The Skoll Foundation announced today that Madhav Chavan and Pratham were named as a 2011 recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. Each year the Skoll Foundation chooses a select group of social entrepreneurs and their organizations working around the world in the areas of tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, and economic and social equity. 

In conjunction with this award, Pratham will receive a three-year $1,235,000 grant from the Skoll Foundation to create an institution dedicated to identification, training, and nurturing of leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs who will not only continue to run Pratham programs around the country but who will also independently build new ideas and strengthen efforts in the area of education in the country. 

The global network of now 85 Skoll social entrepreneurs and 70 organizations includes Dr. Paul Farmer/Partners in Health, John Wood/Room to Read, and Wendy Kopp/Teach for All.   The Skoll Awards program provides social entrepreneurs who have achieved significant impact with unrestricted funding to further extend their reach. 

"Madhav Chavan is transforming India's approach to children's literacy and education," said Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. "Chavan's unwavering insistence on universal education, and his work to engage community volunteers in the quest for literacy, has already reached more than 34 million children, offering a proven model for the entire world."

Along with Madhav Chavan, the other 2011 Skoll Awardees are: Ned Breslin/Water for People, Rebecca Onie/Health Leads, and Ellen Moir/New Teacher Center.  "We are honored to have Pratham join the Skoll family and be recognized along with its peers tackling social and economic challenges across the globe," said Atul Varadhachary, President of Pratham USA.  

Madhav Chavan will be presented with the Skoll Award by Jeff Skoll, Skoll Foundation founder and Chairman, and Sally Osberg, Skoll Foundation President and CEO, on March 31st at the University of Oxford at the eight annual Skoll World Forum ( www.skollworldforum.org). The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is the premier, international platform for accelerating entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions to the world's most pressing social issues.

About the Skoll Foundation

Jeff Skoll created the Skoll Foundation (www.skollfoundation.org) in 1999 to pursue his vision of a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. Led by CEO Sally Osberg since 2001, our mission is to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world's most pressing problems. Social entrepreneurs are society's change agents, creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world for the better. By identifying the people and programs already bringing positive change around the world, we empower them to extend their reach, deepen their impact and fundamentally improve society. The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, the foundation's flagship program, is presented each year at the Skoll World Forum in Oxford, England.

 
About Pratham

Pratham, which means "first" in Sanskrit was founded in the slums of Mumbai in 1994 with UNICEF support.  Today, Pratham's direct urban programs, including pre-schools, community libraries and remedial learning programs reach hundreds of thousands of children every year.  In 2007, with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Pratham launched the Read India campaign, an innovative, low-cost effort to reach the  ~100 million children in India who cannot read, write or do basic match.   With an annual budget of less than $15 million, Pratham combines large-scale impact with an extremely efficient use of funds.  Pratham USA (www.PrathamUSA.org) a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a four-star rating (the highest possible) from Charity Navigator, accepts tax deductible contributions from U.S. donors. 

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