Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Chair of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, has honoured six laureates at the WISE Awards ceremony which took place in Doha, Qatar last night. The WISE Awards recognise pioneering education-related practices from around the world tangible, duplicable and measurable. Also in attendance at the inaugural WISE Awards ceremony were Mrs Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Mrs Irina Bokova UNESCO Director General, Mrs Ruth Dreifuss Former President of the Swiss Confederation, Mr Gerhard Schröeder Former Chancellor of Germany, Fidel V. Ramos Former President of the Philippines and Biz Stone Co-founder of Twitter Inc.
Addressing the audience at the WISE Awards ceremony, Dr. Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, Chairman of WISE and Qatar Foundation’s Vice-President of Education, said “change takes place because individuals or teams of people have not only identified a problem, but have decided to do something about it. That’s why we decided, in this inaugural year of WISE, to showcase and reward exceptional projects and initiatives that demonstrate a tangible impact on each of our three sub-themes.”
In line with the global and inclusive outlook of WISE, the WISE Awards programme generated widespread international interest from diverse groups and individuals, with project submissions stemming from a variety of contrasting geographical locations. From a total of 588 entries, six projects originating from South and Latin America, North America, Africa, and Asia and Oceania were chosen for their exceptional impact within the fields of Pluralism, Sustainability and Innovation in education.
The winners were:
|
Pluralism |
Sustainability |
Innovation |
| MEHTA Sheetal / IndiaProject: Project Nanhi Kali | BURT Martin / ParaguayProject: The Self-Sufficient School | LEVY Peter / USAProject: Curriki |
| COLBERT Vicky / Columbia
Project: Escuela Nueva |
DONGOTEY-PADI Joyce / GhanaProject: WANE – Widows Alliance Network for Sustainable Economic Development in Ghana | MORAIS Delio / BrazilProject: Distance Learning in the Amazon Forest |
The WISE Awards embody the unique spirit of WISE, reflecting the initiative’s multidisciplinary and universal ethos. While these winning projects have their origins in specific regions, they each possess the potential for inspiration and implementation on a wider scale. The winning projects serve traditionally overlooked and underprivileged populations. They involve whole communities and create new partnerships. They spread the effects of innovative educational practice efficiently, widely, sustainably and equitably. They can be replicated and their positive effects can be easily measured.
Sustainability laureate Joyce Dongotey-Padi from Ghana, shared: “the WISE Awards allowed project WANE – Widows Alliance Network for Sustainable Economic Development to gain international recognition and establish itself as a legitimate local actor. The experience has given us the opportunity to develop further initiatives.”
The WISE Awards winners were chosen by a renowned international jury following a rigorous process of adjudication. The two-tier selection firstly involved the short-listing of 48 projects by a 15-member committee of multidisciplinary experts which were subsequently reviewed by an International Jury consisting of 11 of the world’s leading experts in pluralism, sustainability and innovation.
The WISE Awards will act as an annual platform to showcase concepts that have successfully made the transition to concrete, workable and effective practices.
The six WISE Awards winners each received a prize of $20,000 to support their respective educational initiatives, as well as a unique hand-made trophy modeled on original artwork by Céline Tilliet.
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