“CHILDREN’S NOBEL PRIZE®” FINALISTS ANNOUNCED
Eight Changemakers for Children Awarded “Nobel Prize® for Children”
NEW YORK, NY – October 28, 2008 – The untold stories of eight changemakers whose remarkable on the ground work has significantly improved children’s lives will be showcased on November 13 by World of Children (www.worldofchildren.org), the only global recognition and funding non-profit that recognizes individuals who are changing the lives of children around the world.
These stalwart individuals each will be awarded with what has recently been hailed as the “Nobel Prize® for Children,” an annual honor that includes a cash grant of up to $75,000 for the honoree’s program. The 2008 Award winners will be honored at the 11th annual World of Children awards ceremony on Thursday, November 13th at UNICEF House in New York City.
“We are truly humbled and inspired by these brave and selfless individuals,” said Harry Leibowitz, World of Children’s founder and chairman. “These extraordinary World of Children honorees have notably improved the lives of children, and set an example for us all.”
For more than a decade, World of Children has identified and vetted some of the most promising changemakers for children worldwide and provided funding for their efforts to improve children’s lives. The organization’s exhaustive research and vetting of individuals spearheading health and humanitarian initiatives across the global spectrum has been hailed by leading philanthropic organizations.
World of Children is led by co-founders Harry Leibowitz and Kay Isaacson-Leibowitz, retired senior executives from Procter & Gamble and Victoria’s Secret, whose dream is to assure a Nobel Prize®-like award to honor social changemakers who improve the lives of children. Since 1998, World of Children has awarded more than $2 million in cash grants to 70 changemakers working in more than 35 countries.
2008 Health Award Honorees are:
Dr. Jumana Odeh has spent a lifetime in her native Palestine helping improve the health of the most vulnerable members of the Palestinian society: children with disabilities. Disabilities are often a taboo topic within this culture, yet through the efforts of Dr. Odeh this taboo is steadily dissipating. Odeh founded the Palestinian Happy Child Center (PHCC) (www.phcc-pal.org) in 1994 in impoverished Ramallah, where Palestinian children receive treatment for trauma and neurological disorders, as well as learning and developmental disabilities. The Center also endeavors to provide normalcy for children through unconditional support regardless of political and socioeconomic conditions.
Tibebe Maco has devoted most of her life to helping orphans and the poorest and most vulnerable citizens in Ethiopia. A strong advocate for children’s rights to receive health care, education, food, and shelter, Sister Maco often spends her own salary to purchase food for others. Because of her initiative, more than 10,000 orphans and impoverished children now have health care, education, nutrition, psychological support and vocational training. Further, as director of Hiwot HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Support Organization (HAPCSO) (www.hapcso.org), Sister Maco spends most of her time treating sick children, including those afflicted with AIDS. It is no surprise the community views her as their angel.
Frank Brady was inspired by his own health crisis, a serious heart condition, to fight against inadequate patient care around the globe. Brady formed Medical Missions for Children (MMC) (www.hapcso.org) in 1999 to use communication technology to enable pediatric specialists to remotely examine and diagnose critically ill children. As a result, MMC has improved the quality of children’s health care in the world’s most impoverished regions. Under MMC’s approach, medical specialists at top institutions counsel their less specialized colleagues on patient treatment and therapy through a telemedicine session using video conferencing and remote diagnostic equipment. MMC has helped provide care in more than 100 countries and has assisted in the recent treatment of more than 30,000 children. MMC also operates the Medical Broadcasting Channel (MBC) a global Television Network that provides medical symposia to underserved hospitals including 750 hospitals in China.
ABOUT WORLD OF CHILDREN:
World of Children (www.worldofchildren.org) is the only global recognition and funding program for people specifically and exclusively serving the needs of children. Now an eleven-year old philanthropy dedicated to identifying and leveraging the efforts of those working on the ground to improve children’s lives, World of Children has recognized some of the most promising changemakers for children worldwide and provided funding and visibility for their efforts.
Hailed as the “Nobel Prize© for Children,” the World of Children Awards program searches the globe for everyday changemakers and provides funding and recognition to support their life-changing work for children. As such, World of Children acts like a social venture capitalist – employing a world-class research, review, vetting and selection process led by a committee of independent experts and professionals to find those individuals who are pioneering life-changing programs to benefit children. Then World of Children invests, through cash grants, in those enterprising individuals with a demonstrated track record of success, honors them at an annual awards ceremony in New York City and helps them leverage their World of Children awards to raise additional funds and generate visibility and strategic partnerships for their programs.
Leading philanthropies praise this organization’s extensive worldwide research and vetting of extraordinary individuals who are spearheading health and humanitarian programs. World of Children has awarded more than $2 million in cash grants to 70 changemakers for children working in over 35 countries.