Hillary Clinton Announces Foundation’s Women’s Leadership Award
In the Ben Franklin room of the State Department, April 28, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the global Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls, supported by a $3 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Judith Rodin, the Foundation's president, explained that the Foundation’s long history in investing in innovative ideas and programs can have far-reaching impacts on social change. “We must do more, and with more urgency, to empower women,” said Rodin.
Everywhere from rural villages to burgeoning cities, women and girls face special challenges when it comes to poverty, violence, legal systems, education, employment, health and nutrition.
The good news is that people across the globe are taking innovative steps to strengthen the ability of women and girls to overcome these difficulties.
To help identify and expand the reach and impact of these local measures, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just announced the Secretary’s Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. This award is intended to enable individuals and organizations to address female empowerment more effectively in new and sustainable ways and to encourage others to join them.
The two 2010 award winners will each receive a grant of up to $500,000 to advance their work.
Excerpt from Judith Rodin's speech on the Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.
Thank you, Secretary Clinton.
Let me start by saying how delighted the Rockefeller Foundation is to provide the funding for the Secretary’s Innovation Award for Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment. And thank you Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Verveer for your long time leadership and perseverance in keeping this issue at the forefront of public awareness.
I’d like to briefly answer two questions this morning: Why this? And why now?
In other words: Why is this particular collaboration so important? And why is now the time to pursue it?
The short answer is, in the experience of the Rockefeller Foundation, identifying innovation…scaling that innovation…and applying it to seemingly intractable problems …has been shown time and again to be hugely effective.
