Philanthropy for Education: Innovations and Opportunities (2012)
The sixth of the “Sabanci Foundation Philanthropy Seminars” under the theme of “Philanthropy for Education: Innovations and Opportunities” was held on December 10, 2012 at Sabanci Center "Haci Ömer Conference Hall" with the attendance of Chairman of Sabanci Foundation Board of Trustees, Ms. Guler Sabanci; General Manager of Sabanci Foundation, Ms. Zerrin Koyunsagan; and representatives of the public sector, business world, media, foundations, associations and universities operating in Turkey.
Moderated by Deniz Kurtoglu Eken, lecturer at Sabanci University School of Languages, the seminar on “Philanthropy for Education: Innovations and Opportunities” hosted two speakers; M’hammed Abbad Andaloussi, founder of the NGO Al Jisr whichworks towards the improvement of education system via cooperation with private sector, foundations and the public sector; and Irene Pritzker, founder of IDP (Innovation Development Progress) Foundation.
During her opening speech, Chairman of Sabanci Foundation Board of Trustees Ms. Guler Sabanci remarked that this year’s theme in Sabanci Foundation Philanthropy Seminars was “education” which is one of the most fundamental human rights: “Education has always been one of the most fundamental fields of operation for both foundations and civil society in Turkey, because social development is possible through the development of individuals. And this is only possible through education”.
Ms. Sabanci remarked that the philanthropy approach of the past aimed at social contribution through building schools or offering scholarships and awards to the youth: “Although this approach is still in place, education is tackled from a variety of perspectives today. The right to education is not solely confined to access to education. Quality and content are other inseparable elements of education as much as access. Furthermore, we should constantly take into account the equality of opportunity in education. In order to attain full equality of educational opportunity, we need to support the participation of girls and people with disabilities in the education process, as much as we do for boys.”
Underscoring that investment in education is an essential investment in social development, Ms. Guler Sabanci informed the audience about the activities Sabanci Foundation carries out in the field: “Considering all our initiatives in the field of education, the Sabanci Group, in current value terms, has invested in education more than 2 billion TL so far. Through cooperation and partnership initiatives we offer major contribution to social development. We should not neglect this fact in the field of education either.”
In the seminar titled “Philanthropy for Education: Innovations and Opportunities” Ms. Guler Sabanci asserted that the solution of all social problems in the world requires uniting forces and thinking globally, and affirmed their commitment to emphasize the significance of partnerships in support of education.
One of the guest speakers at the event, Ms. Irene Pritzker , shared information about the “Rising Schools Program” launched by IDP (Innovation, Development, Progress) Foundation, targeting the development of economically disadvantaged private schools and improvement of quality of education in Ghana. “It began as a pilot study with 105 schools serving 27.000 children. Our goal was to develop a sustainable scalable model based on microfinance to empower existing private schools serving the very bottom of the economic pyramid, and we managed to do so” said, Ms. Pritzker. She added that the model was applicable in other developing countries of the world and the financial partner had kicked off the process of adding1.200 more schools into the program.
Ms. Pritzker asserted that, despite the education investments in the past 60 years, there were an estimated 250 million children without literacy skills around the world in addition to at least 61 million children who were not enrolled in any kind of school. “Education is a universal human right”, remarked Ms. Pritzker.
The second speaker at the seminar, founder of the NGO Al Jisr, Mr. M’hammed Abbad Andaloussi, shared their practices for the improvement and modernization of the education system in Morocco. Mr. Andaloussi talked about the Al Jisr Project, which is run in coordination with the private sector representatives to prepare young graduates for business life while meeting the employment need in the labor market in Morocco: “The aim is to use the expertise of the business sector to improve the educational system ensuring international standards of school graduates who can compete in global markets.We have succeeded in involving hundreds of businesses through their financial and technical contribution. To date, we have adopted more than 300 schools and we hope to reach 500 by 2015.”
Mr. Andaloussi addressed the leaders of the business world as follows: “By investing in education, you invest in your future. This rising generation can increase your competitiveness if they are well prepared thanks to your financial and technical contribution.Together we can reinvent the school, build the future and change the world.”
Founder and President of IDP (Innovation Development Progress) Foundation
Irene Pritzker became a Founding Member and President of IDP (Innovation Development Progress) Foundation, Inc. in 2008, with a belief that education can conquer the world’s greatest challenges, and equal access to education creates hope, opportunity and economic impact. IDP develops sustainable education programs which move away from aid dependent models. Irene Pritzker believes that a combination of smart philanthropy and investment solutions can be galvanized to achieve this. IDP’s Rising Schools Program is a pilot microfinance venture targeting existing but very poor private schools in Ghana, and is now scaling up across the country, with a goal to expand throughout the developing World. Mrs. Pritzker was trained as a teacher at the University of Western Australia and holds a Master’s degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago. She is trustee of the Foreign Policy Association in New York and the Managing Director of the IML Group, LLC, a Chicago based family investment office.
M’HAMMED ABBAD ANDALOUSSI
Founder of Al Jisr
M’hammed Abbad Andaloussi is the Founder of Al Jisr (meaning “bridge” in Arabic), an NGO which mobilizes businesses to upgrade the quality of education by adopting schools and providing financial and technical contributions. So far, several hundred schools have been adopted, and Mr. Andaloussi plans to reach 500 schools by 2015. Mr. Andaloussi is also the Co-Founder of Al Ikram, an NGO which helped hundreds of drop out students to come back to school. He has also launched Injaz Al Maghrib(a member of Junior Achievement) to stimulate the entrepreneurship spirit of youth. Mr. Andaloussi is an Ashoka fellow, Synergos Senior Fellow and a recipient of the Clinton Global Citizen Award for leadership in civil society in 2011, the Social Entrepreneur of the year 2010 for MENA Award conferred by Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum. In 2011, his project “School Business Partnership” received an Award from WISE, the World Innovation Summit for Education.
For the written document of the seminar please click here...