If There’s A Will, There’s A Way

Renowned philosopher Confucius once said “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” Perseverance will get you somewhere, and sometimes, it ends up being a better place than you originally envisioned. One of the purposes of professional exchange programs is to motivate participants to realize their potential and to give them opportunities to connect with new people and understand the advantages of social entrepreneurship through exchange of ideas and experiences. This gives them the tool set to persevere through the challenges Confucius referred to so long ago. Professional Exchange Program alumnus Moreblessing...

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Top 5 Tips for Best P3s

Public Private Partnership : a government service or private business venture that is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. Whether in Washington or around the world, many are justifiably weary of the term. We hear it frequently. It is thrown around as a “catch all” term, but has no intrinsic value; it is simply a descriptor. The marker of a public private partnership is attached to all manner of initiatives from the electric grid to highways and job training. PPPs, as they are dubbed in the alphabet soup of Washington,...

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Meridian Social Innovation Fellows – Where are they now?

In May, Meridian launched the  Social Innovation Fellowship.  This year-long engagement of social entrepreneurs from across Europe will yield community improvement projects in 5 countries (Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, and Spain), however the implications will be significant throughout the region as each project addresses overlapping issues. Over the summer we shared some of the individual stories from the fellows’ experience – particularly their impressions and observations from their time in the U.S. (May, 2015).  Now that they are back in their own communities, they are working to put into action best practices they learned while here.  While each...

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Three Months Out

In his capacity as Project Manager of the Sustainable Development Program at the Industrial Modernization Center in Cairo, Mr. Al-Amir Mohssen manages projects that focus on entrepreneurship and micro, small and medium enterprise development that support young entrepreneurs working across Egypt. He frequently volunteers for youth initiatives and is interested in learning about a broad variety of youth engagement strategies in the U.S. in addition to programs to encourage young entrepreneurs.

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