Riders for Health has received high praise from the vice president of Gambia, Dr Isatou Njie Saidy, during a ceremony presenting the Ministry of Health with a new fleet of motorcycles and vehicles.

"VP Njie-Saidy noted that although it has been five years, those vehicles and motorcycles are still on the road thanks to the efficient and effective maintenance services of Riders for Health, adding that since the advent of the July 22nd revolution, the health sector has and continues to be a priority for the government.

She added that the contract with Riders for Health had made available a dedicated fleet of vehicular transport, and an effective system to manage the fleet to ensure that health workers, drugs, vaccines, medical supplies, bed-nets, and reproductive health commodities materials, reach the targeted communities and patients get to hospitals for quick medical care."

Read more from The Point.

Ecopreneurist recently did a great write-up on the WE CARE Solar is doing with their portable solar power suitcases.

"Stachel’s husband, a solar energy educator, built a prototype of a portable solar electric system designed specifically for maternity wards, labor rooms, operating rooms, and labs. This portable solar power system fit into a suitcase-sized enclosure, and when Stachel brought it with her to a Nigerian hospital, to be used to charge LED lights, headlamps, and walkie-talkies, the healthcare workers immediately saw the importance of having such a system, especially in outlying medical clinics."

Check out the entire article on their website.

The Duke Center for International Development, a part of the Sanford School of Public Policy, is pleased to welcome GiveDirectly co-founders Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus for their Rethinking Development Policy series talk on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Faye and Niehaus will discuss GiveDirectly’s vision of a world in which direct giving to the poor is both a significant share of overall giving and the benchmark donors use to evaluate giving to organizations. Studies have found that wealth transfers from GiveDirectly to poor communities in Kenya have had large, positive, sustainable impacts across a diverse set of outcomes, including assets, business and agricultural income, expenditures, food security and mental health.

We highly recommend checking out this talk on February 12th!  It will be held in Sanford Hall room 201.  For more information, please email Julia Vail.

In honor of our dear friend and colleague Greg Dees, CASE and Duke I&E will be hosting a memorial event and service on Tuesday, February 11th. All portions of the evening are open to the public. Join us for one or all events, please RSVP at: www.tinyurl.com/DeesMemorial 

Tuesday, February 11
4:15 - 6:00 pm - "Toward an Open-Solution Society" 
Geneen Auditorium, Fuqua School of Business 
Several thought leaders (including best-selling author David Bornstein and Bridgespan co-founder Tom Tierney) will discuss Greg's influence on the field as well as his most recent work around the need for an "Open-Solution Society." 

Memorial Service and Reception 
6:30 - 7:30 pm Reception + 7:30 - 8:30 pm Service 
Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School 
The memorial service will take place in the Divinity School Chapel and will include music and personal reflections from a few of Greg's friends and colleagues.

Additional details at: http://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/casenotes/2014/01/23/dees-memorial-service/. RSVP at: www.tinyurl.com/DeesMemorial

Calling all students interested in global health innovation!  IntraHealth has announced the Pfizer Second Annual Switchpoint Student Contest!  This contest is a great opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to have the opportunity to share their innovation ideas with international experts, entrepreneurs, and innovators.

From IntraHealth: "What’s a switchpoint? Well, you might have heard it described as a crazy idea. As worlds colliding. As the innovation of the century. But essentially, a switchpoint is what happens when you take a good idea that works in one field and combine it with another, thus creating a unique solution to a real-world problem.

Think human organs + 3D printing. Hip hop + family planning. Drones + humanitarian design. Chocolate + peanut butter.

It doesn’t matter if you study global health, business, science, or the arts. If you think across boundaries and have a habit of seeing unusual uses for everyday things—and you want to make the world a better, healthier place—we want you at SwitchPoint.

And new this year, the SwitchPoint Student Contest will accept artistic submissions. Send us your music, your photography, your set designs, your videos, your infographics—the possibilities are endless."

Deadline March 15. Winner announced in early April. 

If you are interested in participating, you can learn more and submit your idea here.

"DURHAM, NC - Maya Ajmera, who founded the non-profit Global Fund for Children while a graduate student at Duke, has been appointed the university's first social entrepreneur in residence.

Ajmera will engage with all levels of the Duke community in social entrepreneurship and help create a learning environment that inspires and prepares future social entrepreneurs who can turn knowledge into action. The appointment, by Duke's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, is effective for 2014.

...

Ajmera founded and spent 18 years presiding over the Global Fund for Children (GFC), a non-profit organization that invests in innovative, community-based organizations working with some of the world's most vulnerable children and youth. GFC has awarded more than $30 million in capital to nearly 500 grassroots organizations in 78 countries, touching the lives of more than 9 million children."

Read more about this exciting appointment at Duke Today.