Technology

• Women | Tools | Technology Challenge winners are Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia (Namibia), Lua Nova Association (Brazil) and Solar Electric Light Fund (Benin)
   
• Challenge received 268 solutions from 67 countries to advance women’s economic opportunities through technology
   
• ExxonMobil and Ashoka’s Changemakers to support follow-up activities including collaboration workshops to connect innovators with potential partners

IRVING, Texas, JUNE 29, 2010 – Ashoka’s Changemakers, ExxonMobil and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) announced today the three winners of the Women | Tools | Technology: Building Opportunities & Economic Power Challenge. The winners were selected from 268 project entries from 67 different countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

The winning entries came from Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia, Namibia, Lua Nova Association, Brazil and Solar Electric Light Fund, USA (working in Benin).

"It is inspiring to see such a wide range of innovative solutions catalyzing women’s economic advancement through technology around the world,” said Diana Wells, Ashoka’s Changemakers’ president. "We are thrilled to have received so many worthwhile ideas through this Challenge, and we are honored to be able to support the groundbreaking work being done by the winning innovators."

The three winners are changing women’s lives in a variety of ways. The Solar Electric Light Fund USA (working in Benin) has designed solar-powered drip irrigation systems that enable women farmers in Benin to grow crops during the African nation’s annual six-month dry season, boosting their family income and nutrition. Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia is providing training and equipment for women to run community-based bicycle workshops in Namibia, allowing them to become adept at bicycle mechanics -traditionally a male-dominated field. The Lua Nova Association is providing underprivileged and abused women with the skills they need to help sustain themselves and their families by designing and building their own homes.

The public was invited to vote online for the three best solutions from a group of 10 finalists previously selected by an expert panel of judges for excelling in the areas of innovation, social impact and sustainability.

“The innovative concepts from the Challenge will make significant improvements in the lives of women in developing countries, allowing them to become key economic players in their communities and better provide for their families,” said Suzanne McCarron, president of the ExxonMobil Foundation. "We look forward to helping these innovators gain traction for their ideas so they can ultimately reach more people with their Challenge solutions.”

Each winner will be featured on Changemakers.com as one of the strongest ideas for catalyzing women’s advancement through technology. The winners will also be invited to participate in collaboration workshops hosted later this year by Ashoka’s Changemakers and ExxonMobil. The workshops will include discussions on how to broaden the reach of proven concepts, connect innovators with potential partners and funding opportunities and include site visits to promising projects.

Direction and focus for the Challenge was provided by a research study entitled, "Bridging the Gender Divide in Technology,” which was conducted by ICRW and funded by the ExxonMobil Foundation. The paper highlights what needs to be done to improve the way technologies are developed and deployed so they benefit women, enabling them to be more successful in their local economy, stronger leaders and greater contributors to their families.

“These innovations meet women where they live. They are practical, and they will be catalytic in addressing the demands women have in their home life, in their work life and in their community life,” said Anju Malhotra, vice president of research, impact and innovation at the International Center for Research on Women. “We’re excited to see how these creative ideas will trigger generations of change for women and economies. This is a teachable moment for the world.”
 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - MTV Networks International’s (MTVNI) chairman and chief executive, Bill Roedy, will receive the International Center for Research on Women’s (ICRW) Innovation Award at its annual high-profile fund-raising Champions for Change event at the House of Sweden in Washington, D.C. on International Women’s Day, March 8.

Roedy will be honored for his leadership of MTV Networks International’s Staying Alive Campaign, the world’s largest youth focused, HIV and AIDS prevention campaign. The campaign encourages HIV prevention, promotes safer lifestyle choices and fights the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease through diverse global multi-media campaigns across TV, film and digital media.

Following the success of the Staying Alive Campaign, launched in 1998, the Staying Alive Foundation was launched in 2005 as a public charity to support young people around the world engaged in grassroots HIV and AIDS prevention projects.

The Foundation’s mission is to encourage, energize and empower young people who are involved in HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention campaigns. The foundation also presents Staying Alive grants twice a year to young people who have set up youth-led organizations that are focused on preventing HIV and who demonstrate the potential to become future leaders.

“Under Bill’s leadership, the Staying Alive public education campaign has impacted young people around the world by opening up conversations about sexuality, risk and HIV, and helping to reduce stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS – all of which are invaluable,” said Geeta Rao Gupta, president of ICRW, which since the 1990s has researched the social, economic and gender factors that fueled the spread of HIV and AIDS among women. “Our data shows that girls and women are disproportionately affected by stigma and discrimination and are less able to cope with the consequences of it.”

“We are truly indebted to Bill and MTV for investing in public education around this issue in a way that is accessible – reaching millions – and thereby breaking the silence that undermines girls’ and women’s ability to protect themselves,” added Rao Gupta.

“I am honored to accept the ICRW Innovation Award on behalf of MTV Networks,” said Roedy. “At MTVN, our global distribution and connection with diverse cultures provide a unique capability to make a difference around the world. Through Staying Alive we work to increase HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention among young people, while decreasing the stigma and discrimination associated with the disease. I strongly believe that women are key in leading and instilling equality, tolerance and unity to make the world a better place. I salute the ICRW for their tireless work on behalf of women everywhere. Women and girls are more vulnerable to HIV infection, and we need to arm and empower them with the tools to change their lives.”

ICRW’s signature Champions for Change event helps raise vital funds for ICRW to continue its research and advocacy work on behalf of women and girls across the globe.

IRVING, T.X. – ExxonMobil, in partnership with Ashoka’s Changemakers and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), today launched Women | Tools | Technology: Building Opportunities & Economic Power, an innovative challenge that will identify transformative solutions for promoting women’s economic advancement through technology.

Through the Women | Tools | Technology Challenge, the partners are looking for creative ideas and sustainable approaches that enable more women from developing countries to be active contributors to and leaders in our rapidly changing economy.

“We hope that the ideas and solutions generated through Women | Tools | Technology will spark a profound transformation in the way women in developing countries live and work,” said Lorie Jackson, director of ExxonMobil’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative.

“Technology has the potential to initiate a chain reaction that results in women’s economic advancement and, in turn, raises their standard of living, strengthens their families and communities and, contributes to significant global progress.”

The ideas and solutions generated through Women | Tools | Technology can be new or improve upon existing technologies to enable them to benefit more women. Innovators with concepts for catalyzing women’s economic advancement through technology will be able to submit their ideas through a crowd-sourcing, online format that allows for discussion and collaboration among other innovators and select experts. Submissions will be accepted from January 27th through April 14th at http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/technologywomen.
 
Entries will be judged by a panel of experts, including Pam Darwin, ExxonMobil’s vice president of Geoscience, Geeta Rao Gupta, president of ICRW, Andrés Carlos Randazzo, Ashoka Fellow and founder of SANUT, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, co-founder and executive director of the African Women's Development Fund and Christine Grumm, president and chief executive officer of the Women’s Funding Network. Finalists will be announced in mid-June.

“Women’s economic advancement is often directly related to their ability to access and use technology,” said Charlie Brown, executive director of Ashoka’s Changemakers. “We’re excited to work with some of the most creative innovators from around the world to develop ground-breaking solutions to leverage technology to live up to its promise of changing the world – the whole world – for the better.”

Additional direction and focus for the challenge is provided by a new research study entitled, "Bridging the Gender Divide in Technology,” which was conducted by ICRW and funded by the ExxonMobil Foundation. The white paper, which explores the link between technology and women's economic empowerment, is being released to coincide with the challenge launch and showcases existing technologies that help women increase their productivity, create new entrepreneurial ventures, and launch income-generating pursuits. The paper highlights what needs to be done to improve the way technologies are developed and deployed so they benefit women, enabling them to be more successful economic actors, stronger leaders, and greater contributors to their families, communities and domestic economies.

“When you consider the untapped potential of half the world’s workforce, the combination of women, tools and technology can trigger truly transformative change,” said Anju Malhotra, vice president for Research, Innovation and Impact at ICRW. “Our research offers social innovators practical recommendations on how to develop, introduce, and disseminate technologies that strengthen women’s ability to compete in the global economy.”

The Women | Tools | Technology Challenge is part of ExxonMobil’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative, and was announced at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in New York in September 2009. At the meeting, ExxonMobil co-sponsored the first-ever Clinton Global Initiative special programming focused on investing in girls and women.

The Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative (previously Educating Women and Girls Initiative) was launched in 2005 and has invested more than $30 million in programs that have directly benefited thousands of women from 64 developing countries.