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THE 15TH SKOLL WORLD FORUM ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP | APRIL 10 -13, 2018, OXFORD UK When we get close, we hear things that can’t be heard from afar. We see things that can’t be seen. And sometimes that makes the difference between acting justly and injustly. – Bryan Stevenson – When we get close, we hear things that can’t be heard from afar. We see things that can’t be seen. And sometimes that makes the difference between acting justly and unjustly. “ – Bryan Stevenson – ” WELCOME TO THE 15TH SKOLL WORLD FORUM In order to address inequality and injustice, we must more deeply understand the current status quo—and how to disrupt it. There is no other way to do this than to engage with, and be close to the people and communities facing deep and persistent biases of all kinds. We’ll hear from community leaders, activists, social entrepreneurs, and innovators who bring a profound appreciation of our shared challenges and who have worked from within and side-by-side with communities to find solutions. THE 15TH SKOLL WORLD FORUM PAGE 4 Perspectives 14 Delegate Engagement 20 Monday 22 Tuesday 28 Wednesday 36 Skoll Awards For Social Entrepreneurship 54 Thursday 64 Friday Photo: Bill Hornstein PERSPECTIVES THE POWER OF PROXIMITY CLOSING DISTANCE & CELEBRATING DIFFERENCE TWEET YOUR EXPERIENCE AT #SKOLLWF 5 what they experience to be unfair. Areas of the human Like many children, my brain linked to recognizing granddaughter resists emotions in others operate according to a sort of ‘neural bedtime by sharing fears golden rule’, responding with that get her parents’ and my generous and altruistic behavior in direct correlation with our attention. Recently she was ability to share feelings. worried about her brain. She Proximity with our fellow was afraid “school-learning” humans awakens our feelings “ of empathy and compels us to and “all the rules you respond. Person to person, in have to remember” would groups and communities, we are crowd out her creativity better able to understand each other, relate to one another’s and compassion. While she needs, and feel moved to act. is yet to understand the But faced with injustice and suffering on a large scale, we brain’s infinite complexity, can feel overwhelmed. When our she has grasped its role individual impulse to give and then give more begins to wane, in shaping what makes us we draw back, and look for ways sentient, sensitive beings. to turn problems over to the agencies we believe have the mandate to develop solutions commensurate with the scale and scope of what’s needed. As psychologists and neuroscientists have Jean Monnet—one of the demonstrated, we humans are architects of the European wired to be compassionate and Union—once said, “Nothing altruistic. Children as young is possible without as three, across contexts and humans, but nothing lasts cultures, will attempt to “right” without institutions.” 6 TWEET YOUR EXPERIENCE AT #SKOLLWF That’s an important touchstone those of the market and free for me. Proximity is a powerful enterprise. Silicon Valley, Wall force at both the individual Street, and Washington, D.C.— and institutional levels. It and their equivalents in other triggers empathy in individuals. countries—are drawing further Institutions, too, best fulfill apart than we might care to their missions by keeping acknowledge. Yet, the structures close to those they serve, and principles of democracy where they can appreciate the must have proximity to interact results of their efforts, learn with the structure and models from experience, and respond of free enterprise if we are to to changing contexts. When realize our ambitions for equity, ideology or complacency justice, and shared prosperity. blocks this feedback loop, institutions can become remote, Much as the twisted strands bureaucratic, and ineffective. in the double helix of a DNA molecule reinforce one another I have always believed that thanks to their connective the institutions upon which molecular bridges, government’s democracy depends must resilience and progressiveness be resilient, able to learn and depend on an economy adapt so that they can emerge spurred by invention and a from episodes of upheaval will to improve the human better able to advance societal condition—and vice versa. progress. Living in Silicon Valley and working with social entrepreneurs around the globe, I have also developed an unshakable belief in innovation and entrepreneurship. Nothing is possible without But I worry about the growing humans, but nothing lasts divide, which sometimes “ seems like an unbridgeable without institutions.” gulf, between the institutions JEAN MONNET of democracy and policy, and TWEET YOUR EXPERIENCE AT #SKOLLWF 7 Recently my faith in this model has been challenged. Attacks on our democratic institutions by forces aiming to increase their political and economic power are increasingly taking more from the many to enrich the few, and intimidating or punishing those who resist. Instead of reinforcing society’s interests, the two strands of our ‘social helix’ have pulled farther and farther apart. Like others, I am heartened by how many have embraced the challenge to regenerate the institutional pillars of their democracies. People of all ages, across all backgrounds and from communities the world over have come together to hold the Trust may be at an all-time low, but it’s not entirely depleted. Like any precious commodity, it takes“ time to shore up, one individual and community at a time.” SALLY OSBERG 8 TWEET YOUR EXPERIENCE AT #SKOLLWF powerful to account, to insist The Skoll Foundation’s years of have sparked conversations on more just and sustainable supporting social entrepreneurs leading to real action. This societies. I’ve been moved— and learning from their community has helped us see and shamed—by students experiences have shaped our ourselves not as philanthropic determined to end the scourge understanding of successful protagonists, but as fellow of gun violence in the United social entrepreneurship. Social travelers—as proximate partners. States and by all who provide entrepreneurs must commit to sanctuary for immigrants proximity to gain knowledge As we all look to step up our and rights for refugees. I am of the contexts affecting the game, let’s start with reclaiming encouraged by the groundswell communities they serve and our proximity to each other. Let’s of change born from women the institutions that can help re-commit and re-energize our who’ve decided enough is them scale their solutions. They shared power in pursuit of ever enough, who’ve come forward don’t try to be the smartest more effective approaches. Those with their stories of abuse and people in the room but to ensure ideas and experiences—and fresh pervasive bias, and who’ve that those most engaged in insights awaiting discovery—are registered in record numbers and affected by their societies’ available to us, here and now, to run for office. And I’m struck challenges come together in to find, embrace, and pursue in by ever more convincing order to forge the alliances solidarity with those we serve. signals from investors that that will accelerate true and they are factoring impacts on lasting equilibrium change. Sally Osberg, the environment and society, President and CEO, both negative and positive, The social entrepreneurs Skoll Foundation into their financial decisions. who gather at Oxford, and virtually around the world, Trust may be at an all-time low, but its stores can be replenished. Isolation depletes trust. When we are close to each other, break bread together, listen to each other’s diverse views, and share our dreams for the future, Let’s start with reclaiming we build trust. On the strength our proximity to each other.” of such interactions, we gain the energy needed to counter SALLY OSBERG demagoguery and strengthen all that binds us to one another. TWEET YOUR EXPERIENCE AT #SKOLLWF 9 JEFF SKOLL Chairman, Jeff Skoll Group Skoll Foundation, Participant Media, and Capricorn Investment Group Jeff Skoll is an entrepreneur devoted to creating a sustainable world of peace and prosperity. Over the last two decades, he has created an innovative portfolio of philanthropic and commercial enterprises, each a distinctive catalyst for changing the trajectory of issues that most affect the survival of humanity and its ability to thrive. This portfolio includes the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media, and Capricorn Investment Group—all coordinated under the Jeff Skoll Group umbrella. The Skoll entrepreneurial approach is unique: driving large-scale, permanent social impact by investing in a range of efforts that integrate powerful stories, data, capital markets, technology, partnerships, and organized learning networks. Operating independently from one another yet deeply connected through a shared vision, Skoll organizations galvanize public will, support innovators on the ground, and mobilize resources to accelerate the pace and depth of change. Jeff was the first full-time employee and President of eBay, where he experienced firsthand the power of combining entrepreneurship, technology, and trust in people. His work today embodies those fundamental lessons. All of Jeff’s organizations rely on the premise that people are basically good, and that if good people are given the opportunity to do the right thing, they will. 10 TWEET YOUR EXPERIENCE AT #SKOLLWF The mission of the Skoll World Forum is to accelerate the impact of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs by connecting them with essential partners in collaborative pursuit of learning, leverage, and large-scale social change. The Skoll Foundation drives large-scale change The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social is a leading centre for the advancement of social entrepreneurs and the innovators who help them solve entrepreneurship worldwide. The Skoll Centre’s mission the world’s most pressing problems.

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