Ten organizations from around the world have a new distinction as recipients of the Skoll Foundation's 2007 grants for social entrepreneurs. A total of $10,150,000 will be split evenly among the ten groups over the next three years as they tackle such urgent social issues as improving youth education, reducing our ecological footprints, providing water and sanitation in developing areas, empowering women, ensuring fair labor standards, creating more affordable housing, and sustaining the world's marine life.
The diversity of projects reflects a meeting of age-old challenges such as health and education, with newer solutions like ecological impact assessments and microfinance. As foundation president and CEO, Sally Osberg, said, each of the winners is:
...a practical innovator who creates sustainable engines at the grassroots level, putting into place the lasting means to get housing, education, health care and other critical resources to the world's impoverished and vulnerable billions...They offer a model for a new kind of leader who melds the discipline of business with the perspective of those less fortunate, and brings a tough-minded optimism to bear on the biggest challenges confronting our communities, our countries and the planet.
