The Doctor Weighs In

Ashoka’s Changemakers and The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) are seeking the most innovative entrepreneurial ideas for improving global nutrition for their online competition, Improved Nutrition: Solutions through Innovation (www.changemakers.com/nutrition).  Ashoka is a partner in the Clinton Global Initiative.

 
“GAIN is proud to partner with Ashoka’s Changemakers as both organizations are committed to business-like innovation with a social mission,” said Marc Van Ameringen, Executive Director of GAIN.
 
Good nutrition for everyone is within our reach. The question is how to make this a reality for communities currently lacking access to nutritious food or unaware of its benefits.
 
“Malnutrition is a solvable problem. Changemakers is looking forward to highlighting the solutions that will reach previously unreached populations,” said Charlie Brown, Executive Director of Changemakers. “It is of utmost importance that we identify
creative models that will directly and positively change the lives of millions most at risk of malnutrition,” Van Ameringen added. “Each year, 3.5 million children die because they are malnourished.”
 
The competition is open to innovators with new ideas to expand and improve nutrition – to make sure all people have access to the vital nutrients and the critical information that will help them thrive. Solutions with the potential for growth and scale are likely to come from creative community members from all corners of the globe and local, grassroots organizations. 
 
“The best ideas may lie in the creative use of technology, innovative public education programs groundbreaking nutrition products, or other entrepreneurial approaches not yet broadly implemented,” Brown said. “We expect, through this competition, to discover and support the future of global nutritional health.”
 
Three winners will receive USD $5000 each and media exposure; they will be prominently featured on Changemakers.com and recognized for the endorsement they have received from  the world’s most vigorous and engaged online social change community. 
 
Winners are chosen by the Changemakers community after a panel of expert judges reviews all the entries and shortlists finalists. Anyone is welcome to join Changemakers, to nominate innovations, submit great ideas, vote for the top finalists, and interact with a network of supporters committed to social change.
 
In addition, five entrants will be chosen by GAIN to attend, all-expenses paid, the GAIN Business Alliance Global Forum in May 2010, where they will have the opportunity to present their solutions to investors.
 
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About the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is an alliance driven by the vision of a world without malnutrition. GAIN mobilizes public-private partnerships and provides financial and technical support to deliver healthier foods and supplements to those people most at risk of malnutrition. Our innovative partnership projects in more than 25 countries are improving the lives of nearly 200 million people. Our project portfolio is growing and our goal is to reach one billion people.
 
About Ashoka’s Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. It is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, relationship-building, and the
sourcing of funding opportunities.
 
Through its collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers’ has created one of the world’s most robust laboratories for launching, refining, and scaling ideas for solving the world’s most pressing social problems.

For more information contact:
Delyse Sylvester
Director of Community 
Ashoka’s Changemakers
Tel: 250-352-0616
Cell: 250-551-0570
Email: dsylvester@ashoka.org