SFCG President Meets with President Ouattara in Cote d’Ivoire
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah (2nd from left), SFCG VP Susan Collin Marks (4th from left), President John Marks (3rd from right) and Cote d'Ivoire Country Director Quentin Kanyatsi (2nd from right) meeting with Cote d'Ivoire's President, Alassane Ouattara (center) and other Ivoirian officials.
Our President and Vice President, John and Susan Collin Marks recently traveled to Côte d’Ivoire; their first visit to our country offices since Alassane Ouattara’s installation as President.
During the height of the violence in Abidjan, our office was looted twice and all our furniture and equipment taken. Staff members tried to save the three SFCG vans by placing them on blocks and moving the tires to another location. The looters were undeterred, however, and they later returned with the right size tires to steal the cars. Our office in Daloa fared better, but all of our staff were touched, in some way, by the violence. read more…
John Marks being acknowledged by HRH Prince Fahad Al-Saud at the UN.
As we’ve mentioned previously, SFCG is convening a three-day conference on young philanthropy in New York city, called “Nexus: Global Youth Summit on Innovative Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship.” As part of the summit, participants were able to attend today’s High Level UN meeting on Youth and philanthropy, at which HRH Prince Fahad Al-Saud, of Saudi Arabia, acknowledged the work of SFCG President & Founder John Marks.
Today’s event, ” Giving it Back, Passing it on: Corporate Engagement and Youth Philanthropy as Pathways to Development, ” was organized by the UN Program on Youth in partnership with SFCG and Restless Development, as part of the UN International Year of Youth which began last August (2010) and encourages young people to dedicate themselves to fostering progress, including the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Stay abreast of what’s happening at the summit by following the hashtags #nexusyouth or #nexussumitt on Twitter!
A group of children listening to the radio in Sierra Leone
SFCG’s Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa project recently announced the results of their 2011 RFPA Awards, recognizing high-quality radio programs that contribute to peace in Africa. This year, awards were given in three categories: Youth, Gender, and “Jury’s Special Award.” The jury included media and peacebuilding experts from sub-Saharan Africa as well as from Europe and the United States.
1st Prize in the Youth category was given to Shujaaz, a Kenyan program produced by Bridget Deacon. Adapted from a comic book, Shujaaz combines drama with audience and expert interviews. The show aims to inspire young Kenyans to take action to improve their lives and engage with the urgent issues that will shape their future. The award-winning episode focused on the political manipulation of youth. 2nd Prize in this category went to the first episode of The Team, which is produced in Kenya by Just Imagine Productions.
In the Gender category, 1st Prize was given to Fifty-Fifty: Rape and Gender-Based Violence in Senegal, produced by Sheriff Bojang Junior. This program addressed the issue of rape and other forms of violence against women in Senegal including the physical and psychological consequences for the victim as well as the issue of impunity for perpetrators. Fifty-Fifty also won 3rd prize in the same category, for an episode dealing with female genital mutilation.
In the “Jury’s Special Award” category, 1st prize was given to a Ugandan program titled Let’s Talk Peace-Pastoralist Conflict, produced by Ojok Emmanuel. The program addressed the issue of conflict between local residents and pastoralists in Aija sub-county, Uganda. It explored different ways to address misunderstandings between the two communities. The jury noted that most stakeholders were interviewed and that listener comments were encouraged.
Other note-worthy programs included an entry from Somalis, focusing on how civic education can help counter sea piracy as well as a special edition of the Cameroonian program Top Stories, addressing the issue of mob justice in Cameroon.
All these programs can be listened to on RFPA’s website. For the programs that are not in English, a translated script is available on request from RFPA.
SFCG congratulates all the winners and thanks all of this year’s participants.
Performers energize the crowd at the music competition.(photo: Amelia Hight)
By Amelia Hight
As part of a campaign for youth-driven tolerance and peace in Burundi, SFCG has invited the country’s youth to share their positive messages for the future through song and performance. Throughout July, SFCG hosted a series of music competitions in the three of the country’s provinces. The winner of each will perform in a final competition in the capital Bujumbura at the end of July. read more…
(photo: Joel Robison)
Next week, Search for Common Ground will convene a global youth summit, bringing together more than 100 young philanthropists, social entrepreneurs and potential investors representing 50 countries and families with a combined net worth of more than $50 billion. The participants will gather in New York City from July 26-29 for a first-of-its-kind event designed to network and transform youth philanthropy.
The Nexus Global Youth Summit is being held to jump-start efforts to create a more engaged and connected group of donors and inspire increased generosity. Such well known philanthropic names as Swaziland Prince Cedza Dlamini, who is the grandson of Nelson Mandela, members of the Saudi royal family, Ben Bronfman and Ryan Allis are expected to attend.
By 2050, trillions of dollars will be passed from older to younger generations but philanthropic giving among younger wealth holders remains limited. Sometimes this is merely a matter of not knowing what work is out there and not feeling engaged with the work their money might support. In recent years, Search has brought philanthropists, government donor agencies, and other investors together with social entrepreneurs to form partnerships and to increase giving.
We aim to create strong connections between potential investors and social entrepreneurs and safe spaces for those connections to flourish. The idea is to foster a far-reaching culture of giving and partnerships that overcomes traditional obstacles and transcends ideological, political, religious and national boundaries. In doing so Search for Common Ground is empowering today’s up-and-coming youth leaders to play a larger role in shaping the present and future.
Shamil Idriss, former Search for Common Ground COO, speaks at TED about how his organization, Soliya, is utilizing Exchange 2.0.
The idea behind the concept is to make profound cross-cultural experiences widely available for people of varying means:
