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Ashoka:
Innovators for the Public requests candidate nominations for Ashoka
Fellowships
Ashoka
November, 2002
Ashoka is a global non-profit organization that searches the
world for social entrepreneurs-practical visionaries with unprecedented
ideas for social change in their communities. Ashoka identifies
and invests in these extraordinary individuals-known as Ashoka Fellows
when elected-when no one else will in two ways. It does so through
stipends and professional services that allow them to focus fulltime
on their ideas for leading social change in education and youth
development, health care, environment, human rights, access to technology
and economic development.
In order for
Ashoka to identify and support these social entrepreneurs, we rely
on an extensive network of individuals who are familiar with Ashoka
and especially Ashoka's selection criteria:
A knock-out
Initial Test: A New Idea - Is the person possessed by a truly
new idea for solving a public need? Is it a truly transformational
innovation, or just a tweaking of how things are now done? How is
it different from what others do in the field?
Creativity:
Is the person creative-both in vision/goal-setting and in problem
solving? How creatively does the person approach opportunities and
obstacles-be they organizational or political? Does he/she create
original solutions?
Entrepreneurial
Quality: Is the person so committed to his/her vision that it
is impossible for him/her to rest until the vision becomes the new
pattern across society? Is the person willing to spend years relentlessly
grappling with myriad, practical "how to" challenges (how to get
to national scale, how to make the pieces fit together, etc)?
Social Impact
of the Idea: Is the idea likely to solve an important social
problem at the national level or beyond? Is the idea itself sufficiently
new, practical, and useful that people working in the field will
adopt it once it has been demonstrated?
Ethical Fiber:
Is the person totally honest? Would you instinctively trust him/her?
(A quick intuitive test: Imagine yourself in danger and ask if you
would feel fully comfortable if the candidate were with you.) Is
his/her motivation deeply and firmly rooted in a commitment to serve
others?
To nominate such
individuals simply send us some substantiation as to the above and
their contact details and we will do the rest. To learn more about
Ashoka, please visit our website at www.ashoka.org.za
or contact Ashoka's Zimbabwe Representative, Margaret Zunguze at
margaret@zwrcn.org.zw
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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