Adom FM’s Akumaa Mama Zimbi seems to be garnering more recognition as she lends a helping hand to society’s neglected – widows. Mama Zimbi has received yet another award for her role in creating several direct and indirect jobs for widows in the country. A UK-based NGO Teach A Man To Fish announced winners of the EDUCATING AFRICA Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education 2009 in which Mama Zimbi received the third prize. It was the third edition of the competition organized by Teach A Man To Fish. “Mama Zimbi (Ghana) is involved in Ghana and supports the Widowhood Alliance Network (WANE) project that was instituted to economically empower widows in Ghana through the provision of a pragmatic programme of education and self-sustaining business trades. The project has provided to date about 2,000 direct and 6,000 indirect jobs to widows in many Ghanaian communities,” a citation cited by Myjoyonline read. Educate! a Uganda-based organization won the first prize. The organization has been working in Uganda since 2002 and has fostered entrepreneurship in many a student by teaching their unique social change curriculum. In place of building its own school or giving scholarships to the current education system, Educate! works as a centralized education program that operates in partner schools across Uganda. In those schools students are assisted to create financially sustainable social enterprise initiatives in their community through the provision of a supportive, mentoring environment in which they develop their confidence, creativity, and leadership. Students thus gain a solid foundation in entrepreneurial leadership to drive sustainable development in Uganda. The second prize went to House of Nations based in Madagascar. It is a community based organization operating that operates in the country. The aim of the primary school that was established by House of Nations is not just to feed pupils with government program but also to help them to focus on character building. The project aims to rise new generation to overcome the mindset of poverty and to bring transformation among its own communities and all over Madagascar. They were selected by a panel of international judges from a pool of 260 applicants from across Africa. The best entry submitted by Educate! will receive a prize of $10,000 and the two runners-up will be given prizes of $5,000. This year also a record number of 23 country prizes of $1,000 will be awarded, with a further 5 organizations receiving commendations for their work. The aim of the competition was to identify and celebrate the achievements of social entrepreneurs who understand the role education can play within their communities. ‘With this competition we were looking for programmes which are innovative, sustainable and create real impact – and we have found them. We hope through these awards to show that Africa is a continent of hope with much to be proud of. If by highlighting the best we can inspire the wider education community to aspire even higher, then the future will be a much brighter place for us all!’, says Nik Kafka, Managing Director of Teach A Man To Fish. Source: Sociolingo.com *Fiifi Koomson contributed reporting