Basra needs your help

August 10th, 2007

The situation in Iraq has been worsening over the past few months.

A colleague of one of the doctors working in the children’s hospital in Basra was recently found dead in a rubbish dump, her body cut into pieces.

One important ward of the chilren’s hospital will close if my colleague in Vienna cannot help, and I hope to make a contribution to her fundraising efforts.

The next medical consignment is due to be shipped in October or November, so I’d like to try to raise some funds to contribute to that.

Oxfam recently published a report on the humanitarian situation in Iraq and I plan to contact them along with a number other people who might be able to help.

I’ve neglected to do any more on this due to pressure of other work and the Irish elections, which meant some of the people I was planning to contact were very busy.  

The initial fundraising target will be €5,000, but I hope to raise the bar as we go along.

I’ll organise things and contact people when I have the time, but other than that, it’ll be emails, calls and drinks if necessary to see who I can cajole into helping.

If you’ve got an idea for a quiz, an event, a whip-round or some other event, I’ll help when and where I can.

I hope some of you will get in touch.

Posted in Basra, Iraq, Medicine, NGO, Nonprofit, Social Entrepreneurship, irish social entrepreneur | No Comments »

Infant Mortality Soars in Iraq

May 8th, 2007

According to The Independent, infant mortality in Iraq is now comparable to that of sub-Saharan Africa.

Figures come from a report by Save the Children.

Update: 4Basra’s work to raise awareness of the situation will resume after the election here in Ireland.

The focus will be on the medical community and a number of politicians with an interest in foreign affairs. We also hope to look at a number of creative ideas that might bring in funds on a regular basis.

 

 

Posted in Social Entrepreneurship | No Comments »

Social Entrepreneurs: Changing the World

March 30th, 2007

I’ve just returned from an interesting and inspiring three days in Oxford at the Skoll Foundation World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship.

Who was there?  More than 700 people, including:

EBay, Participant Films and Skoll Foundation founder, Jeff Skoll

Nobel prize 2006 winner and founder of the Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus

Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, Queen of Jordan

Peter Gabriel, former band member of Genesis, founder of Witness (a Wikipedia/Youtube/Myspace -type human rights website)

Geoff Mulgan, Director of Demos thinktank and former adviser to Tony Blair

Writer Charles Handy

UK Minister for the Third Sector, Ed Miliband

Larry Brilliant, head of Google.org (Google’s philanthropy arm)

What did they talk about?

Social finance

Leadership

Philanthropy

Social innovation and entrepreneurship

Now that confidence in politics and the democratic process in the West is at an all-time low, social entrepreneurs are taking action to solve social problems using the most innovative and entrepreneurial means they can.

Having realised that corporations are not going to go away, they are talking the language of business and literally stealing some of their ideas; specifically the ones that get results and get things done. Not only that, but they’re adapting them and improving on them, maximising the social benefit.

I interviewed a 24 year-old who started his social business when he was 12. He and his friends washed cars and baked cakes to raise money. Last year his social business earned $10 million. It sells fairtrade clothing and textbooks and literally builds whole villages in Africa.

This was not just a global gathering of do-gooders though. Some big names in the finance world are being brought into the fold as well. Someone who used to work for global investment bank Goldman Sachs has set up a new social fund. GE Asset Management, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Morgan Stanley are other names getting in on the act.

Investment bankers sitting beside social entrepreneurs and NGO founders and workers. Collaborating, bringing ideas, models and plans to the table. Working together. Getting results. Changing lives. Changing the world.

For more details and blogs from the Forum, see Social Edge.

Posted in Social Entrepreneurship | No Comments »

Patrick Cockburn in The (UK) Independent on Sunday

March 18th, 2007

Patrick Cockburn is one of the few journalists now reporting from Iraq.

His reports can be read in The Independent and The Independent on Sunday.

His latest report is required reading for anyone concerned about the current state of the country and the fate of the Iraqi people.

Posted in Social Entrepreneurship | No Comments »

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

March 9th, 2007

The Financial Times recently featured an interview with former Microsoft Executive John Wood.

Wood left his job in 1998 to found children’s charity Room to Read, and he has some interesting things to say. He has written a book and it will be on my reading list.

 

Posted in Social Entrepreneurship | No Comments »

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