Plurrify

"The criminal justice system is unfair and corrupt, simply a failed system".

As a social leader and entrepreneur, Saskia is breaking the endless cycle of crime in Mexico. She founded Reinserta in 2013 and her passion is to decrease insecurity in Mexico by improving the living conditions of people in jails as well as improving the reintegration processes. Saskia majored in Psychology at Universidad Iberoamericana, and specialised in criminology, kidnapping and forensic psychology at the National Institute of Penal Sciences. In 2006 Saskia received the "American School Foundation" Leadership award and in 2015 she became an Ashoka Fellow and was named one of the "Next Generation Leaders" by TIME Magazine. In 2016 Forbes magazine selected Saskia as one of the TOP 100 most powerful women. She has also been the Director of Mexico's Penitentiary Connection for the National Anti-Kidnapping Commission.

Reinserta works towards improving the security situation in Mexico. The organisation aims to prevent children who were born and live in prison with their mothers to become influenced by the criminal and violent environment that they live in and to create a support system for the reinsertion of teenagers who have committed crimes and spent time in juvenile correction. Furthermore Reinserta works to avoid the social resentment of individuals who were wrongfully imprisoned or convicted and to reshape public policy for the implementation of programs and measures for the social reintegration of former inmates. Finally Reinserta works to assist children caught in Mexico's prisons, to keep them as far away as possible from other inmates, who are in for crimes including kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking. Reinserta succesfully campaigned to lower the permitted age for children in jail from six to three years old across Mexico.

Admir was born in Bosnia where he experienced war and trauma before arriving to Sweden as a ten-year-old refugee in 1993. He arrived to and lived in a segregated area in the South of Sweden and his social affinity became important to Admir, and inspired him to dream and think that everything is possible. The idea for Sports Without Borders Sweden came through his own integration experience. In 2008 Admir was awarded "Kompassrosen" by the Swedish King's Foundation. In 2012 he was the Swedish representative at the International Visitor Leadership Programme arranged by the US State Department. In 2014 he was named an Ashoka Fellow and in 2016 he was selected as a Swedish representative at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Silicon Valley, US. Admir has also received several nominations and awards in Sweden.

Sports Without Borders Sweden uses sports as an integration tool. The organisation works with over 60 schools in five cities and cooperates with over 50 different sports clubs reaching more than 10,000 children every week. The main goal is to increase the children's confidence level and self-esteem, and to bridge segregation by creating new meeting places. The organisation has 12 full-time and 40 part-time employees and is supported by several large Swedish companies.

Combining over twenty-five years of experience in the technology and non-profit sectors with a degree in social anthropology with international development, Ken Banks is the founder of kiwanja.net and creator of FrontlineSMS. He is a published author, having released Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation: International Case Studies and Practice (2016) and The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator (2013). Ken was awarded a Stanford University Fellowship in 2006, and named a Pop!Tech Fellow in 2008. In 2009 he was named a Laureate of the Tech Awards. He was named a National Geographic Explorer in 2010 and an Ashoka Fellow in 2011, was the recipient of the 2011 Pizzigati Prize for Software in the Public Interest, and was during the same year selected as a member of the UK Prime Minister's delegation to Africa. In 2012 the Cambridge business community presented Ken with a "Special Achievement Award" for his work as a social innovator. In 2012 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2013 Ken was an inaugural member of DFID's Digital Advisory Panel and named by the University of Sussex as an ambassador for international development.

Founded by Ken in 2003, kiwanja.net helps social innovators, entrepreneurs, engaged citizens and non-profit organisations make better use of information and communication technologies in their work. kiwanja.net specialises in the application of mobile technology, with a particular emphasis on its role as a driver of innovation, entrepreneurship and social change around the world. FrontlineSMS is a text messaging platform helping drive social change projects in 170 countries around the world.

At the age of 15, Alaa moved from Saskatoon, Canada to Zawia, Libya. She enrolled into medical school and founded The Voice of Libyan Women (VLW) in 2011 at the age of 21. With a strong focus on challenging societal and cultural norms and utilizing traditional and historical role models, Alaa champions women's participation in peace processes and conflict mediation. She's been nicknamed "The Libyan Doogie Howser" by Jon Stewart and applauded by Oprah for her innovative approach to security. Alaa acts as an advisor to numerous international security boards, think tanks and organisations. This includes the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (women, peace and security) Global Advisory Board, UN Women Global Advisory Board and Harvard University's "Everywoman, Everywhere" initiative. She's the first Ashoka Fellow elected from Libya and the youngest recipient of the Marisa Bellisario International Humanitarian Award by the Italian Government. Alaa was named the "International Trust Women Hero 2014" by The New York Times and "One of 25 women under 25 to watch" by Newsweek. She's been selected as a "100 Top Woman" by the BBC and the SAFE Global Hero. In March 2015 Alaa was selected as the inaugural civil society speaker at the official Commission on the Status of Women's opening session. The Voice of Libyan Women (VLW) was founded in August 2011 as a result of the February 17 Revolution which renewed the hope for equality in Libya, but also renewed the hope of the Libyan society as a whole in their basic human rights, including women's rights. VLW has grown considerably since its founding, but remain a youth-led organisation. As a group of young Libyan women from different backgrounds, VLW's ultimate goal is to advocate for an increased investment into one of Libya's greatest resources which unfortunately has yet to receive the attention it deserves; women. VLW aims to represent the women of Libya, who despite being more than half of the population, VLW argues in many cases are treated as second class citizens. VLW believe that in Libya, where democracy, rights and even respect for its citizens has been stifled, now more than ever is the time for women to raise their voices.

Regina is the founder and CEO of Soronko Solutions. She was recently unveiled as the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador. She won Startup Entrepreneur of the year at the 2016 Ghana Startup Awards. Regina was featured on CNN as one the 12 most inspirational women who rock STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). She has been awarded Young Entrepreneur of the year by the GPA Awards from Africa 2.0 and the JCI Ghana Outstanding Young Person award for scientific and technological advancement. Regina is an Ashoka Fellow, Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, GOOD Fellow, Mandela Washington Fellow, Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow and a Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change. Regina has been featured on CNN, BBC, Deutsche Welle and Al Jazeera. She is part of the advisory board on a project to amend the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to include Digital rights of a child. Regina has been invited to speak and mentor at the Camfed Mastercard Scholars Program, TedxDartmouth, Harvard University and Oxford University. Soronko Solutions is a software development company and a social enterprise. The mission is to use technology to drive human potential. The company leverages on developing innovative technology solutions across different channels such as Web, Mobile, POS and ATM to help small and medium scale enterprises in Ghana create visibility and grow their business with technology. The social enterprise is using mobile phones, laptops, raspberry pi's and tablets to equip Ghanaian girls with STEM and critical thinking skills to solve the problems they live with every day and to fight poverty. Soronko has started a movement called Tech Needs Girls where girls receive mentoring to lead and innovate by learning to code. More than 3000 girls have received training in eight regions across Ghana by 80+ volunteers and 130+ mentors. Soronko is working on starting the first All Girls Coding and Human Centered Design School in West Africa. Soronko Solutions was nominated for the editor's choice award in the Women in IT award in the UK and won the Social Start-up of the year for 2016 at the Ghana Startup Awards.

Tactical Tech is a non-profit organisation that since 2003 has advanced the use of information and digital technologies by advocates and activists worldwide. Tactical Tech's mission is to advance the skills, tools and techniques of rights advocates, empowering them to use information and communications to help marginalised communities understand and effect progressive social, environmental and political change. Marek co-founded Tactical Tech and is a restless producer of various creative and social interventions that span across radio, television and internet, as well as those that utilise non-tech formats, such as workshops, book sprints and endless conversations. Activism, innovation and creativity are the major driving forces in his work, as is the importance of marginalised voices, opinions and world views. Marek co-founded The Second Hand Bank, the International Contemporary Art Network and recently Tactical Studios. He is currently focusing on producing interactive and static visualisations representing complex social and political issues. Marek produced and directed Tactical Tech's "Exposing the Invisible" documentary film series.

In 2002 Cogilent Solutions launched the internet based recruitment platform "BrightSpyre.com". Today the BrightSpyre recruitment platform is one of the best known and most credible brands in Pakistan. BrightSpyre has worked with more than 30,000 companies in Pakistan and globally, assisting them to recruit the right candidates. In January 2016, BrightSpyre registered a member base of more than 1.3 million.

Cogilent Solutions was the first company to deploy a crowdsourced disaster reporting and mapping platform; pakreport.org, during the 2010 floods in Pakistan. Pakreport used mobile phones to collect on the ground situation reports and map them in real time to connect the flood affected with relief providers. The team later scaled the platform to create the first open data platform in Pakistan.

Faisal is a tech entrepreneur, geek, innovator and problem solver. His work earned him a TED fellowship in 2009. Faisal has lead initiatives in online recruitment, disaster and open data mapping, transparency and accountability as well as virtual economy related efforts. In 2002, as a young entrepreneur, he co-founded Cogilent Solutions, where Faisal worked on BrightSpyre, building and scaling one of the early online businesses in Pakistan. He also works on mapping for disaster and transparency.

With his passion to compete in international competitions Faisal stood as a finalist in the MIT BAP and NOKIA million dollar growth economy venture challenge. Faisal pitched and won the TED City 2.0 Prize to improve sanitation in Pakistan. He has worked with General Electric, Making All Voices Count, Luth Research, Monitor Group and the University of Manchester. Faisal's work has been covered by Wired UK, Christian Science Monitor, DW TV, BBC and many international news channels.

WeFarm assists in eradicating poverty, increasing resistance to climate change and improving global sustainability and food security. The majority of the world's 500 million small-scale farmers live on less than $1 a day and are located in remote areas without internet access. WeFarm registered farmers can access crowdsourced info on agriculture via SMS for free, enabling them to improve their livelihoods. Since WeFarm's launch in February 2015 more than 50,000 farmers have signed up and 8 million pieces of information have been shared. WeFarm won the Google Impact Challenge in 2014 and was named one of the Ideas From Europe by the European Commission in 2015.

Kenny is the CEO and founder of WeFarm and as such leads the overall strategic direction and oversees the day-to-day activities. He obtained a degree in his native Scotland before moving to Peru to work with an international development NGO, as Regional Director for Latin America. Kenny was based in Latin America for seven years, specialising in work with isolated indigenous communities across the region, supporting local communities to design and implement sustainable and practical development projects. Kenny returned to the UK in 2009 where he led the development of WeFarm as part of a UK charity's start-up initiative.

The engine room exists to accelerate positive social change by supporting activists and initiatives to increase their impact using technology and data. Depending on the needs of a project, they provide access to technical resources, strategic guidance, information about comparable projects, applied research and project mentorship. The engine room build relationships over time to help their partners make their advocacy as effective as possible. Sometimes this involves only conversations, but when there is a strong fit they hunt down the resources and expertise to help partner projects take off. The engine room also develop and implement research projects designed to answer questions about when and how technology supports effective advocacy.

Alix is the executive director and co-founder of the engine room. She has a background in supporting and researching the use of data and technology for social change. Her research and academic work focused on how new media plays a role in facilitating opposition politics in repressive contexts. Before co-founding the engine room, Alix worked at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies developing projects and supporting technology planning. She has worked with groups like Tactical Tech and Mobile Active providing organisational support, training, and facilitation on: data literacy, information management, information activism, mobile phone security and organisational security. Alix holds an M.A. in Media Studies from the University of Oslo and a B.A. from Colorado College. She also sits on the board of directors of HURIDOCS and the Amnesty International Advisory Council on Technology and Human Rights.

Dalia is a leading Egyptian human rights activist,socio-political analyst and writer championing women's rights,civil rights and liberal democratisation. She's been selected byEgypt's National Council of Women as a member of its ForeignAffairs Committee (2016). Dalia was selected by The DiplomaticCourier as one of the 99 Foreign Policy Leaders under 33 (2013),named by Newsweek for two years in a row (2011-2012) as one ofworld's most influential and most fearless women, named by CNN asone of the Arab World's eight agents of change (2012), selected byDaily Beast as one of world's 17 bravest bloggers (2011). Dalia hasalso received the Tuft University Presidential Award for civil work(2011), and the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Journalist Award forher blog (2010). After Egypt's 2011 revolution, Dalia co-founded apolitical party and ran for parliament.

The Liberal Democracy Institute of Egypt (LDI) was founded inNovember 2014. It's a youth-led non-profit think tank, with thepurpose to help the post-Arab Spring Egypt to achieve liberaldemocracy. This is done by promoting human rights, civil liberties,and individual freedom as the basis for a democratic state. For LDI"Liberal Democracy" is much more than the mere practice of citizenselecting government representatives. LDI argues that LiberalDemocracy is the set of collaborative practices and democraticprocedures by government officials and ordinary citizens toguarantee and advance human and civil rights throughconstitutionalism, institutionalisation and civil society.