SDI Receives the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship
SDI is increasingly receiving international attention and recognition. The recent Nobel Peace Prize nomination bares testament to this. The Nobel committee nominated Jockin Arputham and SDI for the social progress in improving conditions in cities across the developing world and facilitating dialogue between the urban poor and government authorities.
SDI is one of seven innovative organizations receiving the 2014 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship. Winners of the Skoll Award share several characteristics; among these, each is led by a social entrepreneur and has developed an innovation that enables it to effect large-scale change related to one of the world’s most pressing problems. The Skoll Awards are designed for leaders whose experiences in social change allow them to contribute to a peer network committed to continuous learning and shared expertise. The Skoll Awards help organizations scale the impact of their work to a larger national or global level by providing a multiyear grant for core support to expand programs and capacity. Beyond monetary investment, Skoll Foundation fosters collaboration and partnership between organizations.
SDI is being recognized by The Skoll Foundation for its work in supporting slum dwellers around the world in improving their cities. SDI has been operating in the urban poverty space for 15 years and has been a leader in creating a united and organized voice of the urban poor on the international stage. SDI’s network of urban poor federations is primarily built around women-led savings schemes. These savings operate as a mechanism for monetizing social capital in communities and assists communities to negotiate with formal authorities to leverage far greater resources for developing their neighborhoods. Since SDI is focused on the local priorities, needs, and capacities of slum dwellers, it has developed the traction to advance a grassroots agenda of creating “pro-poor” cities that address the pervasive exclusion of the poor from the economies and political structures of 21st century cities. SDI understands that organized communities have a catalytic role to play in alleviating urban poverty – at the household, settlement, city, national, and international level.
Jockin Arputham will be accepting the award at the 11th Annual Skoll World Forum in Oxford from 9-11 April. The Skoll World Forum is the premier conference on social entrepreneurship which focuses on best practices, new innovations and connecting leaders from social, finance, private and public sectors to one another to further global social progress. The Award Ceremony and key sessions from the World Forum will be streamed live.
For more information of the 2014 Skoll Awards, click here.
