The EVOKE challenge has begun!  Please visit the EVOKE challenge on Global Giving at www.globalgiving.org/evoke to support 25 fellow agents in their quest to raise resources and donors for their EVOKATIONS.   The challenge will run for the month of August — ending 23:59 EST on August 31, 2010.  Bonus resources will be available to those agents who reach a minimum target for funds raised, unique donors who contribute and comments on their project site.  So if you are not able to support these EVOKE agents financially, you can still reach out with a word of support for their effort.

Join me in congratulating and supporting all of these agents for putting their ideas into action!

Watch this video to learn more about Global Giving:

A bit about Global Giving.  GlobalGiving is an online marketplace that connects donors with social entrepreneurs around the world.  GlobalGiving enables non-profits and social entrepreneurs to grow their community of donors and their visibility on the international stage.  Through this innovative platform, social entrepreneurs have raised over $28 million dollars for more than 2,500 projects in more than 70 countries covering themes ranging from education and the environment to health care and human rights.

As an EVOKE finalist, you will be invited to get involved with GlobalGiving in a unique way.  We are inviting those EVOKATION teams that are selected to apply the skills and learning they exercised in the EVOKE game to implement and grow their idea by using online fundraising tools to build a community of supporters and investors supporting their work.

Those who meet threshold criteria to be articulated at the time of the challenge will be invited to join the GlobalGiving community on a long-term basis at the conclusion of the month-long challenge.  Becoming a GlobalGiving project provides a number of benefits, including access to thousands of individual donors as well as institutional and corporate partners like eBay, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and The North Face.  GlobalGiving project partners are also included in corporate campaigns, employee giving partnerships, co-marketing and media partnerships and are offered various challenge grant opportunities through the year.  GlobalGiving provides a suite of custom fundraising tools to all partners to support their online fundraising plans.

In order to participate in this seed funding challenge, individuals or teams will need to provide basic due dilligence information to Global Giving and will be provided with support to present their EVOKATION idea on the Global Giving platform.  EVOKE seed funding and additional resources raised during this challenge will be distributed to individuals and teams by mid September 2010.

We are very excited to support your EVOKATION through this partnership!

Dan Morris

Dan Morris is director of strategy and development for EA Entertainment, driving IP-extension initiatives for Electronic Arts franchises across a wide variety of traditional and emerging media. Prior to that he served as general manager and publisher at Future US, where he managed official media partnerships with SCEA and Nintendo and led the development of innovative digital-media offerings such as QORE for PlayStation Network. He was previously a journalist and editor, including a stint as editor-in-chief of PC Gamer.

Chelsea Seale

Chelsea is COO of Samasource, a social business that connects women,youth, and refugees living in poverty to microwork — small, computer-based tasks that build skills and generate life-changing income.   She joins Samasource after a career in financial services at Goldman Sachs and more recently at Amber Capital, a New York-based hedge fund. Through her involvement with Orphans of Rwanda previously she witnessed firsthand the great potential in the youth of underdeveloped regions when they were given an opportunity to succeed.

No stranger to high-octane work environments, at Samasource, she aims to ensure the procedural efficiency of this ambitious organization and help bring digital work to the next billion living in poverty. Chelsea holds a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University.

Anne Shongwe

Anne is the Founder and CEO of Afroes Transformational Multi-Media & Consulting.  Afroes is a social enterprise that creates and deploys innovative interactive digital and media technology dialogue solutions rooted in Africa’s rich heritage. The core mission of Afroes is to inspire the conversations and actions of Africans with digital or face-to-face dialogue on hope and possibility.

Prior to establishing Afroes, Anne has been an International Development professional with over 20 years of social and economic development experience working with the United Nations and Management Consulting firms across Africa, Asia and the United States. Anne is committed to Africa’s agenda for transformation in partnership with Africa’s citizens and global partners and has a proven track record in providing innovative strategy and policy solutions to countries including high-level advisory services to Governments and their Cabinets.

Following her departure after 15 years with the United Nations, Anne was selected to co-author and facilitate the development of the Long-term Strategy for Africa’s Conference of Ministers of Public Service in October 2008. Anne continues to provide innovative development solutions to countries and organizations working on Africa. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University, New York, a Masters degree in International Development from The American University, Washington DC and a post-graduate Certificate in Management Development from Jones International University in conjunction with the UNDP.

Steve Vosloo

Steve is the fellow for 21st Century Learning at the Shuttleworth Foundation in Cape Town. He firmly believes that mobile phones, games and digital media are the future of Africa’s education.  Steve currently leads the m4lit (mobiles for literacy) project, which has demonstrated the enormous potential of mobile publishing to support teen reading and writing in South Africa. In 2007 Steve was a research fellow at Stanford University, where he researched youth and digital media.

]]> http://blog.urgentevoke.net/2010/05/16/mentors-and-now-there-are-20/feed/ 4 http://blog.urgentevoke.net/2010/05/13/prize-categories-open-to-all-ages/ http://blog.urgentevoke.net/2010/05/13/prize-categories-open-to-all-ages/#comments Thu, 13 May 2010 18:29:50 +0000 Robert Hawkins http://blog.urgentevoke.net/?p=798 Dear EVOKE Agents

When we embarked on this journey, we developed EVOKE and the prize categories — follow up mentorships and scholarships — with a specific target audience in mind — young people throughout the world who were in the early stages of making life and career goals.  We hoped that EVOKE would give them the tools — knowledge, inspiration, courage, and connections to other inspired individuals throughout the world to go out and create change in their communities.

As with many other aspects of this 10 week adventure, we are delighted to see how EVOKE and our original assumptions have evolved and changed.  In light of the tremendous response to EVOKE from agents of ALL ages, we will revise the rules to make ALL players eligible for all prize categories.

Good luck with your EVOKATIONS and looking forward to continuing this journey with you.

Congratulations, EVOKE agents. You’ve not only survived your crash course in changing the world — you’ve developed amazing resourcefulness, optimism and resilience.

Now it’s time to put all of your EVOKE powers to use.

It’s time to turn your attention from the story of the EVOKE network to the reality of how YOU will change the world.

HAPPY EVOKATION DAY.

Starting today, you can share YOUR creative plan for tackling one of the world’s most urgent problems: hunger, poverty, pandemic, sustainable energy, climate change, conservation, women’s rights; access to education, clean water, health care, and economic opportunity.

Here’s how to do it:

Step one: Upload your evokation to the network — as a blog post, video, photo essay, or any combination of evidence. TAG IT “EVOKATION.”

Step two: Email urgentevoke@gmail.com with the URL of your EVOKATION and the full contact information for yourself and any other team members: full name, address, phone number, and date of birth. (Your personal information will not be shared, and will be used only to contact you and confirm your identity in the event that you win a mentorship, travel scholarship, or seed funding.)

Remember, agents: Your EVOKATION must include the following four essential elements:

1. The Place. Where will you make a difference? Describe the institution, community, town or other geographic or virtual space in which you will focus your efforts.

2. The Challenge. What will you aim to change, and for whom? Highlight what is the need that you perceive and who will benefit from this change.

3. The Idea. Your solution – what is the action, product, service, project, change that you will initiate? Tell us how will your idea will succeed where others have failed.

4. The Money. What would you do with your first US$1,000 given or invested in support of your vision?

Based on the Evokation you submit, and your overall participation in the Evoke network missions, quests, and discussions, we choose a number of you to continue the journey with us and change the world in unimaginable ways.

Your EVOKATIONS will be reviewed by senior education specialists at the World Bank Institute, EVOKE creators, and our EVOKE mentors. We will look for truly creative solutions, breakthrough ideas, solid business plans, and courageous projects — especially projects that reflect the 4 rules of evoking. We hope to find up to 20 EVOKATIONS to support with at least one award.

YOUR EVOKATION IS DUE BY 11:59 PM Pacific Time May 19, 2010.

Find out everything else you need to know about your EVOKATION in the Frequently Asked Questions

Review the Official Rules, including eligibility for Class of 2010 Honors and EVOKE mentorships and summit scholarships.

Happy Evokation Day! How to submit your Evokation.

The Evokation: How to earn EVOKE awards, scholarships, mentorships
Due date: May 19, 2010.

Open To All Ages.

The EVOKATIONS FAQ!

What does an EVOKATION look like?
Useful example.

Evokation Mentors Group 5
Dan Morris, Chelsea Seale, Anne Shongwe, and Steve Vosloo.

Evokation Mentors Group 4
Nicolas Gorjestani, Vinay Gupta, Josette Melchor, and Jamie McAuliffe.

Evokation Mentors Group 3
Anil Gupta, Erik Hersman, Joseph Nsengimana, and Praful Patel.

Evokation Mentors Group 2
Sebastian Barajas, Paul Gabie, Vis Naidoo, and Bill Purves.

Evokation Mentors Group 1
Jessica Lin, Derek Lomas, Roger Schank, and Ethan Zuckerman.

1. When are EVOKATIONS due?
May 19, 11:59 Pacific Time.

2. How do I submit my EVOKATION?
There are two key steps to submit your EVOKATION:

1) Share your EVOKATION on the EVOKE network. Post it as a blog, photo essay, video, or any combination of the above. Be sure to tag it “EVOKATION.”

2) If you wish to be considered for awards, you must also EMAIL the URL (or URLs) of your EVOKATION evidence to urgentevoke@gmail.com. Please include your REAL NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER and DATE OF BIRTH in your email submission. This information will remain private and will not be published or shared with anyone without your explicit permission. In order to be eligible for a mentorship, scholarship, or seed funding you MUST include this information.

3. How will I know my EVOKATION has been received?
You will receive an email confirming receipt of the evokation — but ONLY after you submit a link to urgentevoke@gmail.com.

4. What do I need to include in my EVOKATION?
You can read about the format of the EVOKATION here!

Most importantly:
Your EVOKATION should answer ALL four key questions listed in the format.
And if you wish to be considered for mentorships, travel scholarships or seed funding, you must also email your real full name, phone number, address, and date of birth to urgentevoke@gmail.com. Include this information for ALL team members.

5. Can I submit a “group” or “team” EVOKATION?
Yes! Be sure to describe in detail what the role of each team member will be. Who is responsible for what? Which skills and knowledge does each team member add to the group?

6. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to submitting as a team?
No — both individuals and teams will be considered equally.

7. What are the criteria on which the EVOKATIONS will be judged?
We will be looking for individuals and teams who have a clear and specific plan for solving a social problem, creatively.
In particular, your EVOKATION should follow the 4 rules of EVOKING.

8. Who will be evaluating the EVOKATIONS?
For mentorships, travel scholarships to the summit, and seed funding of $1000, the EVOKATIONS will be evaluated by: a team of World Bank Institute senior education specialists, the EVOKE mentors and the EVOKE creators will be evaluating the submissions.

You will also receive advice and feedback from other EVOKE agents! Their ideas and insight can help you advance your EVOKATION goals whether or not you receive a formal EVOKE mentorship, funding, and scholarship.

9. Can I see an example of a great EVOKATION?
This is the first time we’ve run EVOKE, so there aren’t winning EVOKATION examples yet. But you should look very closely at successful submissions to other social innovation challenges to get a good idea of the kind of detail and thoughtfulness that can make your EVOKATION stand out. The submissions for Changemaker competitions are a great place to start. You can also review the EVOKATION advice here.

10. Can I submit more than one EVOKATION, or submit as part of multiple teams?
Yes. But we do encourage you to focus on one truly outstanding idea, and creating one really fantastic evokation — it will improve your chances of really standing out.

11. Who can I earn a mentorship with?
You can see the full mentor list on the blog.

12. When and where is the EVOKE summit?
It will be in Washington, DC in October 2010. Winners of travel scholarships to the summit will have the full costs of the trip provided. The World Bank Institute will also provide a letter of support to assist with the winners’ application for a travel VISA to the United States.

13. Can I ask for a specific mentor in my EVOKATION?
Yes! If you have a specific mentor in mind from our list, you can mention that. We will be sure to share your EVOKATIOn with that mentor and let them know you are interested in working with them. All mentors have the opportunity to review the submissions and select the EVOKATION they most wish to mentor.

14. Can I ask for a specific kind of support — whether I really want a mentorship, or seed funding of $1000, or a travel scholarship summit to Washington DC?
Yes! If you believe your project would benefit from one kind of support in particular, please mention this is in your submission. You can also rank the kinds of support in order of priority if you would like to be considered for all 3.

15. When will we find out who has received EVOKATION support?
The mentorships and travel scholarships will be announced in early June. We will work over the summer with outstanding EVOKATION projects to help ensure seed funding for as many great projects as possible.

If I were submitting something as important as this I’d want to talk to someone directly about it.  So, this Sunday I want to offer all agents the opportunity to join some of the EVOKE team in a live, online chat to discuss all things related to EVOKATIONS.  I am calling this the EVOKATION CLINIC.

When?

Sunday 2nd May

16:00-18:00 GMT – UK

This translates as:

08:00-10:00 PDT (GMT-8) – San Francisco

11:00-13:00 EDT (GMT-5) – Washington DC

18:00-20:00     (GMT+2) – Cape Town

00:00-02:00 (GMT+8) – Beijing

Where?

We are using an online chat client called Mibbit. Click this link here to join us: http://bit.ly/evokechat

How?

It’s straight forward enough – you ask the questions and with any luck we will provide some answers. However, in order to keep a little structure to the proceedings I want to ask you to help us out a little. Could you please submit any questions you have beforehand, either below this post, or directly to me via my EVOKE email (http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/SimonBrookes).

If this is a success we will hold another clinic next week particularly for those of you who, becuase of clashes with time zones, found it impossible to join us this week

Please pass this information on to other agents in your network and opefully we’ll see you there.

Agent Brookes

Nicolas Gorjestani

Nicolas Gorjestani is a former Chief Knowledge & Learning Officer at the World Bank.  An economist by training, Mr. Gorjestani had held a variety of senior staff and management positions at the World Bank for more than three decades, before retiring in July 2007.  Among his various positions, Mr. Gorjestani pioneered and was Program Director of the World Bank’s Indigenous Knowledge for Development Program.  A global thought leader on organizational knowledge and development learning themes Mr. Gorjestani now devotes his time to advising, lecturing and writing on development strategy, knowledge ecology, learning, and innovation issues.  He is currently a Senior Adviser/Consultant at the World Bank and an Adjunct Professor in Knowledge Ecology at the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong.  He is also Director of the Global Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation Partnership’s Secretariat, a recently established advocacy group of former Heads of State and other eminent global personalities to promote the integration of traditional knowledge systems and grassroots innovation in development programs.  Mr. Gorjestani has published extensively in the areas of knowledge, learning, and development, and has lectured at and contributed papers at several international conferences and centers of excellence.

Vinay Gupta

Vinay Gupta of the Hexayurt Project (see EVOKE episode 7)is a designer and innovator focused on how we can use simple technical education paired and combined with advanced know-how to solve the world’s problems on a budget we can all afford.   To learn more about Vinay check out his EVOKE profile and blog.

Josette Melchor

Josette Melchor is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Gray Area Foundation For The Arts (GAFFTA), a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization dedicated to building social consciousness through digital culture. She is a social entrepreneur, curator, and community organizer. Currently her efforts are focused on making digital culture accessible, substantive, and inspiring, she aims to help realize the greatest power of technology: to bring us closer, faster

GAFFTA’s direction is influenced by Melchor’s previous projects Gray Area Gallery (2005–2008) and Gray Area Beacon, a new media arts program that she founded in 2008 with Silicon Valley Executive Peter Hirshberg. She has facilitated many large- and small-scale events up and down the west coast including notable pioneering media artists, Aaron Koblin, Camille Utterback, and C.E.B. Reas.

Jamie McAullife

Jamie McAuliffe is President and CEO-designate of Education for Employment Foundation (EFE) an international nonprofit dedicated to providing meaningful employment opportunities for vulnerable youth in the Middle East and North Africa.  Jamie has close to two decades of experience in the worlds of social and business entrepreneurship.  Prior to joining EFE , Jamie was a Portfolio Manager at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF).  As one of EMCF’s first portfolio managers, Jamie was instrumental in developing and implementing EMCF’s pioneering grantmaking approach.  This “venture-like” approach aims to find and select the highest-performing youth nonprofits and then helps them (with grants and best-in-class non-financial supports) to expand their services to reach hundreds of thousands of vulnerable youth across the United States.

Before working with EMCF, Jamie was based in Brazil with the OTF Group, formerly of Monitor Consulting, where he worked with small and medium-sized businesses to develop their strategy and competitiveness expertise.  Prior to that, Jamie worked for Ashoka Innovators for the Public where he launched new program strategies to support leading social entrepreneurs in the United States and around the world.   Jamie earned an M.A. in International Economics and Latin American Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Georgetown University.