Today, The King Baudouin Foundation will hand the 2016-17 King Baudouin African Development Prize to the founders of BarefootLaw (Uganda), Farmerline (Ghana) and Kytabu (Kenya) at a biennial award ceremony in the presence of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium at the Royal Palace in Brussels.
The
Prize recognises the stand-out achievement of three young, African
tech-entrepreneurs driving social change across the continent. By
empowering those at the heart of social
enterprises to advance, the Prize endorses a new model of global
development that views entrepreneurship and local leadership, rather
than traditional aid, as the key to sustainable change.
For
the first time, the Prize will be awarded to three organisations to
recognise the growing number of socially minded tech-entrepreneurs
across the continent. All three organisations
share the underlying principle of using simple technology to connect
people with essential knowledge. Each tech-platform enables communities
to access and share information in fundamental areas: education
(Kytabu), legal rights (BarefootLaw) and agriculture
(Farmerline).
·
BarefootLaw
is
the first online legal service in East Africa. Of Uganda’s
approximately 2,600 licensed lawyers, the majority are based in Kampala,
leaving millions of
citizens with hardly any access to legal services. The organization
offers free-of-charge services that help those who are in need,
especially the most vulnerable, to understand and defend their basic
rights.
·
Smallholder farmers are the backbone of African economies, but many are held back by a lack of readily available
information. Farmerline connects over 200,000 farmers with
market information, peers and larger organisations. A study conducted
with fish farmers revealed that, farmers who subscribed for Farmerline's
information services for an entire season have
seen revenue grow by over 50%.
·
Kytabu
developed an innovative textbook content-leasing app for students. The
app makes school-reading accessible to 11 million students in Kenya to
break down the high rate of students currently without access to
textbooks (1 in 10).
The
Prize includes an award of €75,000 for each organisation and access to a
wide network of stakeholders who will support them as they grow.
The Chair of the King Baudouin Foundation, Thomas Leysen said:
“By
enabling local, creative initiatives focused on social good to grow, we
promote a culture of self-sufficiency and empowerment, not dependency.
Traditional foreign aid and donating
funds have proven theirs limits if what we want is to create long-term
change on the continent. The Foundation believes in recognising and
supporting local entrepreneurs who are passionate about finding
solutions to local development challenges. Our winners
have set a new precedent on how technology can change lives across
Africa.”
The Chair of the Prize Selection Committee, Koen Vervaeke, said:
“Expanding
the Prize to recognise three winners instead of one is a reflection of
the abundance of tech-entrepreneurs driving social change across the
continent. Young entrepreneurs
are changing the economic landscape on the continent. They represent
the future, a future that is happening now. Illustrating this in three
key sectors was the only way of doing justice to the diversity of this
transformation.”
BarefootLaw Founder Gerald Abila based in Uganda said:
“I am humbled
by this award and the recognition of BarefootLaw’s work. In 2012 we set
out with the goal to demystify the law and empower people to understand
their rights.
The
few legal practitioners in Uganda are based in the capital city, making
it difficult for people both in urban and rural areas to access legal
services.
Our
journey is just starting. With the money and mentorship offered through
the Prize, we will be able to grow and support more people to protect
themselves, their families and communities
from legal wrongs.”
Farmerline Co-founder Alloysius Attah based in Ghana said:
“We
are excited to grow and expand with the support of the African
Development Prize. Agriculture is central to African economies. We see
the impact that technology is having on
local communities; our ambition is to connect even more smallholder
farmers with direct access to global markets, information and finance.
We are building the operating system for small-scale farmers in Africa.
Hopefully, this will make them exponentially
more successful.”
Kytabu Founder Tonee Ndungu based in Kenya said:
“Quality
education is at the heart of human development. Many students miss out
and are held back because they cannot afford books that are curriculum
required. Our app changes
that. We are the alternative to textbooks. It is solutions like this
that will transform our communities and enable people to build more
prosperous lives. We are proud to be a part of a new wave of development
across the continent and looking forward to developing
the platform further through the Prize.”
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