The Skoll Foundation announces that November 4, 2008 is the next deadline for receipt of applications for the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship.

As always, we are looking for social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale positive change in the areas of tolerance and human rights, health, environmental sustainability, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity. 

Within these issues, we are particularly interested in applications from social entrepreneurs working in five critical sub-issue areas that threaten the survival of humanity – climate change, nuclear proliferation, global pandemics, conflict in the Middle East and water scarcity.

Award winners are celebrated at the annual Skoll World Forum following their selection, at the end of March in Oxford, England.
 
You can read the Award Guidelines, take our eligibility quiz and fill out an application on our Web site.
 
Future deadlines will be posted to the Skoll Foundation website as they become available.

The World Water Forum is the main water-related event in the world, aimed at putting water firmly on the international agenda. A stepping stone towards global collaboration on water problems, the Forum offers the water community and policy-and-decision-makers from all over the world the unique opportunity to come together to create links, debate and attempts to find solutions to achieve water security.

Bridging Divides for Water And check out other water related events.

In support of the United Nations International Year of Sanitation, World Toilet Organization presents two action-led events, which focus on providing the impetus for sustainable sanitation. A creative solution is to drive the paradigm shift required to tap on the emerging market at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ that will empower more people to gain access to proper sanitation.

Be part of the community that is helping to steer sanitation on track towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal for Sanitation and participate in the World Toilet Summit & Expo. 

A significant issue which will be addressed is the lack of funding for sanitation projects worldwide. One of the biggest problems often faced by countries with poor sanitation facilities is insufficient funds for new developments. Hence, WTO will be launching the a new funding platform for global sanitation projects – World Sanitation Fund Forum (WSFF) to specifically address this issue. 

An initiative from WTO since 2001, the World Toilet Summit is an annual gathering of experts with focused discussions that promote clean toilets, sanitation issues and hygiene.  Keynote presentations and workshops will focus on:

• Creating a Sustainable Marketplace at the Bottom of the Pyramid
• Private, Public and People Partnerships
• Best Practices and Case Studies
• Capacity Building
• Sanitation Technology and Solutions
• Policies and Standards
• Financing Solutions

Click here to register.

• 2,600,000,000 people (42% of the world’s population) live without access to sanitation
• 1,800,000 children die per year, due to polluted drinking water and insufficient sanitation
• 433,000,000 absent days from school per year result from water borne disease 

• 95,000 families need to be served with sanitation per day to reach this goal
• sanitation is not “prestigious” – politicians and donors prefer water projects over those for sanitation

Changemakers just launched a new competition in partnership with the Global Water Challenge. This global competition is searching for the most innovative and sustainable community-based approaches to providing universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
 
Tapping Local Innovation: Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis is a collaborative competition to find and discuss groundbreaking approaches that are making universal access to safe water and sanitation a reality. Addressing challenges from the high cost of water in urban areas to creating access to water in rural areas can lead to critical impacts on global health, the environment, poverty, peace and conflict. The competition offers a forum for ideas projects to be shared and reviewed by investors and leaders in the field. Even if you do not offer a proposal of your own, we invite you to join the dialogue. Your experience and insights are invaluable in the creation of truly innovative approaches to providing universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Funding will be made available for the most innovative work currently being done around the world at the close of the competition.
Submit, review and comment on entries January through March 26, 2008.

Online voting will take place April 16-30 2008 at www.changemakers.net

Enter now.