Empowering individuals

Eradicate Barriers to Economic Freedom for Women

Although extensive data on economic freedom is available, much of it lacks on-the-ground expertise and the moral commitment to reforming discriminatory and oppressive policies that disproportionately affect women. Atlas aspires to change that by providing real-world examples that document how economic liberty empowers and elevates women by creating opportunity, growth, and prosperity. Their vision is to break down the legal obstacles that prevent women from equal rights and opportunities. Using their successful grant program Liberating Enterprise to Achieve Prosperity (LEAP) as a model, they're challenging their partners to (1) identify projects that would improve their country's rank on the Gender Disparity Index and other indices, (2) create and implement reform strategies, and (3) publicize non-governmental solutions that help reduce poverty among women.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

In too many countries, women find themselves enslaved by circumstance rather than free to make autonomous decisions. This project aims to reduce the opportunities and reasons for authorities to repress women as they try to better their lives. Solutions designed to improve the rights and living standards of women often focus on doling out more aid money, only to fail

because local policies and customs prevent women from taking advantage of their own talents. This project would illustrate the value of targeting specific repressive public policies that make it impossible for women to forge their own paths out of poverty.

Atlas Network believes that institutional change is unlikely to last if imposed by outsiders who are unfamiliar with local customs. Change must be developed from within, both to ensure buy-in and, more importantly, to discover the unique cultural mechanisms necessary for informal norms to transition smoothly to well-functioning formal systems. By working with local institutions to build support for change, the project is laying a lasting foundation for freedom to flourish.

Empowering Women and Communities through Property Rights

West Bengal has digitized most land records and developed an on-line platform for citizens to access records and transfer rights from sale or inheritance. Unfortunately, many of the digitized records are inaccurate. Women are particularly affected, as their names are rarely listed as co-owners or heirs on older records, which means many are not able to legally claim land and leverage it to improve their economic and social conditions. Landesa is an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the worlds poorest women and men by securing land and property rights and improving the institutional environment in countries around the world. They have identified an alternative path to securing property rights in West Bengal building the capacity of rural women who are members of self-help groups providing information and property records updating services, for which they will charge a small service fee. At the same time, community members will gain access to the information they need quickly and at a lower cost by working with a member of their community.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

This project will help to secure the land and property rights of up to 300,000 men and women living in the Indian state of West Bengal by scaling a new, entrepreneurial approach to strengthening land records. A strong and secure system of private property rights is widely recognized as part of the essential foundation of a free and prosperous society. It enables autonomous decision making, allowing individuals and families the freedom to choose how to use the resources they control to improve their lives and, in the process, enabling more and different kinds of entrepreneurship. Importantly, providing more secure rights to property devolves power and enables women and men to have a room, a home, a field, a factory of their own; a place largely free from the interference of those in authority, as is essential to protecting and preserving privacy and freedom (as Hayek says in The Road to Serfdom).

Read more about this project and how it transforms lives of West Bengali communities here

Liberty in Action

There is often a disconnect between classical liberal theory and its application in the real world. At the same time, there is a prevailing tendency for individuals to look towards government as the normative solution to complex social challenges. The Liberty in Action project from Universidad Francisco Marroquin (UFM) will provide a collaborative hands-on, multidisciplinary student experience that will develop bottom-up solutions to social challenges using classical liberal principles. Through the CoLab, students will drive innovative solutions to existing social problems in Guatemala that are private, voluntary, and free-market.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Each individual is unique, inherently social, and has the capacity for creative activity. The Liberty in Action project, through the CoLab, will place an emphasis on these defining aspects of the human person to develop bottom-up solutions to complex social challenges where top-down bureaucratic programs and schemes have typically served as the default.

The program will impact the landscape of freedom in two tangible ways: (1) students at UFM will increase their appreciation and understanding of market principles through active and experiential learning, and (2) projects developed through the CoLab will accelerate human progress through market-based solutions that reduce the scope and desire of government intervention.

In the long-term, UFM aims to cultivate a mindset shift by demonstrating the viability and practicality of market-based solutions to complex social problems. They aim to reach thousands through market-based interventions that materially improve human lives.

Scholarship Program

High-quality tertiary education provided by private institutions is nearly inaccessible to the vast majority of the population in Latin America. This erects a barrier to disadvantaged youth in Latin

America that proves hard to overcome. Fundacion Educacion, through providing scholarships to young and promising students from low-income families, seeks to unlock the potential of select disadvantaged Latin American youth, cultivating new perspectives that serve as a catalyst for job creation, increase in innovation, and greater economic growth. Students that receive support from Fundacion Educacion sign a so-called Compromiso de Honor through which they commit to voluntarily repay their bursary so that new students can be supported. Rising Tide will finance the tertiary education of 15-20 students over the next three years.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Access to quality education is foundational for advancing freedom and prosperity. Through this scholarship program, Fundacion Educacion is equipping high-capacity underprivileged youth with the resources they need to realize their potential in the marketplace. As they only partner with local universities and technical schools that are firmly steeped in principles of entrepreneurship, the free market economy, and democracy, scholarship recipients will be inculcated with classical liberal values throughout their tertiary education.

As students complete their education, Fundacion Educacion expects 95% of their scholarship recipients to find well-paid employment with a 98% graduation rate. These students will contribute to the prosperity of their own families as well as their countries' economic and social progress.

The Wildlife Tourism College of Maasai Mara

The Wildlife Tourism College (WTC) in Kenya's Greater Maasai Mara region, one of the last major wildlife refuges on earth, aims to develop an innovative, sustainable, long-term method of wildlife conservation which simultaneously maintains economic freedom and mobility for the Maasai people. The WTC is part of a broader initiative in the Mara region to preserve, sustain, and scale the triple-use Pardamat Conservation Area (PCA), where wildlife, livestock and people live together in harmony. The campus merges a teaching college - targeting the 80% of unemployed among Maasais from 18 to 35 years of age paired together with an educational tourism camp for international students and volunteers where profits realized go directly to supporting the college and the community. The hoped-for success of the triple-use conservation area counts on sustainable socio-economic growth through education, employment, and for-profit tourism, all of which the area lacks significantly.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

This project is an example of a non-governmental/private sector solution to a tragedy of the commons situation that had resulted in a loss of biodiversity and wildlife in PCA, which is in turn linked to income loss and limited potential of economic development for the local Maasai community. Based on market mechanisms, a system is developed together with the local communities, that results in socio-economic development through participation in the tourism industry and conservation of the biodiversity and wildlife in PCA.

Proposal for Franchising of Self-Reliance Clubs

The traditional approach to fighting poverty in the United States is through the alleviation of symptoms rather than employing strategies that seek to enhance human flourishing. This approach sees the poor as objectsobjects of pity, compassion, and charityinstead of seeing

the poor as subjects, the protagonists of their own lives. As Ismael Hernandez says, self-reliance is in eclipse todaythis directly affects outcomes in education, health, and security. The Freedom & Virtue Institute has created Self-Reliance Clubs (SRCs) with the goal to integrate efforts within existing school activities by adopting the initiatives and giving them new meaning, empowering students to meet their needs through work. This allows children to better understand work as a means of wealth creation and economic opportunity.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Many of todays social programs contribute to a prevailing mindset of victimhood and dependency. If this mindset is to be shifted in the future, it must start with childrenthey must be sent a contrary message. A message that tells them they have what it takes to meet their needs, that they are agents of choice.

Through SRCs, the Freedom and Virtue Institute will connect children to practical projects that connect reward to accomplishments. As the SRCs follow students year after year, they continue a journey of engagement and discover that they are engines of wealth creation.

The Freedom & Virtue Institute aims to launch over 200 SRCs and impact up to 5,000 students with their activities over the next three years. This will equip young individuals with character traits and virtues that facilitate enterprise and the love of freedom that motivates them to become free and productive citizens, entrepreneurs, and workers.

Scholarships for Low-Income, High Potential Indian Girls

According to government reports, deep-rooted gender inequality is the most pervasive form of inequality that operates in India across all classes, castes, and communities, posing a big challenge to India's potential to translate economic growth into inclusive development. To diminish gender differences in households and society, policies need to address the combined influence of social norms and beliefs, womens access to economic opportunities, the legal framework, and womens education and skills. To limit the reproduction of gender inequality across generations, it is important to reach adolescents and young adults because this is the age when they make decisions that determine their acquisition of skills, future health, economic prospects, and aspirations.  

The Leadership Foundation of India invests in and empowers the next generation of women leaders in India. It primarily carries out this mission through support of its partner institution, Avasara Academy, a first-of-itskind secondary school for exceptionally talented girls in Pune, India. With a mission to empower girls of promise to lead lives of distinction and impact, Avasara Academy was established in 2011. It welcomed its first cohort of 50 students in 2015. This grant will allow 214 girls to attend the Avasara girls school over a 3 year period.  

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

When you give a girl, regardless of her economic status, the highest quality education possible, and equip her with skills to lead her community, she will not only change the minds of those around her, she will change the world. 

Empowering young girls through scholarships to Avasara Academy will increase womens voices in society while fostering and training future women leaders. An education at Avasara Academy will facilitate the transition from school to work through job and life skills training programs and shift aspirations from exposure to role models who challenge prevailing social norms.

Empowering Young Learners with Spoken English & Libertarian Values

The ability to fluently read, write and speak English has emerged as a crucial determinant of opportunity, choice, employability, social inclusion and mobility in India. There are growing aspirations for English speaking even among Indias poorest - demonstrated by increasing parental preference for private schools perceived as sites for better learning and opportunity primarily because of English education. With the recent trends in the Indian economy towards service industries, there is also an increasing market demand for an English-speaking workforce. However, a large proportion of Indias people cannot read, write or speak the language - only 4 percent of the population speaks the language fluently. English language education continues be poor in low income schools with poorly trained teachers, misaligned assessments, and lack of investments. Education in India, along with the popular media and public discourse also continues to harbor a predominantly statist and socialist bias with the result that young students and teachers have had little exposure to libertarian ideas and values and an understanding of their potential to transform their lives and life chances. 

The project aims to train 5,000 teachers to improve spoken English skills for students currently attending low-fee private schools in India incorporating classical liberal content into the curriculum. The project will create a mobile-based app called Bolo English with conversational English and libertarian content while also conducting in-person training for teachers and students.  

Learn more about Bolo English here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZYxkCJ7A_U.

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

Through English proficiency, the project seeks to foster better opportunities for education and employment, as well as social inclusion and mobility amongst low-income communities. This project from the Centre for Civil Society addresses these two pervasive challenges in Indian society: (1) poor knowledge of English, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and (2) a prevalent bias towards Nehruvian socialism. 

Enhancing Freedom Through Quality Improvements in Low-cost Private Schools

Despite the success of low-cost private education in the developing world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, governments often attempt to hinder their growth and flourishing. One of the most frequent criticisms is that the teachers within these schools do not have the same level of training and certification as those in government schools. Critics also argue that even if most research shows that the pupils in these schools outperform those in public schools, the quality of education remains low across both sectors.

The University of Buckingham, in partnership with the Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED) in Nigeria, and the Centre for Teacher Accreditation (CENTA) in India is seeking to address this significant challenge by bringing an internationally recognized, educationally effective, technologically innovative, and affordable training program for educators in the low-cost private sector. The program will empower teachers and school managers and increase the quality of teaching and learning in these schools.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

The project will demonstrate to governments the commitment of the low-cost private sector to improving the quality of teaching and learning in their schools, and thus allow private school associations to argue the case for a more liberal regulatory framework. A leaner regulatory framework will empower educational entrepreneurs and school managers with the freedom to innovate and experiment.

These schools also operate under regimes where the Rule of Law is not necessarily observed, which increases the likelihood of bribery and corruption, as regulations tend to be arbitrarily applied. One way of reducing corruption is to reduce the purview of the state; this project will facilitate that process by showing that self-regulation within the private sector can lead to higher standards of education through international teacher accreditation.

The teacher training program will improve teachers potential for living independent and self-determined lives by increasing their sense of self-efficacy and self-confidence, as well as their teaching skills and marketability. Better teaching and learning outcomes in these schools will also increase the dignity and self-respect of the children involved, and better their opportunity for obtaining gainful employment, further education study or entrepreneurship. Each of these will impact on their families freedom too.

Identifying Best Practice for Empowerment Through Entrepreneurial Freedom

It is often believed that those living in informal settlements or in households with low socio-economic status are reliant upon the state or charitable means for basic quality services. This representation of development typically hides the story of community solutions. This project focuses on three informal settlements in Delhi, India. It aims to show how communities overcome the absence of basic quality service provision by providing services themselves through community and private means as well as by developing approaches to enterprise and employment that circumvent the need for formal provision.

What is important for development is freedom of choice and freedom to control ones own life. This project will promote best practice from the communities that stimulate sustainable lives overcoming barriers to employment and entrepreneurial activity. Newcastle University in partnership with Kings College London, St. Marys University, the Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence (CURE), and Indus Information Initiatives will provide knowledge for change, knowledge to inform, and knowledge to empower individuals to control their own lives.

You can find more information about this project here.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

This project will promote and enhance individual freedom in a number of ways, first it will discover how individuals, enterprises, and communities are able to provide basic services for themselves, promoting policy change that will put such private solutions at the heart of public policy. Second, by spreading best practice, it will ensure that communities can better adapt to the circumstances in which they find themselves and live lives that are characterized by gainful employment and enterprise, thus promoting empowerment, resilience, and reduced dependence. Third, by spreading best practice, it will promote approaches to providing essential basic services through the community and private enterprise. Ensuring accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability of these services for all community members including young people, women, and migrants.

Unlocking Potential through Mindset Change among Unemployed Youth in Kenya

Unemployment in Kenya among youth aged 15-24 is over 60%, and the struggle to generate sufficient income is even harder for vulnerable youth such as teen moms, those struggling with alcohol and drugs, school dropouts, or those with criminal records. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on youth living in informal settlements, worsening their pre-existing vulnerable situation.

One of the key challenges for these forgotten youth is that, as they look around them, they see the same, hopeless story played out in almost every person around them. These youth chronically fail at benefitting from typical entrepreneurship and business-skills programs because they are either over-looked or dont believe they fit or are able to succeed. Instead, they wait for help from others like parents, government, or big business.

To break this cycle of inter-generational poverty, Emerging Leaders project in Kenya will work with vulnerable, unemployed youth in urban informal settlements of the Nairobi and Naivasha regions. The program focuses first on changing mindsets to unlock youths potential. Then the program builds on this with financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills, typically seeing upwards of 70-80% of participants start a small income-generating business - one they identify, plan, and deliver and which more than doubles their monthly income.

This four-year project will focus on scaling-up delivery of the Leadership for Life program to 18,000 poor urban youth through a train-the-trainer model. The program is delivered by youth themselves - who have been transformed through their own leadership and entrepreneurship journey.

Our goal is to see:

70% start income-generating projects

40% linked with other programs or companies that can help them to grow their businesses

5% to be employing at least one other person.

Rising Tide Foundation and Emerging Leaders partner to change the mindset among unemployed youth in Kenya

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

Every single day the story of our lives is being written; the question is who has the pen? Emerging Leaders approach to enhancing freedom is to help youth re-imagine and then re-write their story by empowering them with the mindsets, motivations, and skills to flourish. This

enables them to navigate the challenges of life and make choices that will enable them and those around them to thrive. The program helps create flourishing communities by unlocking human potential and unleashing entrepreneurial creativity. When youth realize they are free to lead themselves and have agency over their choices and future, their entrepreneurship, energy, and growth is unstoppable and a catalyst for transformative change.

True freedom means no one - not us, nor any other entity - can tell youth what they should want or should dream. So flourishing is not defined by us, instead youth define it for themselves. And then they are coached to lift up their heads to see the needs around them, and how their own actions can help solve those needs. And thus, the link from mindsets to entrepreneurship to flourishing is born

Campaign for Housing and Human Dignity

Across the state of California, local governments have shifted from a more personalized approach to homelessness that respects the dignity of the individual to a one-size-fits-all program that is euphemistically called Housing First. The Housing First program dehumanizes its beneficiaries by treating them as objectives of the system rather than subjects - protagonists in their own story. Unfortunately, this program has resulted in a redirection of funds from organizations that have demonstrated success helping people leave homelessness and rise out of poverty towards initiatives that simply build housing.

To compound this issue, excess zoning regulations throughout the state of California have resulted in sky-high housing costs. These two elements housing without expectations and excessive regulations - combined together, are perpetuating the troubling state of the homeless in California.

The Independent Institute, through the Campaign for Housing and Human Dignity initiative, aims to provide a realistic alternative to California's current Housing First approach through (with the hope that successes can then be exported to other states):

• A 60-page Independent Policy Report that identifies the failings and damage of current policies while also painting a positive picture for what a transformational housing approach might look like.
• A multifaceted media campaign including a documentary to be widely disseminated via YouTube and receive high-profile coverage by key media outlets. The documentary will portray individuals impacted by homelessness, showcase programs providing transformation, and provide a vision for San Francisco to broaden the array of approaches that will alleviate the crisis.
• Develop an unaligned website branded as Beyond Homeless that will present the policy reports findings, including creative graphics, the documentary, as well as short excerpts and other content.

We are thrilled that this initiative has now been launched; you can watch the documentary trailer here, visit the BeyondHomeless.org website, and learn more about the Urban Vision Alliance.

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

The vast array of regulations on housing development imposed by California abrogates property rights, reducing individual freedom, while both feeding homelessness and preventing individuals from exiting it. Coupled with the destructive Housing First narrative, California has been placed in a dire circumstance. Independent Institute effectively highlights each of these policies and their failed outcomes, and widely promotes freedom-enhancing solutions through effective promotional campaigns and working collaboratively with the Urban Vision Alliance to support a transformational approach to ending homelessness. Through this program, individuals experiencing homelessness will be provided with alternative optionsoptions that enable them to take control of their own life rather than becoming the objects of a bureaucratic system that overlooks their individuality.

Through this initiative, Independent Institute will highlight and disseminate successful, human-centered solutions to homelessness that can be employed both in San Francisco and more broadly.

Jeevika App: Making a Living on the Street

Street vending is a low-cost enterprise and a primary source of livelihood for almost 2% of Indias urban population. Despite being ubiquitous, the economic and property rights of vendors are often at risk of abuse from government authorities. They live under the constant threat of eviction, seizure of their goods, and arbitrary fines. Approaching lawyers in every case of confiscation or eviction is costly. Harassment of vendors is rampant due to a lack of legal awareness, a systematic record of harassment data, and proper legal enforcement.

Vendors right to livelihood is at the forefront of governmental discourse, as acknowledged by Indias Prime Minister, and Centre for Civil Society (CCS) has managed to build its reputation as the go-to civil society organization for issues related to vendor livelihoods. CCS is currently developing a comprehensive mobile application (the Jeevika App) to ensure legal empowerment of vendors and to bridge information gaps through technology. The Jeevika App will become a one-stop access for vendors in Delhi by (a) creating a legal aid and SOS platform that will connect vendors to law students or lawyers in case of harassment; (b) enabling street vendors to geo-tag themselves for verifying their property rights claims; and (c) collating data on harassment and generating heat maps. This project aims to provide tools for street vendors to defend their rights and fight harassment. The empowerment of vendors will ultimately deter public officials from abusing their powers.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

For over two decades now, CCS has championed the economic freedom and right to earn a dignified livelihood for the poorest of poor in the informal sector, such as the street vendors in India, a vulnerable group of nano-entrepreneurs. CCS has won the 2021 Asia Liberty Award and the 2021 Templeton Freedom Award for its work on street vendor livelihoods. The government of India, through its Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development, acknowledged and accepted the recommendations proposed by CCS on protecting the rights of street vendors.

CCS has recorded instances of street vendors standing up to judicial officials, representing their cases in the court, and mitigating harassment while proactively working to make them legally aware of their rights and the law. Through a methodical identification of stakeholders and dissemination, the Jeevika App will positively impact the business landscape for street vendors in India. If the application is successful, then (a) the number and severity of harassment cases and extortion of street vendors will reduce; and (b) policymakers will speedily and comprehensively rectify legal barriers. As some vendors become empowered to fight against harassment, they will inspire others to do the same. The project will eventually help improve the prosperity, freedom, and dignity of street vendors in India. Once the issue of harassment is addressed, it will help the urban poor to work their way out of poverty.

Corporate Welfare: Where’s the Outrage?

The term capitalism is oftentimes misunderstood both in the United States and more broadly around the world. These misperceptions around capitalism are often a result of the pervasive trend toward corporate welfare in the western world. While the topic of wealth distribution is typically accompanied by debates for levels of welfare benefits, taxation vs. voluntary assistance, or optimal levels of taxation that encourage work but provide a safety net to the poor, Free to Choose Network (FTCN) believes that all reasonable people (while maybe disagreeing on the previous issues) can broadly agree on the ill effects of upward wealth redistribution where the low and middle class provide subsidies to business owners and politicians.

FTCN aims to generate a culture shift as a solution to the pervasiveness of corporate welfare in the western world today. They will aim to generate this cultural shift through (a) creating a film for distribution on public television; (b) establishing a community engagement program that helps provide local citizens with knowledge and tools to combat the problems of cronyism; and (c) producing and distributing video-based classroom education materials highlighting the partnership between government and business that causes cronyism to flourish.

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

Though this project, FTCN will highlight the work of ordinary people who are making systemic changes in their communities and then subsequently promote these efforts to others. They will be able to raise awareness around the issue of corporate welfare and then inspire those at the local level to combat it. This will result in a stronger reaction against the corporate welfare impulse in the United States, providing greater security and agency to the most marginalized in society who are disproportionately affected by this issue. Additionally, through their K-12 educational outreach, FTCN will change the future culture around corporate welfare by educating youth on the topic.

Unlocking African Trade

Despite recent progress, Africa remains the worlds poorest and most protectionist continent. Protectionism in Africa means more poverty, less choice, and lower quality of life for one billion people across the continent. However, there is now a real prospect for change if the right support is provided, in part thanks to the recent implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implemented on January 1st, 2021.

This historic agreement aims to remove 90% of tariffs on goods traded between member-states within five to ten years. Within thirteen years, it aims to remove 97% of tariffs. The World Bank estimates that, if successful, this Free Trade Area can lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty, 68 million from moderate poverty, boost regional income upwards of USD 450 billion, and increase average wages for both skilled and unskilled workers by about 10% by 2035. But if more states do not ratify the AfCFTA, the trade agreement could be a failure.

This three-year project from Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity (IATP) will promote freedom and prosperity by uniting more than a dozen innovative African think tanks with three esteemed UK-based organizationsthe Vinson Centre for the Public Understanding of Economics at the University of Buckingham, the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), and the Network for a Free Society (NFS)in the development of a program to promote policy change in the area of trade liberalization. The Vinson Centre will influence public and governmental opinion in favor of the AfCFTA through marketing campaigns, targeted projects, mini-grants to partners in their network, supporting publications in leading media, and distributing educational materials broadly.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

This project has massive potential, as reducing 90+ percent of trade barriers across the continent would mean substantial gains for 1 billion people. Individuals will achieve greater economic freedom, empowerment, and prosperity when they are able to more easily access global networks and benefit from reduced barriers to global exchange. This project has the capacity to change protectionist perceptions so that borders can be opened, and the benefits of greater liberalization can be enjoyed by those living across the region.

In order to change policy, minds and outlooks must be changed first. Hence, the inclusion of a component of this project that teaches individuals the power of free trade and the principles and foundations of free societies. This teaching will be done by distributing mini-libraries of classical liberal texts on CDs, books related to free trade, events (some online with many in-person), and articles across national media outlets. These avenues will in total reach millions of people. The IATP itself will also produce six professionally made videos that can be shared online. Once these videos are shared by partners in their network, it is likely they will at least attract tens of thousands of views. These videos will be intended for both policy leaders and broader audiences across the content that arent necessarily located in target countries.

Read more on the Initiative for African Trade & Prosperity at https://theiatp.org/

Greek Economics Olympiad

Greece has suffered for years from a tumultuous economic crisis spurred on by government debt and fiscal deficits. The Center for Liberal Studies (CLS) strongly believes that a lead contributor to this economic crisis and the subsequent rise of illiberal ideas and policies can be largely attributed to widespread economic illiteracy. To increase economic literacy throughout Greece, CLS is organizing the Greek Economics Olympiad and creating supplemental teaching materials, including a Greek edition of the award-winning economics textbook Economics in 31 Hours. They are also creating 31 basic economics education videos tailored to the Greek context that will be distributed on YouTube (and other platforms) for a high school audience.

CLS determined that the Economics Olympiad was the right initiative to reach their goal of achieving greater economic literacy in Greece through engaging high school students in a high quality and fun competition on basic economic concepts. Supplementary education materials will also serve to further influence Greek high school students.

The Greek Economics Olympiad was organized for the first time in the 2020-2021 academic year by CLS. The competition was launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and with the support of the Bank of Greece as well as the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy. The first competition attracted 1,105 students from 135 high schools from all over Greece and one school from the Greek diaspora. The Olympiad competition was mentioned 276 times in Greek media, including major television, radio, newspaper, and web outlets. Moving forward, CLS seeks to replicate and extend this success by increasing student participation while also increasing the quantity of high-quality resources available for students to gain basic economics education.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

There is a pervasive problem in Greece of a lack of basic economic literacy. Currently, throughout a typical education, students may never encounter any training in basic economics whatsoever. This is likely one reason for the great economic challenges Greece faces today. Through this project, students will receive fun, relevant education in basic economic principles which will increase their human capital while at the same time benefit Greek society into the future through a more informed and educated citizenry regarding basic economic principles. The goal of the Greek Economics Olympiad is to equip students to make important decision in both the political and personal realm that are anchored in sound economics. In just 5-10 years, at the current pace, they will have trained more than 100,000 high school students in sound economic principles in a country with a population of just 10 million.

Myne-Poverty Stoplight Integration

This project aims to increase personal freedom and activate personal action through an integration of two easily accessible technologies Myne and Poverty Stoplight. Myne is an agency-oriented software using proven gamification techniques to empower participation in personal transformation. Poverty Stoplight is a global movement with an effective bottom-up methodology and technology platform that activates the potential of families to identify and own their poverty-related challenges.

This project aims to address the lack of personal autonomy within the current systems targeted at poverty reduction by joining two technologies, whose values are deeply connected, to achieve individual and system level transformation. The Myne Community App will integrate with the Poverty Stoplight tool, showing the Client Life Map, priorities, and relevant resources. Our goal is to directly connect participants to their individualized resources and show the impact of daily decisions on large goals in a smaller feedback loop. It will include gamification features that are widely used across the for-profit sector but less well utilized in social services. Three pilot projects will focus on key stakeholders: funders, organizations and with a primary focus on  participants use and outcomes. Pilots will be in the UK Poverty Stoplight hub, Signal and US, including Texas hub, Dallas Lights.

Myne has three principles that govern its development and are part of its measurement strategy:

• Developing and deepening Ownership of personal choices and sense of agency (it is mine).
• Discovery: the process of collecting, seeing, and reflecting on data about ourselves helps us to understand our behaviors, attitudes, and mindsets better (mining for knowledge)
• Community: a network of trusted relationships that provides a secure environment i.e. our social capital is important (mining is not successfully done alone).

The Myne Community App provides a means to record, track, and measure the smaller actions of our daily lives, the activities we undertake regularly, and the moments that we acknowledge for ourselves. This can then be visualized to show the tangible progress that is happening. While small and often unnoticed, these moments add up to significant change. Similar to a dieter's decision to stick to an eating plan, when the scale begins to show small increments of progress (a visual representation of the progress), these small moments encourage someone to continue on a new path that is right for them.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

We believe Myne and Poverty Stoplight can, together, have a significant local and global impact on the everyday lives of individuals, creating personal freedom through increased agency and ultimately drive systems change at multiple levels.

Myne is a step towards the dignity, confidence, and empowerment that characterizes this enhanced freedom. It shows individuals how their work of showing up, persisting, progressing, and achieving goals within safe relationships can add up to healthier outcomes. For all stakeholders, it encourages participation in an ecosystem that helps families and communities to thrive. Myne shows how small-scale events and activities (that are often overlooked) are significant steps to an individuals achievement (research shows us these are the building blocks of building confidence). Combining this with Poverty Stoplights ability to visualize self-driven goals through its Stoplight Life Map will produce a powerful data-driven, relationship-based, and bottom-up approach to personal liberty and self-directed poverty alleviation.

Without personal autonomy, individuals will show some progress in traditional, particularly data-extractive only programs. However, they are more likely to revert to their previous circumstances as soon as the strict parameters of the program are removed.  With personal autonomy, an individual is more likely to experience sustained progress and change as they typically choose goals that will fit within their current parameters. 

Daron Babcock, CEO Bonton Farms, and member of Dallas Lights, connects Myne with that principle: We believe deeply in the idea that we should not do for others what they are capable of doing for themselves. However, [sometimes we can] rob them of the dignity, confidence and empowerment that comes with an honorable exchange. TheMyne app would allow us a way to quantify and track the work that is done by people, so we can empirically show them that they are responsible for their success; that it is earned and not gifted.

On a larger level, as more communities begin to use the tool, data points about community, country and regional needs will develop. As multiple nonprofits within a city begin to use the tool, data points will begin to show if self-identified needs have commonality by region. Example: The south side of the city self-reports the need for jobs, whereas the north side of the city reports the need for childcare. Utilizing these data points, funders may target their support to programs that provide assistance with these targeted needs, thereby creating systems level shifts in program implementation.

Community Independence Initiative

The primary means by which low-income populations get ahead economically, or even only survive, is through entrepreneurship and micro-business. This is especially apparent in developing countries: they sell soap, food, concrete blocks, gasoline by the jar, cut hair, and sell what they grow. History has proven that these entrepreneurs have the capacity to grow into more formal businesses in environments where people help one another, pool their funds, and grow their ideas.

This is where the Community Independence Initiative (CII) comes in to create a mutuality rich environment. Their approach is based on peer-driven change, acknowledging that those at the bottom of our economies are the only experts of their lives and are capable of agency. CII identifies local approaches and supports the most effective efforts by highlighting them or investing in them so that peers can follow those same paths. Low-income populations rely on families, not professional staff, to be the advisors, trainers, and role models for peers. They accomplish this work through partnerships with other organizations as well as the innovative, open source ImpactX Mutuality Platform that creates an eco-system with a core principle of working together and helping one another.

Ultimately the vision of CII is to fundamentally change current anti-poverty work of NGOs as well as UN organizations away from top-down, paternalistic approaches towards recognizing and supporting self-help efforts by low-income populations themselves. This model began in the United States under the Family Independence Initiative and is now being expanded internationally through CII by creating a naturally expanding eco-system that encourages and invests in entrepreneurial efforts that combine expectations of self-help and mutuality.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Local entrepreneurship is one of the few avenues those living in and around poverty have as a tool to get ahead or survive. Philanthropy and government cannot fill that role for the billions struggling directly, but by investing in these self-help efforts, can grow the pie for everyone. There is untapped latent potential that can be unleashed if we treat those struggling with poverty like we treat those in more privileged situations. Rather than being treated as drains on society we need to respect this population as the future builders and makers of their own economies. We are missing the talents, ideas, and energy of 75% of the worlds population.

This project aims at both creating the evidence, backed by data, that can then communicate to a global audience, the potential of entrepreneurship and of humanity when we encourage the poor to work together as peers. CII aims to see this bottom-up practice becoming the gold standard for dealing with poverty and economic mobility.

Powering Prosperity and Economic Freedom for Women and Youths

Today, 48% of Cameroonians are living below the poverty line and 98% of Cameroons businesses are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), 90% of those SMEs are micro enterprises (<5 employees). At the same time, widespread disparities in freedom of economic access exist, especially for women, hindering the contribution of SMEs to contribute to GDP growth. This project addresses the root causes of SME underperformance and job access in Cameroon through programs in the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Center of the Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation in Cameroon. They build individual capacity of future entrepreneurs while working for overall system change to improve the climate for SMEs and enhance opportunities for women and young people. Moreover, they focus at least 25% of opportunities, including business education, resources, productive employment, fair working conditions and financial services, in conflict zones with Internally Displaced People (IDPs).

The Denis and Lenora Foretia Foundation in Cameroon was founded to catalyze the economic transformation of the country by focusing on social entrepreneurship, science and technology, innovation, public health, and the implementation of progressive policies that together create economic opportunities for all. The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Center aims to create a more robust and diverse middle class in Cameroon through fostering free enterprise.

In order to accomplish this, the Foretia Foundation is creating an advocacy campaign with their coalition of stakeholders to promote economic freedom while deepening the roots of SBEC to receive recognition as a go-to resource for entrepreneurial training and development. Along with measurable policy improvement, training programs and SME support across four regions will result in $3 million in new economic generation, 600+ SMEs improved and 4,500+ workers with entrepreneurial soft skills.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

This project aims at holistically changing the business environment for SMEs in Cameroon and hence making entrepreneurship a viable option of development for its citizens, removing regulatory barriers and empowering individuals to become active contributors to the prosperity of their communities and country. With a specific focus on conflict zones, enhancing economic freedom in these areas, it will help alleviate the tensions that are contributing to ongoing conflict and help establish a lasting and sustainable peace.

Read more on the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Center here

Coaching for the realization of education with professional goal

There are a growing number of individuals who are highly motivated to take another step in their education but lack the financial means and do not qualify for any of the public or private scholarships. Statistics show that every year approximately 10,000 young people in Switzerland cannot follow through their educational plans due to financial shortcomings.

EDUCA SWISS offers a private sector solution where lenders offer loans to students at socially acceptable interest rates, combined with a philanthropically-funded coaching program, enhancing equal opportunity in Switzerland through access to finance without restrictions regarding financial background, social class, field of study or age. EDUCA SWISS provides loans to individuals in Switzerland who do not qualify for financial support from the government or other private scholarships for their education projects.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

The approach of EDUCA SWISS is giving individuals who lack resources themselves, and do not qualify for any government support in Switzerland, the freedom to follow their educational dreams and allow them to invest in a more prosperous future. It offers an efficient and superior solution to loans or scholarships provided by the Swiss government. The combination of loans and coaching, capital and philanthropic money, allows students to access capital from individuals and institutions at reasonable interest rates and offers an attractive impact investment opportunity at relatively low risk.

EDUCA SWISS is setting an important example in the Swiss education system that market-based approaches work and often create better solutions than government. It further promotes the principles of self-determination and self-sufficiency not only to the students but its broader stakeholder base.

Investing in Agricultural Enterprises to Build Rural Prosperity in Colombia

Colombia is the worlds third largest producer of coffee by volume, and a leader in quality; the coffee sector is the largest source of rural employment. And yet, farmers contend with significant challenges: small plots of land, high costs, stagnating yields, and stifling government intervention. Colombias National Federation of Coffee Growers (the Federation) provides government subsidies to farmers, including low-cost credit and free inputs, on the condition that farmers export exclusively through the Federationmaking those farmers subject to its largely undifferentiated international marketing strategy, and hurting the relative competitiveness of those who seek out other options.

Root Capital is aiming to unlock local prosperity by empowering enterprises representing thousands of small farmers to fulfill their potential in rural communities where the governmental structures of the Federation have often hindered their prospering. The credit plus capacity model helps eliminate obstacles for creative individuals in remote rural communities by equipping coffee enterprises to pursue an alternate, market-driven path through business advisory services in combination with access to finance.

No matter an enterprises stage of growth, increased access to credit builds the essential foundation for independence, competitiveness, and resilience. Root Capitals loans enable enterprises to pay their supplying small farmers higher prices for premium coffee than the Federation offers, and to pay them upfront and on time for their crop. These practices lead farmers to sell their crop consistently to the enterprise, and helps the enterprise hone the quality of its supply, boosting its reputation and market share with specialty coffee buyers.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Investing in underserved agricultural enterprises by building their entrepreneurial capacity and increasing their access to finance transforms individual lives: it enhances enterprises ability to create opportunity for thousands of people in rural communities, through quality employment for enterprise workers and improved market access for farmers. With growth and increased capacity, enterprises can improve farmer livelihoods while also increasing resilience, sustainable resource use, and market-driven social impact.

Entrepreneurship Mini Quest Curriculum

Research shows that Americans have become more risk-adverse, less adventurous, more static, and less entrepreneurial. The share of Americans under 30 who own a business has fallen 65 percent since the 1980s. This decline in entrepreneurship in America is a troubling sign. The Acton Childrens Business Fair is reigniting the entrepreneurial spirit in the United States by inspiring children to develop a taste for entrepreneurship at a very young age. Moreover, it showcases the power of entrepreneurship for tens of thousands of visitors worldwide. Since the Acton Childrens Business Fair was started in 2007, it has grown to 455 fairs around the world, serving 23,022 young entrepreneurs in 206 cities and 12 countries.

The Acton Childrens Business Fair of Washington, D.C. is a one-day showcase of the power of entrepreneurship for children. Children ages 6-14 create a business, sell to real customers, and keep the profits. Organizers provide outdoor tents and tables. Along the way children learn about entrepreneurship, but more importantly, about themselves and their character. Over the past four years, the Acton Childrens Business Fair of Washington, D.C. has grown to become the largest one-day childrens entrepreneurship event in the world, hosting around 125 young entrepreneurs who serve over 3,000 customers each year.

To further deepen childrens entrepreneurial understanding, Acton Academy is developing a new prototype curriculum an Entrepreneurship Mini-Quest. It will guide children in a four-week series of fun challenges that help them create a business for the Acton Childrens Business Fair, sell to real customers, connect their activity to larger principles of entrepreneurship, and reflect on lessons learned.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

With entrepreneurship on the decline in the United States, this project inspires and empowers children to view themselves as active protagonists instead of passive participants. By convincing children that problems are best solved by private individuals engaging in peaceful, voluntary transactions, the Acton Childrens Business Fair cultivates a mindset shift that will make bureaucratic top-down solutions to social problems unattractive for these students in the future. As children participate in an open market, selling their goods to customers, they are forced to make difficult decisions, engage in peaceful and voluntary transactions, and fail or succeed on their own. Through this, children learn that they have the power to write their own story and that they are free persons with creative capacity.

Enhancing Social Innovation in Conflicted-affected Societies

Every year, Rondine Cittadella della Pace (Rondine) recruits 15 young leaders from the most conflict plagued and post-conflict societies to attend their World House Program in Arezzo, Italy. These students matriculate in an M.A. program at an Italian university while simultaneously partaking in Rondines globally recognized peace building process over two years. During their time of study, students develop their own social enterprise idea to implement upon return to their country.

The project aims to empower young peacebuilders and aspiring social innovators to become agents of change, especially in divided communities affected by conflict or post-conflict situations. Rondine believes that Peaceful societies are only possible when individuals are free to make their own choices and economically empowered to do so. Students receive training in conflict transformation and social innovation, as well as personal freedom, free-market economy, and prosperity.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Rondine has concluded that to sustain peace in conflict-ridden areas, they also need to invest in social and economic development through empowering young people to become agents of change, contributing to peace processes worldwide. Through this approach, Rondine not only contributes to enhancing freedom by promoting peace, but also by advancing local economic development. Rondines World House Program includes a combination of conflict transformation and classical liberal educational activities, with the aim of not only teaching peace, freedom, and classical liberalism, but also encouraging and supporting the development of concrete international project ideas.

Over the course of the project, approximately 50 young people from conflict or post-conflict societies will undergo this training program followed by a mentorship program that is dedicated to the development of their project ideas. Finally, the best project ideas will be selected to receive funding for implementation.

Liberal arts for all: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics for indigenous and ethnic minorities of Ecuador

Many senior positions in Ecuador require a graduate degree, but few indigenous and ethnic minorities have access. Students from low-income families who are not admitted to the limited slots in public university rarely access higher education at all, with only 2.7% of the indigenous population obtaining a graduate degree. Most Ecuadoran post-graduate programs are located in Quito and Guayaquil, while Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) programs from other countries are taught in English. This presents a barrier for low-income students or minorities who primarily live in more remote communities.

Liberal Arts for All will expand opportunities for indigenous and low-income youth to access high-quality, nonpoliticized education in liberal arts. The Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Universidad de las Amricas (UDLA) in Quito, Ecuador, with the support of Fundacin Ecuador Libre (FEL) and the PPE program at the University of Pennsylvania, launched the first PPE Diploma in Latin America. The diploma has developed into a one-year masters degree (M.A.) based on core ethical, economic, and political ideas in the classical liberal tradition combined with practical application through a component called Ignite in Action. A scholarship program gives low-income minority students access to a postgraduate program at UDLA, a top-rated private university in Ecuador. What's more, the program - taught primarily online with an intensive series of in-person seminars - will be subtitled into Spanish and Quechua to facilitate easier access for targeted populations.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

The project will empower individuals by teaching them the core ethical, economic, and political ideas in the classical liberal tradition. It will also help them live meaningful lives as free and autonomous agents by providing them with the material opportunity, skills, social connections, and mindset to thrive. Earning this masters degree will increase their ability to achieve goals that are out of reach for many people in their communities

The content of the program teaches students the mindset to thrive in a free society. It covers the moral basis of a market society, the importance of the rule of law, and the ways in which private property and exchange promote social welfare. But it will also teach them how to interpret ideas they disagree with charitably, and how to debate and argue with people they disagree with in a civil manner. This project will help to form the next generation of indigenous and ethnic minority leaders, giving them a voice and platform to act as individuals with their own voice."

Reaching the Rising Generation with the Ideas of Freedom

There are many books that teach on free markets, individual freedom, and prosperity for adults, but there has been (and continues to be) a profound void in the childrens literature market. Libertas Institute has the unique opportunity to offer families a better alternative through an expanded suite of Tuttle Twins resources, including more of the Tuttle Twins book series and a monthly magazine which promotes the ideas of freedom and liberty to children and young adults. Simultaneously, they will produce a new American history textbook along with a supplemental curriculum. Students will be able to identify the ideas of freedom that shaped American history and, through activities in their curriculum, learn about their enduring relevance to their lives today.

The Tuttle Twins series has sold over 3.5 million copies globally, with 23 childrens books being translated into a dozen languages. They will now have books for toddlers and teenagers, selling over 4,000 books a day with a strong interest due to the surge in homeschooling and concern over the rise in authoritarian government actions. On Amazon, they have achieved 1,000s of 5 start reviews on the existing Tuttle Twins suite of books. The ultimate objective of this project is to educate children on the principles of a free society and cultivate a successful pipeline of resources for toddlers to college students that will in turn make them lifelong defenders of freedom.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Libertas Institute is growing an increasingly large audience of families dedicated to freedom. This will have a significant and lasting impact by introducing many more people to the ideas of freedom. At its core, this is a teaching freedom project - introducing and solidifying a deep understanding of individual liberty and ensuring children learn the importance of personal responsibility, understand why freedom is so important, and recognize why free markets and limited government are essential to prosperity.

Time4 – for individual, self-determined, self-learning, free young people

Many young people in Switzerland feel that the traditional pathways offered through government education are not right for them. They increasingly choose educational pathways that are outside of the traditional system. However, support for young people that choose such a self-determined educational path has been very limited in the country. Time4 offers these young people an alternative development and education path compared to traditional vocational training, apprenticeships, or middle school. The participants of Time4 plan their educational path themselves but are supported by the Time4 team and their peers in the reaching of their self-set goals.

Time4 is now working to scale its offer in supporting them along their self-determined learning paths. Designed for young people who have a strong intrinsic motivation for learning and don't fit the paths designed by public education, the program offers support through in-person meetings, clear goal-setting and monitoring. They may go and learn a new language, set up their own company, or present their art to the public often things that were previously considered not possible.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Time4 offers an alternative to public education in Switzerland. It offers young people an environment in which they can follow their individual learning pathway towards earning their own living. This rpgram challenges the traditional system of education and offers a unique alternative with the potential to become more mainstream in the long-term.

An increasing number of young people are struggling with the pre-defined educational pathways, ending up demotivated and without objectives, as a self-determined learning path is not currently an option in the system. Time4 adds this new perspective to the Swiss educational landscape and offers young people the level of support and assurance needed that will allow them to follow pathways in a flexible manner that were unthinkable in the traditional education system. Time4 offers young people a framework in which they can discover, refine, and deepen their interests and talents. Thanks to individual, self-defined work steps and learning objectives, the young people can follow their own needs and wishes. They are given the time they need to tackle their own small and large tasks, make their own decisions, and manage the resulting consequences themselves. In it they grow up to be free and empowered adults.

Enterprise Success in Uganda

Low skilled, poorly-paid employment and significant underemployment are the reality for the majority of Ugandan youth who make up 78 percent of the countrys population. The main barriers for young people - including a lack of skills, progression pathways, networks, and access to capital - trap them in a futile cycle of poverty. The Teach A Man To Fish (TAMTF) project offers a path out of poverty for youth that choose to participate and are motivated to improve their own and their families economic situation.    

This project is an expansion of the proven School Enterprise Challenge (SEC) program of TAMTF, in which trained teachers support students at local schools through a 14-step program to establish and run a business. The programs purpose is to unleash the creativity and power of young people to fulfill their potential in school, work, and life and contribute to their communities prosperity. 

TAMTF is expecting to engage over the three years with 4,400 disadvantaged students (50% female) in 60 schools. With guidance from TAMTF, school business teams create a profit-share agreement in which 25 percent of profit is reinvested to keep the business operational for the following year and the remainder is allocated as students see fit, with some funds going towards the students and teachers that support the business. Currently existing businesses at schools in Uganda vary, with some of them engaging in vegetable farming, food processing, manufacturing (soap, charcoal), canteen and catering services, and livestock farming. One youth group started their own tent and chair rental business after recognizing the opportunity that daily village gatherings (meetings, funerals, etc.) posed. The school business provided a previously unavailable service in the community, meaning that event organizers were no longer required to travel the 82 km to the nearest town. 

The SEC education model uses the challenge of launching and running a real business at school, offering the participating students the experience to discover their talents, earn money and foster competencies and character qualities such as entrepreneurial mindset, social conscience, and agency. An additional "high-flyer" component of the program is a new training to particularly committed and promising young entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses outside of school.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

This project encourages graduates from an entrepreneurship program to create their own network of productivity and exchange rather than rely on government aid or NGO handouts. As part of the proposed project, participating students will also be trained to start self-managed Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) to gain access to capital for their own individual businesses. The VSLAs provide a safe savings and loan facility to youth who lack easy access to formal financial services. This project aims to make schools an empowerment pathway for marginalized Ugandan youth, equipping youth with vital skills, agency, and confidence to fulfill their potential in life. The comprehensive program embeds skills and resources within the schools for the long-term: teachers learn to facilitate practical, student-centered entrepreneurship and skills-building education and are furnished with a wealth of resources; while school-businesses generate additional income with a profit-sharing agreement that secures the school-business in their schools as an educational tool. The project presents an exceptional opportunity for young women and men in Uganda to transform their lives, empowering participants with the skills and agency to succeed and become confident, active agents of change within their communities. 

She Rises Up

While the World Bank reports that over a billion people have come out of extreme poverty in just 25 years, many women remain trapped without equal access to economic opportunities and legal rights. For those living in extreme poverty, there are often obstacles beyond their control that make progress nearly impossible from government regulations with unintended consequences to cultural attitudes that prevent women from accessing or controlling their own income. 

"She Rises Up is a feature documentary film that will tell the stories of inspiring women who are pulling themselves and their families out of extreme poverty. The film will explore the explosive implications of womens economic participation and share powerful methods that work toward the eradication of extreme poverty, reclaiming the moral high ground for economic freedom. Compelling stories in Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Burundi will highlight the power and importance of economic freedom for women.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

Freedom of the individual is dependent upon the culture highly embracing that value. While no one film can transform a cultural mindset, by generating interest and discussion around the benefits of free markets and entrepreneurship, Sky Films Inc hopes to ultimately contribute to systems change. Economic freedom is a necessary, though not sufficient, tool to erase poverty and generate human flourishing. "She Rises Up" can generate a narrative change in the way we view economic freedom and entrepreneurship globally.

Essential Scholars II

Essential Scholars is a public education project aimed at educating high school and university students and young adults more broadly about the main insights of the key thinkers in the classical liberal tradition. The project comprises 15 modules, each centered on a short book written in an accessible style by an acknowledged expert and supported by short animated videos (80 total) and links to other online resources. Some 200,000 copies of the books have been distributed, while the videos have been viewed over 3.7 million times.

The Essential Scholars II project is expanding both the extent of these learning resources (by adding audio versions of the books, creating podcasts, and developing lesson plans) and their reach (by training teachers and through promotional efforts in collaboration with independent think tank partners in Australia, the UK, and the US). The podcasts will explore the core ideas of the scholars and their relevance to modern day policy questions. The lesson plans will incorporate project material for use in high schools, and webinars will be held to instruct teachers in their use. The project website (essentialscholars.org) will be overhauled to add new resources and improve functionality for high school teachers wanting to include Essential Scholars materials in their classrooms.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

The ultimate goal is to achieve future systems change as students who have been introduced to the key ideas and leaders of classical liberalism enter the marketplace and become influencers themselves. Essential Scholars provides an attractive introduction for new as well as sympathetic audiences to the key ideas of liberty. The books themselves are excellent introductions to these ideas and the audio books will provide a new way for people to access them. The videos provide even easier access to the ideas of freedom and are easily adaptable for use in the classroom. Providing teachers with lesson plans that incorporate these resources and providing training will promote and enrich classroom learning about the ideas of freedom.

New Approaches to Development Assistance

While scholars and policymakers have decried the ineffectiveness of development assistance for many years, it remains a persistent part of the policy landscape. A growing consensus has emerged among development scholars and professionals that large-scale investment projects such as roads, bridges, and dams do not successfully generate economic growth and development. This has led to a turn to community-based interventions. Targeted community-level interventions seem to do a far better job incorporating local preferences and contexts than top-down alternatives. These initiatives focus on decision-making powers and financial control within communities, solutions that self-governing communities discover for themselves.

By bringing together scholars and practitioners to explore project strategies, approaches, and innovations in the sphere of community-driven development assistance. This project embarks on a comparative study on a range of innovative projects to better understand how these projects are implemented and explore what factors lead to more effective outcomes particularly from the perspective of intended beneficiaries. New frameworks and literature will be developed that integrate perspectives of self-governance on development to construct new principles for development assistance. This initiative will create a hub of knowledge of bottom-up development assistance and initiatives at the Center for Governance and Markets (CGM) at the University of Pittsburgh.

Contribution to enhancing freedom

By bringing individuals to the center of analysis of development assistance, this project will bring about a system change in the way both scholars of applied development assistance and practitioners alike think about these issues. The project seeks to change the way that policymakers view the development assistance landscape, in ways that put individuals and communities in the drivers seat of their own flourishing.

Educational Video Series

Objective education materials allow students to better understand the consequences of economic policies, making abstract policies such as taxes or government spending more tangible. This project, with a promising new player in the Swiss research context of economic policy, involves the creation of a twelve-part video series titled Taxes, debt and Switzerland simply explained - covering a variety of topics, including inequality, pensions, federalism, democracy, taxes, government spending, etc. The videos are aimed to be highly tangible for the student, which is ensured by starting each video lesson with a focus on how the topic is impacting the student.

The video series provides an essential individual learning opportunity for students supporting them in their recognition and understanding of economic policy interrelationships. Each five-minute video will have supporting content that includes a written summary of the topic covered and a series of exercises to ensure student understanding of the concepts introduced. The videos will be distributed through the new Swiss online learning platform Evulpo, where they will be freely available to students. Evulpo, is a young, dynamic, and fast-growing Swiss start-up that operates as a digital learning platform offering free explanatory videos, summaries, and exercises linked to the Swiss Governments education agenda for public schools.
 

Contribution to enhancing freedom

A free and solid basic education in economic policy issues is important for the preservation and development of our prosperity and society. This school-supplementary content from an independent authority guarantees, in addition to the scientific foundation, the greatest possible individual freedom in the acquisition of new knowledge and in the understanding of economic contexts.

Career Connect Cambodia

The job-skills mismatch in Cambodia impedes youth from low-income backgrounds from entering formal jobs. Career Connect Cambodia will offer a solution to this challenge that will allow these youth, and their families, a path out of poverty. The Career Connect program is the continuation of a pilot which substantially scales the number of underserved youth placed in jobs in Cambodia through compact skills training and match-making with employers. 

Digital Divide Data aims to recruit and train 600 youth from underserved Cambodian communities from 2022 to 2025 with at least 80% being placed in jobs by about 10 partner-employers. Through the program, these youth will learn new skills that make them competitive in the job market, empowering them to achieve personal and economic freedom.

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

Career Connect helps underserved youth who do not have connections succeed through their own abilities and merits. Youth get the opportunity to increase their earnings, which they can reinvest in themselves or their families to sustain their economic growth opportunities. DDD aims to sustain and expand their impact in Cambodia and help catalyze equitable economic growth to reduce global inequality. DDD sees a future where youth, with proper education and career guidance, enhance their capacity for self-determination, improving their and their communities quality of life. As they support themselves and their families to overcome poverty and assume control of their lives, these youth attain both economic and personal freedom.

Freedom Games 2023

Freedom Games is a yearly gathering in Lodz, Poland of renowned international experts and intellectuals using various conference formats from lectures to panel discussions to discuss key challenges Western societies face in the 21st century, offering a creative space for exchanging ideas on culture, economics, business, and public life with the end to advance a more free and prosperous society.

The key output of the project is the organization and execution of one edition of Freedom Games: at least 3 days of events with more than 250 speakers and at least 60 sessions available both online and in-person in a dedicated conference space, with more than 1 million online viewers of Freedom Games streaming and videos, and at least 1,500 in-person attendees.

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

The Freedom Games forum has developed to become a powerful tool for promoting free-market ideas and personal freedoms while confronting individuals with other ideological currents. The 2023 Freedom Games event will show ideas important for Liberte! Foundations mission like free markets, rule of law, entrepreneurship, and the importance of big cities as engines of development and personal freedom, while supporting the idea of local governments to avoid centralization.

Free Market Roadshow 2023

The Free Market Roadshow - running for 15 years with dozens of partners throughout Europe - is a strong network of influential organizations and individuals advancing individual freedom on the continent. The joint effort of leading organizations and universities in Europe conducts an annual series of events to spread the word of freedom and prosperity to empower individuals. Prior to the pandemic, the roadshow reached 45 cities in one-year with 10,000+ attendees.

The Free Market Roadshow (FMRS) has a continuous ambition to build new networks and coalitions helping to spread the message of individual and entrepreneurial freedom, sound policy, self-responsibility and free speech all with the goal of reaching new audiences. They will host between 35 and 45 events in 2023 and hope to achieve nearly 10,000 attendees. In 2023, they will focus on growing their impact and attendee engagement, while experimenting with content innovations to attract non-traditional audiences.

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

Their innovative concept of touring capitals and important university cities in Europe and beyond has proven to reach the private sector (entrepreneurs and businesspeople) and empower the next generation (students). With its large network, the FMRS can play a crucial role in advancing ideas that will lead to general freedom and prosperity.

Dad Saves America: Reimagining Education

Emergent Order Foundation's newest channel "Dad Saves America" promotes the idea of educational freedom through its "reimagining education" content. The reimagining education pillar of the Dad Saves America brand will encourage millions of families to reimagine what education is and how best to provide it for their kids in a way that unlocks their unique genius. They are producing videos which critique the current dominant education system, shift perspectives on what it means to get an education, and offer real alternatives.   

Emergent Order Foundation will produce 20+ videos based on interviews with world class educators with a goal of reaching 1.5 million viewers across all platforms. From these videos, they will drive visits to their webpage to learn more about alternative schooling options. To inspire practical action on the part of their viewers, they will collaborate with educational partners to co-create a website connecting partners with these alternative education models. 

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

With Dad Saves America, Emergent Order Foundation produces content for parents and their kids that models classical virtues and actively encourages the audience to take actions so that they can live those virtues out and experience them for themselves. Their videos educate dads and all parents about the merits of self-directed education systems. Their content and future partnerships will put families in direct contact with private sector alternatives to public school. And through moving kids out of a broken system and driving demand for school choice, they hope to catalyze systemic change. In this way, their program both teaches freedom and empowers individuals. And its through that individual experience, inspired by storytelling, that they promote an overall culture of freedom.

Re-opening Poland: The Roadmap for Polish Immigration Policy

This multi-phased project of the Civil Development Forum combines research with advocacy aimed at liberalizing Polish immigration policies based on the effective reforms introduced to support Ukrainian refugees in the country. The publication and promotion of recommended legal changes in the area of migration policy would support the comprehensive framework for (non-EU) foreign employment and entrepreneurship in Poland. 

The main goal is to break bureaucratic barriers and introduce changes to migration policy in Poland to enhance the smooth and effective influx of migrants. The Civil Development Forum aims to establish new narratives for the ongoing and high-priority debate on immigration in Poland. They will collaborate with local communities and governments to identify barriers and bottlenecks between local and central institutions on the regulation of the labor market and migrant entrepreneurship to create recommendations for changes in the legal system. These recommendations will reach policy- and decision-makers in Poland to influence public debate on the topic of immigration policy and ultimately change the existing approach. Through workshops, conferences, and public meetings, they will reach intellectuals, scholars, and media and business representatives, as well as local government authorities and community leaders. 

Contribution to Enhancing Freedom

Ludwig von Mises wrote that, The principles of freedom, which have gradually been gaining ground everywhere since the eighteenth century, gave people freedom of movement. Freedom of movement gave rise to modern economic growth, unprecedented improvements in the mass standard of living, and an escape from poverty. Hindering movement can take many forms, from closed borders to various discriminating regulations that hamper buying or renting an apartment, taking up a job, or starting and running a business. Whenever there are regulations discriminating against immigrants, the basic freedom of movement is violated.  

The Civil Development Forum aims to remove existing impediments to immigration in Poland by showing the benefits from immigration for both the host society and incomers, identifying barriers faced by immigrants, and offering recommendations to improve policy for employment or starting a business. If policy changes are successfully implemented, this project would lead to systems change and greater freedom, by widening the right of both residents and migrants in Poland to enter mutually beneficial relations. Migrants would be empowered through the right to use their knowledge and professional qualifications in the same way as Polish citizens. Overall, a better understanding of immigration and friendlier legislation in the labor market and for entrepreneurship will lead to a more peaceful and prosperous society.