World Challenge Awards 2007
Saira Rizwan
December 15, 2007
If you have an idea, you must share it with the world so that we all can use it to make our World a better living place for all of us.
A modest ceremony was held in the Museum of Communication in Haig to announce the award winners for 2007 with the cooperation of Shell and British Broadcasting Organization (BBC). The program is the basic idea of British Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Zainab Badawi from BBC hosted the awards ceremony and the guest of honor was Dr. Bob Watson.
Dr. Watson during his address highlighted the challenges the world faces in form of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. The awards are based on the philosophy of putting agriculture knowledge to scientific and technological use so as to enable poor and uneducated people across the world to progress towards vibrant, equitable and sustainable world.
Dr. Watson stressed on the role of governments, private sectors to help the under privileged population face the everyday life daily challenges across the globe. Today, over 3.3 billion people are living below two dollar a day poverty line who are in need of such awards so that tomorrow’s generations are educated and are empowered. In the developing countries, the importance of such awards is also important because 70 to 80% of the population in these countries is rural based and agri-dependent. If such awards help only one person in a family to generate income, it can change the future of whole family that in turn will add to the betterment of the community.
Thousands of applicants sent in their nominations for the three-year-old challenge awards, but only twelve applicants were shortlisted through voting. A brief summary of the twelve programs shows their importance, richness of human intelligence and devotion to humanity which in itself leaves the readers and viewers moved, humbled and motivated.
The School for Success program is being run by a Canadian who migrated to Haiti to help Haitians read and write. So far, the program has educated 2,500 locals and it has branched out to impart vocational training. This effort not only reflects individual sacrifice but also helps in the battle to empower the Haitians as country’s fifty percent population is illiterate.
In Uganda a sanitary pad project has been started as part of empowering women. The majority of the local girls unable to afford sanitary pads left
education because they were unable to attend schools due to monthly- cycles. Due to this problem they ultimately ended up in poverty loop with unending challenges for themselves and their children.
The High Sweet Fashion program in Mexico focuses on improving community earnings through reuse/recycle technology of local ingredients used in materials for export to Western World allowing steady income for the families that is being used to fund school education and support women health.
The Project for providing living for disadvantaged people in Southern Afghanistan is being run by a Western journalist who came to cover Afghan and decided to stay there and help locals develop luxury soaps from local herbs despite appalling security situation in the country. It’s a story of an individual’s contribution to global struggle to eradicate use and production of drugs.
The Peace Woods project in civil war ravaged Columbia is an effort to help rehabilitate former gorilla warriors by helping them to learn sustainable logging. It will help these warriors and their dependents to lead normal lives, heal scars of war and restore peace in the country.
The Potato Gold Mine project, Tika Papa, Peru enables locals to grow potatoes as an alternate to face the challenge of diminishing fish population due to climate affects. These fishers turned farmers are able to support their families in the changing work environment.
The project Limbs from Leftovers is based on using aluminum drink cans to prepare molds and artificial limbs from waste to help four million disabled Nepalese to improve their quality of life. These limbs cost fraction of the cost of foreign equivalents, which require an amount equal to the average lifetime earning of a local. Prior to the start of this project, the local handicapped persons due to their inability to afford the limbs and were forced to lead a compromised life that was usually impaired with poverty, also.
The Herbal Medicine Project, Sa Pa, North Vietnam allows international marketing of sale of extracted scientifically proven beneficial oils for use in large scale manufacturing of quality soaps and body care oils. This project helps the citizens of an impoverished country market age old knowledge past on from generation to generation to earn their living. It has a global implication for traditional societies in developing world that are treasure troves of ancient knowledge. If this project is copied in other countries also, it will help families earn regular income.
The Cooking without gas project in Nepal with help of high-efficiency stove and fuel bricks made from recycled paper is a cheap and affective with help of renewable energy. This project is of immense importance to Nepal because 80% of country’s population relies on firewood taken from ever-shrinking forests and expensive fossil fuel like LPG and Caro sine oil. The success of this project will help other countries facing similar challenges protect and save their forests and reduce energy import bills.
The Saving Our Seaweed project in Brazil was formed to help locals find alternate source of income by processing seaweed in sustainable way. The seaweed is used by manufacturing industry worldwide. It has helped local community to have a regular alternate source of income, which was facing problems due to diminishing number of fish as the seaweed spread covered the water previously inhabited by fish.
Steaming ahead project, Indonesia uses natural steam springs to use as energy source in sugar factories. The replacement of steam with firewood is environment friendly and a practical example of using nature of man’s benefit.
The Nepal projects and Haiti school for Success were awarded runners up certificates with $10,000 each. The Potato Goldmine project has been awarded winner’s certificate with $20,000 in prize money. The details of the last three years are available on www.theworldchallenge.co.uk.
Finally, this award is a great effort to help human beings benefit from nature. It helps mankind to recognize the benefits that are out there waiting to be explored. These projects including Limbs from Leftovers have shown that even today an individual can make immense difference in million of human beings. It is therefore a wonderful effort that should be appreciated, respected and copied in other parts of the world so to bring hope to every single individual who is in need of help and support. If you have an idea, you must share it with the world so that we all can use it to make our World a better living place for all of us. Maybe, Dr. Watson summarized it best for us when he said that we should work for a vibrant, equitable and sustainable world.
A modest ceremony was held in the Museum of Communication in Haig to announce the award winners for 2007 with the cooperation of Shell and British Broadcasting Organization (BBC). The program is the basic idea of British Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Zainab Badawi from BBC hosted the awards ceremony and the guest of honor was Dr. Bob Watson.
Dr. Watson during his address highlighted the challenges the world faces in form of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. The awards are based on the philosophy of putting agriculture knowledge to scientific and technological use so as to enable poor and uneducated people across the world to progress towards vibrant, equitable and sustainable world.
Dr. Watson stressed on the role of governments, private sectors to help the under privileged population face the everyday life daily challenges across the globe. Today, over 3.3 billion people are living below two dollar a day poverty line who are in need of such awards so that tomorrow’s generations are educated and are empowered. In the developing countries, the importance of such awards is also important because 70 to 80% of the population in these countries is rural based and agri-dependent. If such awards help only one person in a family to generate income, it can change the future of whole family that in turn will add to the betterment of the community.
Thousands of applicants sent in their nominations for the three-year-old challenge awards, but only twelve applicants were shortlisted through voting. A brief summary of the twelve programs shows their importance, richness of human intelligence and devotion to humanity which in itself leaves the readers and viewers moved, humbled and motivated.
The School for Success program is being run by a Canadian who migrated to Haiti to help Haitians read and write. So far, the program has educated 2,500 locals and it has branched out to impart vocational training. This effort not only reflects individual sacrifice but also helps in the battle to empower the Haitians as country’s fifty percent population is illiterate.
In Uganda a sanitary pad project has been started as part of empowering women. The majority of the local girls unable to afford sanitary pads left
education because they were unable to attend schools due to monthly- cycles. Due to this problem they ultimately ended up in poverty loop with unending challenges for themselves and their children.
The High Sweet Fashion program in Mexico focuses on improving community earnings through reuse/recycle technology of local ingredients used in materials for export to Western World allowing steady income for the families that is being used to fund school education and support women health.
The Project for providing living for disadvantaged people in Southern Afghanistan is being run by a Western journalist who came to cover Afghan and decided to stay there and help locals develop luxury soaps from local herbs despite appalling security situation in the country. It’s a story of an individual’s contribution to global struggle to eradicate use and production of drugs.
The Peace Woods project in civil war ravaged Columbia is an effort to help rehabilitate former gorilla warriors by helping them to learn sustainable logging. It will help these warriors and their dependents to lead normal lives, heal scars of war and restore peace in the country.
The Potato Gold Mine project, Tika Papa, Peru enables locals to grow potatoes as an alternate to face the challenge of diminishing fish population due to climate affects. These fishers turned farmers are able to support their families in the changing work environment.
The project Limbs from Leftovers is based on using aluminum drink cans to prepare molds and artificial limbs from waste to help four million disabled Nepalese to improve their quality of life. These limbs cost fraction of the cost of foreign equivalents, which require an amount equal to the average lifetime earning of a local. Prior to the start of this project, the local handicapped persons due to their inability to afford the limbs and were forced to lead a compromised life that was usually impaired with poverty, also.
The Herbal Medicine Project, Sa Pa, North Vietnam allows international marketing of sale of extracted scientifically proven beneficial oils for use in large scale manufacturing of quality soaps and body care oils. This project helps the citizens of an impoverished country market age old knowledge past on from generation to generation to earn their living. It has a global implication for traditional societies in developing world that are treasure troves of ancient knowledge. If this project is copied in other countries also, it will help families earn regular income.
The Cooking without gas project in Nepal with help of high-efficiency stove and fuel bricks made from recycled paper is a cheap and affective with help of renewable energy. This project is of immense importance to Nepal because 80% of country’s population relies on firewood taken from ever-shrinking forests and expensive fossil fuel like LPG and Caro sine oil. The success of this project will help other countries facing similar challenges protect and save their forests and reduce energy import bills.
The Saving Our Seaweed project in Brazil was formed to help locals find alternate source of income by processing seaweed in sustainable way. The seaweed is used by manufacturing industry worldwide. It has helped local community to have a regular alternate source of income, which was facing problems due to diminishing number of fish as the seaweed spread covered the water previously inhabited by fish.
Steaming ahead project, Indonesia uses natural steam springs to use as energy source in sugar factories. The replacement of steam with firewood is environment friendly and a practical example of using nature of man’s benefit.
The Nepal projects and Haiti school for Success were awarded runners up certificates with $10,000 each. The Potato Goldmine project has been awarded winner’s certificate with $20,000 in prize money. The details of the last three years are available on www.theworldchallenge.co.uk.
Finally, this award is a great effort to help human beings benefit from nature. It helps mankind to recognize the benefits that are out there waiting to be explored. These projects including Limbs from Leftovers have shown that even today an individual can make immense difference in million of human beings. It is therefore a wonderful effort that should be appreciated, respected and copied in other parts of the world so to bring hope to every single individual who is in need of help and support. If you have an idea, you must share it with the world so that we all can use it to make our World a better living place for all of us. Maybe, Dr. Watson summarized it best for us when he said that we should work for a vibrant, equitable and sustainable world.