A few days ago, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in a conference call hosted by Ashoka. The call served to generate an informative discussion about the remarkable work of two Ashoka Fellows, both of whom also won the prestigious Goldman Prize.
The Goldman Prize, deemed the “Green Nobel” is awarded annually to six environmental heroes from the world’s six inhabited continents. Each individual receives a $150,000 to continue their work on transforming our environment. The fellows, Yuyun Ismawati from Indonesia and Ignace Schops from Belgium are incredible human beings.
Yuyun is the founder of Bali Fokus, a solid waste management organization, in which she leads development of a viable model for community based waste management. In doing so, she and her team are ceasing environmental degradation caused by improper waste practices as well as providing a practical, replicable plan to keep her home country and her environment clean.
Ignace is the founder of World Conservation Union and has worked diligently for almost a decade to lead the establishment of Belgium’s first and only national park. Raising upwards of $90 million dollars via the collaboration of private industry, regional and EU government, local stakeholders and NGOs, Ignace has created a new model for land conservation in his home country and provides an inspiring model for other change makers in the world.
In our discussion, Yuyun and Ignace discussed their incredible journeys, personal inspirations and their future plans for their work. One question of universal importance that myself and other participants asked revolved around the role government in propelling or obstructing their vision for a cleaner, more sustainable environment. As expected, both Yuyun and Ignace quickly told of the bureaucracy, opposition and overall uphill climb they initially faced. According to Yuyun, the Indonesian government did not pay any attention to mounting problems of waste in her region, nor did they initially understand the value of it. And while there is still a long ways to go, they are slowly but surely coming to appreciate the amazing work she is doing. For Ignace, it has been somewhat of a similar story. Minimal government involvement within the nature conservation realm and of course the government has been extremely slow to pursue needed changes. However, he did cite that his work has helped to progress environmental issues within Belgium and hopefully is moving towards greater influence in within the EU countries.
Both Yuyun and Ignace deserve the applaud and appreciation they have received for the commendable work they do. We thank them! Also, we thank the Ashoka organization for providing us the opportunity to engage in an uplifting discussion with these fellows.
Image Source: daylife.com
Contributor Profile: Naiomi
Naiomi is passionate about business for good and the field of social entrepreneurship. As co-founder of SocialEarth, she hopes to help create an uplifting and informative news source for anyone interested in helping those less fortunate.
Twitter: @naiomibisram
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