| m2m Scoops Prestigious Skoll Award! |
|
mothers2mothers has been named a 2008 recipient of the Skoll Foundation Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Out of hundreds of worldwide applicants, m2m is one of 11 organizations to receive this prestigious award. Click here for pictures of the award ceremony in Oxford, UK. Presented by the Skoll Foundation to recognize the greatest innovative and sustainable approaches to resolving urgent social issues, it is one of the most prestigious honours that can be bestowed on an NGO and previous honourees include some of the world’s most highly regarded charitable organizations. mothers2mothers joined a prestigious global network of Skoll entrepreneurs who are working around the globe on issues including human rights, health, economic and social equity, peace and security, and environmental sustainability. m2m has been recognized for the systemic approach developed to respond to both the crisis of HIV and that of faltering health systems, and for the specific program and institutional solutions that have led to m2m’s wide-reaching impact and its dramatic growth. Currently, with 161 sites in South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia and Kenya, is reaching over 50,000 women a month while employing more than 600 mothers living with HIV. By the end of 2008, we will expand programs to Rwanda, Swaziland, and Malawi. Read about m2m and this great achievement in BusinessWeek The application and vetting process for the Award was extraordinarily thorough: the Skoll officers spent weeks working with us and the other finalists, collecting information and data, discussing organizational strategies and plans, interviewing funders, foundations, and NGO and government partners to get the broadest, most complete picture of the organizations under consideration. Elaborating on their choice to recognize m2m’s innovative approach, Sally Osberg, the President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation explained, “mothers2mothers is successfully tackling a complex social issue with a sustainable, scalable solution. We believe their work has the potential for transformational benefit to the area of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and we’re honoured to support their continued commitment to systemic change at the grassroots level.” The $1 million prize given by the Skoll Foundation over three years will go far to help m2m strengthen infrastructure and facilitate the ability to reach thousands of mothers with messages of health, hope, and empowerment. The award was presented to Dr Mitch Besser, Founder and Medical Director, and to Gene Falk, Co-founder and Executive Director by former President Jimmy Carter along with Sally Osberg and Skoll Foundation Chairman Jeff Skoll, at a special ceremony on March 27 at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University in the UK. |
