orphans

Ama Dablam (6,859m)
In April, international mountain guides and Managing Directors of MatterhornNepal-GuideSource Treks & Expeditions Ltd, RJ Fleming and Ang Kami Sherpa, climbed Himalayan peaks to raise awareness of their charity to educate Nepalese orphans. The World Economic Forum and Prof. Klaus Schwab supported the project, acting as patron of this awareness raising campaign. The goal of this venture was to expose the fact that 1 out of every 23 individuals in Nepal is an orphan with no access to an education, and to encourage individuals, corporations and organizations to contribute to Education for Orphans of Nepal (EON). Started in 2001 by MatterhornNepal-GuideSource, this charity presently funds the entire living and boarding school educational costs of 11 Nepalese children without families, for a period of 10 years for each child.

The climbs of Ice Land Peak (6,189m) and Ama Dablam (6,859m) in the Solu Khumbu region of the Himalayan range were undertaken in the belief that most individuals, even those who have visited or wish to visit this most coveted tourist destination, are completely unaware of the plight of nearly one million of this country's impoverished yet truly kind-hearted inhabitants. The EON project gives anyone the chance to contribute and directly improve an orphan's life, offering them the choices and hope for the future only possible through an education. EON is a Nepal registered charity; MatterhornNepal-GuideSource absorbs all administrative costs, enabling total contributions to go straight to the children's educational costs.

Obliged to abandon their attempts to summit Ama Dablam due to treacherous conditions and falling ice and rock at about 6,500m, in mid-April RJ Fleming and Ang Kami Sherpa summited Ice Land Peak, and returned safely to Katmandu.

If you wish to receive information about EON or contribute to the education of Nepalese orphans, write to info@guidesource.com

Simply Improving Children's Health and Education

Four hundred million school-age children are infected with parasitic worms worldwide, which both damage their health and limit their access to education. Yet studies prove that deworming is the most cost-effective way of increasing education. Doing just that, Deworm the World is helping to improve children’s health and education by massively expanding deworming initiatives. It has helped establish programs that have dewormed millions of children in Kenya, and over a million in Andhra Pradesh, India. This will undoubtedly have a strong impact on their educational attainment.
Such a simple and inexpensive solution to a huge problem!

International Women's Day - March 8, 2010

Featuring Camfed International: Dedicated to eradicating poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young women

Camfed International has successfully challenged the conventional wisdom that cultural resistance is at the heart of girls' exclusion from education in rural Africa, proving instead that chronic poverty is the main barrier. Since 1993, Camfed has pioneered a grassroots approach to advancing opportunities for girls and young women to guarantee a model that is locally inspired and owned. Camfed has proven that girls' education is the most effective means by which girls and their communities can break the devastating cycle of poverty that currently plagues sub-Saharan Africa. (From "Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2010", Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, p. 37)