Remembering Ashoka India Fellow Nitin More
It is with deep sorrow and regret that we inform your that one of our very own, Nitin More, passed away on the 26th of January 2011. Nitin was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2009 for the wonderful work he did with women living in the slums of Dharavi, Mumbai. He set up an organization, LEARN Mahila...
Peer Educators, Myths, and World AIDS Day
1 in 4 sex workers in Bali are suffering from HIV. And those are the ones that have already been tested, not the host of others that have not. That is quite a large percentage, but these women have been tested, and many are being treated. The real problem lies in the housewives and the newborns...
What is a Mother Worth?
“No one has ever believed in me except Lua Nova,” proclaimed one young mother who has battled a lifetime of domestic violence, homelessness, and drug abuse in the favelas of São Paulo, Brazil. She and the rest of the residents of Lua Nova’s rehabilitation program have been engaged the past three...
Leading Women ChangemakeHERS Reveal Blueprints for Action
Celebrating the International Women’s Day Centennial Imagine a master class for social change: an academy of action where concrete advice, guidance, and direction for every level of changemaking – from the first spark of an idea to the scaling of an innovation across the globe – are shared by some...
ShEntrepreneur: Who Says She Can't Change the World?
This post was written by Njideka Harry, Ashoka Fellow and CEO & Founder of the Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF), an innovative non-profit company focused on using the power of technology to transform the lives of rural youth and women living in developing countries. Prior to founding YTF...
In the Dark, Illuminating Empathy
Raucous magazine vendors, horn-happy taxi drivers, multi-lingual chatter, the smell of hot dogs, and the kind of warm breeze generated by human hubbub — it’s like any day walking through Times Square, but for one important detail: I can’t see anything. Immersed in total darkness, crossing the street...
It Was Worth Fighting For
1991. I leave Rio de Janeiro and come adventuring inland to Minas Gerais, like a dreamer searching for the realisation of her ideas. With a degree in Special Education from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), I decide to invest my knowledge in São Vicente de Minas, my...
A Huge Energy Came Through the Prison Walls to Me
We in Hungary who are fighting for the freedom of an Ashoka Fellow Dr. Agnes Gereb, for the right of midwives to assist at homebirths and for the rights of Hungarian mothers' to fulfill their constitutional right to homebirth have been so fortunate to have Ashoka as our ally and friend. From the...
Got Empathy? Kids Do!
Ashoka Fellow Cindy Blackstock, a member of the Gitksan First Nation of British Columbia, is building a vibrant social movement to change the discriminatory policies and actions toward First Nations children in Canada. Through the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, Blackstock is building...