Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Shining Hope for Communities

In December, we traveled to Kibera, Kenya, the largest slum in Africa where the average life expectancy is 30 years of age and the majority of young girls do not attend school. After bumping into our friend Salim Mohamed of Ashoka and formerly Carolina for Kibera, we met with Xiaoxi Tu of Shining Hope for Communities, an organization that provides support to the Kibera community through tuition-free schools for girls, a health clinic and a community center. We were very impressed by Shining Hope’s Marcus Garvey Knowledge Centre, which is fully equipped with computers and books, and the Kibera School for Girls – a vibrant place for learning and youth empowerment. It’s incredible what they are doing in a very difficult area to operate.

Thanks for the tour Shining Hope, and for breathing life into this community!

"We are in this together, and we have an obligation

to raise our voices and work towards the day that a

mother survives childbirth, not based on where she's from,

but based on access to quality healthcare."

- Barbara Bush,

SFF Board Member & CEO and Co-Founder of Global Health Corps

Monday, February 20, 2012

Development is a learning curve: you try things, you make informed decisions, you take sensible risks and sometimes, the unexpected happens. More insight from our Managing Director in this blog from Invisible Children. Take a look at IC's Legacy Scholarship Program too!

On Common Sense, Taking Risks and Lessons Learned

A funder’s perspective on development in Africa

SFF partner, Soft Power Health, has sold over 50,000 mosquito nets in Uganda. In this interview from Mezimbite Magazine, Soft Power Health's Founder, Dr. Jessie Stone answers the question,

"How did you arrive at the decision to

combat malaria in Uganda?"

Dr. Jesse Stone

‎FACE AIDS is creating young activists with their Practical Empowerment project - one project being the Pediatric Malnutrition initiative, led by 4 chapters of Rwandan youth. 26 health training sessions have been held, 168 gardens prepared and hundreds benefitting from these gardens. Nice work FACE AIDS!

Learn more about how they continue to build a movement of young leaders here.

Congratulations to Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg of Akili Dada, for being honored by the Obama administration as a champion of change! You can read more about this great accomplishment here. Take a look at the scholars and future role models of Akili Dada below!

SFF partner, Beads for Education, planting the seeds of a new secondary school!

SFF Partner, Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania, reports the completion of the 2011 school year with 100% student retention...and two students chosen by the US Embassy to visit the United States for an international exchange program!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

This article seemed to receive a lot of positive feedback from our partners, "The Rise and Fall of Poverty Porn" from www.fastcoexist.com. Essentially, this article explains that NGOs are changing they way they tell their stories - from focusing on images of poverty and despair, to offering solutions and inspiring a sense of human connection. You can read the article here.

We are very proud to be supporting MIT's $100K Entrepreneurship Competition! The Emerging Markets Track Prize at the Business Plan Contest will now be titled the Segal Family Foundation Prize. You can learn more about the competition and our involvement here.

Tiyatien Health is pioneering new, better ways to extend health services to the most remote villages in Liberia. SFF is supporting their monitoring and evaluation so they know what works and what doesn’t.