Concern Worldwide will hold the 2012 Women of Concern Awards luncheon on Friday, February 24, 2012 at the Fairmont Chicago, Millenium Park. This event celebrates the lives of women and girls worldwide and honors two women whose daily lives and work reflect justice, generosity and compassion.
Funds raised from the 2012 Women of Concern Awards Luncheon will support Concern’s education programs.
More than one in ten children living in the developing world never receives the opportunity to attend school. Without a basic education, these children will remain trapped in the cycle of poverty. Concern works closely with communities and local government to build and renovate schools, train teachers, develop and print curriculum, and provide books, desks and other essential learning materials. Concern has worked hard to reduce the number of out-of-school children by increasing enrollment and improving retention rates, especially for girls.
The luncheon will support programs in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Somalia.
Women of Concern 2012 Honoree Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, appears on the cover of this month’s Forbes Magazine! The cover story, entitled ‘Can Venture Capital Save The World?’ illustrates exactly why she will be honored with our Humanitarian Award. Acumen is changing the face of development with an innovative strategy of social investment, empowering small business and entrepreneurs in the effort to end poverty. The story recounts her recent visit to Pakistan to witness Acumen investments at work.
 |
Diane Geraghty, Professor, Loyola University Chicago School of Law |
Women of Concern Leadership Award
Diane Geraghty, Professor, Loyola University Chicago School of Law
A member of the Loyola faculty since 1977, Professor Geraghty developed and directs Loyola's nationally recognized Civitas Child Law Center, and is the A. Kathleen Beazley Chair. Her teaching, scholarship, and service focus on all aspects of the law as it affects children. She has served as a consultant to UNICEF in Africa and Asia and is the recipient of many awards for her contributions to children's law, including the American Bar Association Livingston Hall Award, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Award, and the Women of Concern Leadership Award. From 2004 - 2005, she served as Interim Dean of the School of Law. In 2009, she received Loyola University Chicago's Faculty Member of the Year award.
1.jpg) |
Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen Fund. Photo by Joyce Ravid |
Women of Concern Humanitarian Award
Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen Fund
Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. Acumen Fund invests patient capital to identify, strengthen and scale business models that effectively serve the poor and champions this approach as an effective complement to traditional aid. Acumen Fund currently manages more than $60 million in investments in South Asia and East Africa, all focused on delivering affordable healthcare, water, housing and energy to the poor in Pakistan, India and Kenya. She is a frequent speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and TED. Her best-selling memoir The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World chronicles her quest to understand poverty and challenges readers to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink their engagement with the world.
 |
Anne O’Mahony, Country Director, Kenya Concern Worldwide |
Guest Speaker
Anne O’Mahony, Country Director, Kenya, Concern Worldwide
Anne O’Mahony has devoted her life to helping others. For the past 25 years, Anne has worked tirelessly in some of the world’s most dangerous environments. A nurse by training, Anne began working with Concern in the early 1980s on the Thailand-Cambodian border setting up health centers for the survivors of the brutal Pol Pot regime. From there she went on to Ethiopia, responding to the devastating famine. Thereafter, Anne worked in Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Kosovo. Most recently, Anne was Regional Director for the Horn of Africa and managed operations in Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan, and included the major response to the crisis in Darfur.
