I love April because many new exciting things begin!
We have begun teaching the new cohort of 18 Global Social Benefit Fellows! Fourteen of these will be working in Africa this summer, in Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. We will be working with nine social enterprises, eight of them alumni graduating from the GSBI Accelerator in 2016 and 2017. Replication is a strong theme across the action research projects, with half of the projects testing and refining lessons for accelerating social impact in rural Africa. Half of the projects will evaluate and propose business model innovations with our social enterprise partners. Please come meet the new fellows at the Research With a Mission Open House and Expo on Wednesday, May 23, 2:30-4:30 pm, in Locatelli Center.
April brings news for our alumni fellows and the exciting next stage of their journeys! I am particularly proud of four of our Global Social Benefit Fellows (GSBF) who have received prestigious Fulbright awards to continue researching social entrepreneurship in the developing world!
Featured
Marisa Rudolph (GSBF 2017 Farmerline) will return to Ghana to pursue a research project titled: “How private agricultural extension fosters the public good in Ghana.” This grows out of her immersion in Ghanaian farming last year plus her life-long interest in women’s economic agency.
Our alumni fellows are building the social enterprise ecosystem
- Thomas Wheeler (GSBF Jibu 2015) works with Coco Asenso, a social enterprise enhancing sustainable rural development through coconut processing in the Philippines. He recently joined Miller Center’s Andy Lieberman and Mark Correnti in a weeklong set of presentations and workshops about social entrepreneurship at the University of San Carlos in Cebu, Philippines. Check out his blog.
- Ashraf Hammad (GSBF Empower Generation 2016) is a Global Advocate Fellow with Mama Hope. He recently began his placement in Kenya with the Riley Orton Foundation. Read his blog.
- Katie Diggs (GSBF Sistema Biobolsa 2017) will become a fellow for Impact Amplifier, a GSBI Network partner in Cape Town, South Africa. She joins Brooke Latham (GSBF 2015 Bana), now at Alterna Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Guatemala), in working with our GSBI Network partners.
We are proud of our alumni fellows starting graduate studies
- Natalie Lays (GSBF Solar Ear 2013): University of Colorado Medical School
- Monet Gonnerman (GSBF Anudip 2014): Lewis and Clark Law School
- Lisa McMonagle (GSBF Nazava 2014): New York University – Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
- Holly McKenna (GSBF Good World Solutions 2014): California College of the Arts
- Serena Chan (GSBF Solar Sister 2015): California College of the Arts
- Jana Lee (GSBF Sankara Eye Care 2015): Columbia University – Mailman School of Public Health
- Déjà Thomas (GSBF Bana 2016): UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs – Urban Planning
Unless stated otherwise, photo credits: Santa Clara University
