Knowledge is power, and at ZanaA we are hungry for more knowledge: new insights in history, best practices that we can learn from, reports that form the basis for our statistics and decision, and more.
Below are just some of the many places we have gone to and recommend. If you have any recommendations for us, please send them to us through the Contact Us page. Check back here from time to time as we’ll update these. Also search our site for the book title as we may have blogs on the specific books.
Books
• The World is as You Dream It, by John Perkins – great insight into how our collective cultural values/dreams form the world in which we live, and how re-visioning what we want to see in the world is necessary
• When We Ruled, by Robin Walker – History is written by those who gained power, and this is a great history of Africa that you may not have realized
• The Secret History of the American Empire, John Perkins – what exactly has America done around the world to influence governments and economies? find out, especially if you’re an American trying to do good around the world, it’s helpful. The Ugly American is also probably the first (1958) book on How to Be a Social Entrepreneur
• Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant – shows the importance of non-profits to be self-sustaining and to combine grass-roots work with policy advocacy for lasting change
• The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman – takes a look at the role of technology in changing global dynamics
• The Bottom Billion: Why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it, by Paul Collier – a good insight from an economist into the people we should be focusing on in development and why
• The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating poverty through profits, by C.K. Prahalad – an economic justification why it is important to create markets for the poor and offer dignity through choice, and how that can be profitable to a company
Social Enterprise
Organizations that support social enterprise
Echoing Green: http://www.echoinggreen.org/
Skoll Foundation: http://www.skollfoundation.org/
Ashoka: http://www.ashoka.org/
TED: http://www.ted.com/
Websites on funding social enterprise
Root Capital: http://www.rootcapital.org/
Eleos Foundation: http://theeleosfoundation.com/
Acumen Fund: http://www.acumenfund.org/
Grass Roots Business Fund: http://www.gbfund.org/
Some of the reports and references mentioned in this website
• Gender Policy in Education, Ministry of Education, July 2007. www.education.go.ke
• Vision 2030, Government of Kenya
• What Works in Girls Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World, Barbara Herz and Gene B. Sperling, Council on Foreign Relations, 2004
• Final Report on the Impact of Feminine Hygiene on Girls Participation in Education in Kenya, May 2008. Forum for African Women Educationalists-Kenya Chapter
Check back here later, because we’re going to reorganize into categories (social enterprise, girls education and empowerment, menstruation, African history and global dynamics, seeing America differently) which will include books, website links, and movie recommendations. This takes a bit of time to get everything out of our heads so it can get into yours!
Are you a social entrepreneur or reading information about the topic? What are your favorite resources?
