Next up in our interview series is Paul van Zyl, a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship for co-founding the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), an award-winning organization which assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse.

1. What is the innovation you have pioneered? What are you doing that nobody else is doing and why?

The innovation behind ICTJ was recognizing that there are lessons available globally about how societies confront a violent past, and that there is a need for an institution that facilitates access to this information and helps societies adopt best practices and strategies. Once those strategies are adopted, it is critical to get the same actors (victim groups, civil society groups, actors responsible for the transitional justice policies, etc) to help implement and execute those policies in their societies. Prior to the creation of the ICTJ, there wasn't a clearinghouse or mechanism for this.

Romina joined Ashoka in 2005 and works for Ashoka’s Youth Venture, primarily supporting and creating a strong global movement of young changemakers around the world. Read all of her posts here.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently published their World Report 2010 on how well governments are doing (or not doing) in protecting their citizens’ rights. “Every government is at times tempted to violate human rights,” says Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of HRW and from his Report it seems like many governments have in 2009. 

Human Rights Today

While over the last few years, human rights activists have been able to expose abuses almost anywhere in the world the attacks on human rights defenders, organizations, and institutions have not diminished. On the contrary, what’s interesting is that many governments have been able to adapt themselves into new “silencing” techniques that have instead “grown in subtlety and sophistication”.  The Report specifically states “murders are committed deniably. Politically motivated prosecutions are disguised by common criminal charges. Censorship is accomplished through seemingly neutral regulatory regimes. Funding streams are blocked.”

Priya Parker has worked in India, Africa and the US on peace-building and social-innovation.

David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary spoke at MIT this week on “The War in Afghanistan: How to End it.” In his speech, he outlined what he saw as the necessary political and economic steps to end the war and rebuild Afghanistan. The Washington Post covers Miliband’s speech here.  But as these things go, some of the more interesting comments came out during the Q&A portion of the talk. 

I was tweeting from the talk and the tweet that elicited the most response was regarding Afghanistan and agriculture. 

One MIT undergrad asked, “What can engineers like us do in Afghanistan?”  David Miliband’s response? Focus on agriculture.

Later in the session, Miliband again re-iterated his point, “the alternative to drugs is agriculture.” He emphasized both the importance of security and prices in creating a strong agricultural sector. 

Melanie Kawano is the Program Manager of the BEFORE Project: Action to Prevention Political Violence. Read all of her posts here.

Ashoka Peace contributor Rebecca Sargent recently wrote a post on rebuilding efforts in disaster zones. In her post she makes the important connection between reconstruction efforts and building peace throughout the affected communities: "Without proper rebuilding, the potential for violence in the region grows, as people are forced into alternative choices to feed, shelter and support themselves and their families. Peace can only truly begin to be built when people have access to their basic needs.

Both the aftermath of the Haiti and Chile earthquakes revealed the instable and volatile environment that arises immediately after a natural disaster; in these cases, with people looting and turning to violence on the streets. Without the necessary immediate (and continuous) resources and support, natural disaster have the potential to wreak long-term conflict in the affected region. Luckily, in the case of Chile, Ashoka Fellows are well-positioned as social entrepreneurs to bring forward effective solutions.

Ashoka Fellows in Chile, now accounted for and safe, have geared up to respond to the region's immediate needs. We encourage you to read more about how Ashoka Fellows are mobilizing efforts and resources in the aftermath of the Chilean earthquakes in this press release and to think about how their efforts contribute to maintaining peaceful coexistence throughout the region.

Rebecca Sargent has been a student of peace and conflict for most of the past decade across several disciplines and programs with a goal of life-long education. Read all of her posts here.

One of the biggest tasks after a natural disaster strikes involves the rebuilding of homes and lives for those who have been left with nothing. Problem is; most of the rebuilding efforts of this sort happen in places where natural disaster is ripe to strike again someday.  If rebuilding is done in traditional ways, disaster is surely to strike again, and more lives will be destroyed. Without proper rebuilding, the potential for violence in the region grows, as people are forced into alternative choices to feed, shelter and support themselves and their families. Peace can only truly begin to be built when people have access to their basic needs.

Ibrahim Ag Idbaltanant is a recently-elected Ashoka Fellow who is working to stamp out slavery, one of the oldest scourges of humankind. Slavery still exists in many overlooked, often remote, corners of the world, embedded deep within the fabric of societies. Social entrepreneurs like Ibrahim are an essential force in the slow, daily grind of progress that will eventually eradicate this dark side of our natures. But when you are facing problems that are so deeply embedded in our cultures, success can be fleeting and often incremental. That is precisely why it must be celebrated.

Please find below the moving story of a woman named Timizwaq who, until very recently, was a slave in Northern Mali.  Thanks to the work of Ibrahim’s organization, TEMEDT, and his network of allies, she escaped from a lifetime of slavery and asked that we translate this story and share it with as many people as possible.  She is so grateful to everyone who has helped her. As she declares here, for the first time in her life, she feels loved.  At Ashoka Peace, we are delighted to join in her celebration by sharing her story.

Continuing our interview series, Ashoka Peace interviews Daniel Lubetzky, serial peace entrepreneur who is creating new models for bridging the for-profit and non-profit worlds, and showing our peacebuilding can be financially sustainable.

1. What is the innovation you are pioneering? What are you doing that nobody else is doing and why?

What we like to do is to build models where business and social interests are totally aligned and reinforce one another. It is not easy to do.  A lot of the area of “corporate social responsibility” is structured around perceived sacrifices to the bottom line in order to address other important societal objectives.  The fun stuff comes when you are able to innovate through ventures whose financial and social objectives reinforce one another. 

Landmines continue to take human lives far after a war has ended. For example, when war in Monzambique ended there were thought to be 3 million unexploded landmines. After wars end, innocent citizens are the most affected by strategically placed landmines.

Ashoka Fellow Bart Weetjens (who is also a Buddhist monk) has a unique solution to the problem of unexploded landmines. It involves local resources...rats! Bart's landmine detection business, APOPO, trains African Giant Pounched rats, who are highly resourceable, adaptable and intelligent creatures with a great sense of smell. These qualities make rats, who have been conditioned to associate the smell of the chemical explosive with a food reward, the best positioned to sniff out the TNT in landmines. In 2009 alone, APOPO made safe 700,000 square meters of land (about 127 football fields). Bart's work not only gets rid of landmines, but also reduces fear towards landmines among local populations. Check out how APOPO's landmine detection model works in the video below.