Mulago

ICYMI - a new Mulago Links just dropped. It’s the best stuff we run into for impact-obsessed doers and funders Subscribe here: https://shorturl.at/WLaUN

🌍 NEW RAINER ARNHOLD FELLOW 🌍 Maia Ramarosandratana and Projet Jeune Leader bring sex ed to public schools in rural Madagascar. Adolescence is tough for young people everywhere. And that's especially true in rural Madagascar, where youth have limited access to health information, quality education, and youth-friendly services. Projet Jeune Leader has a model for comprehensive sexuality education that works. Their scripted content is tailored to local realities and delivered through handpicked, open-minded middle school teachers, who offer continuous coaching and mentorship. Beyond the classroom, they provide a full support package, including after-school activities and a system for medical referrals. Community workshops create space for parents to give feedback, ensuring transparency and accountability. Maia Ramarosandratana founded Projet Jeune Leader and is now the Executive Director. She moved to Madagascar when she was a kid and returned there after college to launch the project with some unexpected seed funding. Maia holds a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins and has been recognized as a leader in global development through fellowships with the Issroff Family Foundation, Gratitude Network, and Youth Action Net, among others. She speaks English, French, and Malagasy.

🌳 NEW HENRY ARNHOLD FELLOW 🌳 Peter Bosip and the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) train community paralegals — “barefoot lawyers” — to protect the environment in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is a wonder of the world. Although relatively small, it has more than 5% of all species globally (most of which are unique to the islands). It also has over 10% of the world's tropical forests, and possibly the highest amount of coral reef, mangrove & seagrass species in the world (depending on the measure), not to mention more than 10% of all languages spoken in the world. The Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) protects the remarkable environment in Papua New Guinea. They provide legal training and support to indigenous communities so they can have control over their land and water. While traditional governance is strong, many communities lack knowledge of their legal rights and the implications of deals with extractive industries. Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) educates members of these communities — “barefoot lawyers” — and offers direct assistance to help them either protect their land or negotiate the best possible deals. They also provide legal support by investigating company actions, reporting back to communities, and taking legal action when necessary to hold companies accountable and enforce community agreements. Peter Bosip is the Executive Director of Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights (CELCOR) and has led their efforts for over a decade. An environmental scientist by training, his expertise spans climate change policy and project implementation. Previously, he spent over 5 years as a Conservation Project Manager at Conservation International. Peter uses a deep understanding of the law, science, and the community to tackle the complex environmental challenges facing Papua New Guinea.

Social impact leaders - when you're chasing big bet philanthropy, focus on how $$ will transform your organization from doing (fill in the blank model) yourself, to the recruitment and enabling of others, the “doers-at-scale.” And, when you land those 8 (or 9!) figure checks, make sure you're building a launch pad, not a bloated organization. Great piece out today in Stanford Social Innovation Review by Kevin Starr - Big Bet Bonanza https://lnkd.in/g4N9VJ2J

📢 NEW RAINER ARNHOLD FELLOW Lydie Hakizimana and Happy Hearts 📢 The need for more high quality preschool options is high in Rwanda. Without early childhood education, early learners enter school unprepared and have lower lifelong learning outcomes. Play-based learning at a young age can have a big impact on school readiness and the evidence on Montessori style early learning is significant. Happy Hearts increases access to quality—Montessori style—early childhood education in Rwanda. They offer structured mentorship for teachers and volunteers, and give them a play-based curriculum. Students also benefit from two nutritious meals a day. With volunteers in the classroom, the student-to-teacher ratio radically drops, so that every child gets more personalized attention. And it’s all done through a public private partnership — the government pays the teachers, provides buildings, and sets the curriculum. Lydie Hakizimana is an education entrepreneur through and through. Before founding Happy Hearts, she started a publishing house two decades ago that became one of the biggest local publishers of textbooks in Rwanda. She was also the CEO of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Africa’s first and biggest pan-African network of centers of excellence in mathematical sciences. Lydie holds a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School and is a certified Montessori teacher. She’s also a proud mom of three.

Please help us find our next group of remarkable fellows for 2025. Nominations close on October 15th. For the Henry Arnhold Fellowship for environment solutions you can recommend someone with this form: https://lnkd.in/d7FmZPbJ For the Rainer Arnhold Fellowship for poverty solutions you can recommend someone with this form: https://lnkd.in/d4AeamUF All we need from you is the name, e-mail, and organization of the leader(s) you want to nominate. We'll do the rest. Thank you!

📢NEW HENRY ARNHOLD FELLOW📢 Jade Saunders and World Forest ID work on hi-tech verification to stop the illegal trade of forest products. Illegal deforestation is driven by big consumer demand for timber, agricultural commodities and other extractives. However most consumers are unaware of the environmental costs of their purchases as most supply chains are remarkably opaque. World Forest ID has created a scientific standard for the verification of plant product origins, so that illegal and unsustainable deforestation for exports can be eradicated through transparent supply chains. To do this, they collect plant samples from forests and agricultural lands worldwide, to build a reference library of unique chemical, genetic, and anatomical signatures tied to species and location. Their clients—companies, regulators, and watchdogs—use this data to identify the origins of consumer products. World Forest ID provides guidance on what to measure and how, comparing client data against their library to find matches. They share these findings with clients to help hold bad actors accountable and clean up supply chains. Jade Saunders has been the Executive Director of World Forest ID since 2022. An anthropologist by training, she comes to this problem with an understanding of the social components of law enforcement based on ~20 years of experience in forest governance, trade, and environmental crime. Previously, she served as a senior policy analyst at Forest Trends, as a strategy advisor for the UK’s ForestMind project, and had a long stint at Chatham House tackling deforestation through trade law and supply chain regulation.

📢 NEW RAINER ARNHOLD FELLOW📢 Lafiya Nigeria — led by Klau Chmielowska — enable access to safe family planning through community distributors of self-injectable contraception. Contraceptives are a woman’s right, and existing research shows that access to injectable contraceptives and counseling leads to significant decreases in maternal mortality. Lafiya Nigeria trains midwives, nurses, and community health workers to become “Lafiya Sisters,” specialists in family planning. Their team ensures that new mothers in hard-to-reach communities receive family planning counseling and access to contraceptives—like injectables—right after childbirth, empowering women to take control of their reproductive health. Klau Chmielowska has worked across sub-Saharan Africa and South America on microfinance and capacity-building projects, including the creation of a business training curriculum for over 2 million microentrepreneurs in Nigeria. Their interest in family planning led them to co-found Lafiya after a successful pilot while still a management consultant. They are also a Senior Research Fellow at the Global Policy Institute and completed the Charity Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme. Klau Chmielowska holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford.

📢 NEW RAINER ARNHOLD FELLOW📢 Jonathan Mazumdar and Growth Teams help governments make jobs happen. Over the last few decades, too many developing countries have had slow or negative progress in their ability to successfully implement policies. When governments are not able to implement pro-growth policies then higher-income jobs will always be few and far between. Growth Teams coach governments to solve problems that hold back firms, and as a result generate good jobs where people get richer. They help governments focus on the right, high-potential industries, identify the biggest barriers that hold back firms in those industries, and then take the right actions to unlock those constraints to economic growth. Jonathan Mazumdar is the co-founder of Growth Teams, and for over a decade has advised governments and invested in early-stage ventures across Africa and India. Prior to this, he worked on investment and industrialization with the Government of Rwanda through the Tony Blair Institute. He launched and built Acumen Fund’s education portfolio and then helped start Sangam Ventures, India’s first dedicated cleantech venture fund. Jonathan began his career at J-PAL, working on an impact evaluation in rural Bihar. He got his MPA/ID from the Harvard Kennedy School.

📢 NEW HENRY ARNHOLD FELLOW📢 Ines Serra Baucells and BIOSORRA make soil enriching biochar from agricultural waste. Biochar is a substance that’s made by burning organic material from agricultural waste using a process called pyrolysis. The resulting biochar looks like charcoal but is a far more efficient way of converting carbon into a stable form — hence way fewer emissions. And there’s an added bonus: biochar is a super effective fertilizer that improves soil quality, much needed in regions that are worn out from overfarming or that have acidic soil. BIOSORRA transforms crop waste into biochar in Kenya. The resulting biochar fertilizer is sold to farmers, enhancing soil health and productivity. The technology seems to have found its moment thanks to the carbon market, as BIOSORRA sells carbon credits from the sequestered carbon that is mixed into the soil. Ines Serra Baucells is an engineer and architect by training with a deep passion for soil. She co-founded BIOSORRA in 2022 after seeing the big potential for biochar to remove CO2 at a relatively low investment cost. Before that, she worked as a strategy consultant at Deloitte and McKinsey, advising energy companies on sustainability. She got her MBA from IESE Business School and is a former professional ski competitor.