That’s right, Soft Power Education has been awarded first place in the EDUCATING AFRICA Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education 2008. The competition was run by Teach A Man To Fish and Educating Africa and Soft Power was placed first out of 250 entries from 29 countries. We are very happy to announce that our prize is $10,000 which is going to be put towards equipping our new building at the Amagezi Education Centre.
In addition to the prize money, Shaz and Mel have just returned from South Africa where they attended ‘Education That Pays For Itself 2008′, an international conference on sustainable education. There were delegates from all over the world who were all very impressed with the amount Soft Power has achieved all through the support of tourists and volunteers.
Above: Shaz and Mel receiving accepting the prize in South Africa.
The EDUCATING AFRICA Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education 2008 sought to identify the very best organizations rising to the challenges of supporting education across Africa, highlight their ways of working, and to reward their achievements.
Nik Kafka, Managing Director from Teach A Man To Fish said:
“We were knocked out by the standard of entrants from across Africa. This competition set out to prove that the entrepreneurial spirit is thriving in all types of educational projects across the Continent – and we were proved right.
“The awards have drawn international attention to the achievement of some of Africa’s great educational entrepreneurs. We now hope that others will be encouraged to follow their example.”
Entries were assessed against the criteria of entrepreneurship, sustainability, and impact and the aspect of SPE which caught the judges eye was our unique source of funding through our volunteers. Voluntourism is a growing industry and the judges were impressed by the amount we have achieved through our volunteering programme allowing tourists to volunteer from as little as one day through to three months.
This year’s winners:
1st Prize: Soft Power Education, Uganda – a charity that elicits the help of over 1,000 tourists yearly to improve the quality of life for children in primary education helping build or renovate over 370 classrooms, and supporting pre-school and adult learning in local communities.
2nd Prize: Whiz Kids Workshop, Ethiopia – a private production company that produces a television show for children from ages three to six. The show seeks to educate children about personal values such as honesty and justice, as well as preparing them for school.
3rd Prize: Africa Now, Kenya – an organization in Western Kenya with an innovative project teaching entrepreneurial and agricultural skills through the practice of bee keeping. Already established in two schools, Africa Now is expanding its program to six other schools in the region.
For more details on the winners and a full list of all the organisations that received prizes visit the competition website – www.teachamantofish.org.uk/competition
Soft Power Education would like to extend their thanks to everyone at Teach A Man To Fish, Educating Africa and everyone involved in the conference at Eden Campus, South Africa.
