The Skoll World Forum wrapped up on Friday under a cloud - literally - of Icelandic volcanic ash, but that didn’t dampen spirits at the event.  We had a range of sessions in the morning, and a great closing plenary with Caroline Casey of Kanchi,  Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, [...]

The Skoll World Forum moved into full speed yesterday, with a set of sessions ranging from conflict and water to the neuroscience of caring and how social entrepreneurs work in disaster zones (and many more).  Paul Hawken, the environmentalist, social entrepreneur and author, gave a really compelling keynote speech about the global movement in support [...]

Consulting firm McKinsey & Company is focusing on social entrepreneurs currently on “What Matters,” its online platform for talking about key business issues.  Timed in conjunction with the Skoll World Forum, which McKinsey is supporting this year, the current “What Matters” asks the question, “Can social entrepreneurs create large scale change?”  There are currently five [...]

Search for Common Ground, led by co-founders and 2006 Skoll social entrepreneurs John and Susan Collins Marks, explores innovative ways to use media to bridge divides.  They’ve hit on a winning formula leveraging the popularity of soccer in Africa.  “The Team” brings together soccer players from different tribes to tackle historic animosities.  Search for Common [...]

Verité, led by 2007 Skoll social entrepreneur Dan Viederman, has just struck an innovative partnership with a Florida farm worker organization to improve wages and working conditions in the Florida tomato picking industry.  The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)  is a community-based farm worker organization that promotes fair treatment for farm workers in accordance with [...]

I read Nick Kristof’s book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, last week, but haven’t had a chance to blog about it.  The Oprah Show yesterday, which focused on women’s and girls’ issues and featured Nick and his wife and co-author, Sheryl WuDunn, reminded me.  One of the women profiled on [...]

Karen Tse, the founder of International Bridges to Justice and a 2006 Skoll social entrepreneur, received the 2009 Gleitsman International Activist Award at a ceremony at the Harvard Kennedy School last night.  Karen joins an august group:  past honorees include, among others, Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Yunus.  The most recent winner was Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, [...]

Whew, what a day!  Things started out at about 8 a.m. and it is now 1 a.m., although, in fairness, the last couple of hours were elective, but interesting.
The day was divided into several parts: meetings with youth, interviews, civil society, ambassadors and business leaders.  The Elders (minus me and Richard, sadly) also met with [...]

The Elders delegation arrived in the region today.
I had a pleasant walk to the Old City of Jerusalem this afternoon with Richard Branson, who had not been to Israel before.  I offered to show Richard around, but any credibility I had as a tour guide was promptly diminished when I got us lost en route to [...]

I am honored to be a part of The Elders delegation visiting Israel and the Palestinian Territories from Aug 24-28.  We are meeting with a number of civil society and business leaders, as well as political leaders, to listen, learn and lend momentum to the peace process.
The Middle East has been an area of interest for me for some [...]