And the Winners Are…

Grinnell hosted its third annual Grinnell Prize symposium Nov. 3–9. Winners of the Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize were selected from more than 1,000 nominees from 66 countries and spent a week on campus discussing their work with the campus community. 

Recipients included Elizabeth Scharpf and Julian Ingabire Kayibanda of Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) and Emily Arnold-Fernández, founder and executive director of Asylum Access. 

Scharpf is SHE’s founder and chief instigating officer; Kayibanda is SHE Rwanda’s chief operating officer. A social venture that invests in overlooked ideas that can have a significant positive impact, SHE increases women’s access to affordable menstrual products by manufacturing low-cost maxipads using local agrowaste, primarily in Rwanda, but soon globally.

Millions of women in developing countries lack access to affordable menstrual pads. Most girls and women simply stay home from school or work while menstruating, missing up to 50 days of wages or school time each year.

SHE is investing in women entrepreneurs to jump-start businesses selling and distributing the pads. It is replicating its patent-pending technology on an industrial scale during a pilot project. Early work includes the manufacture of 300,000 pads for 3,000 Rwandan students.

Arnold-Fernández is founder and executive director of Asylum Access, the only international organization solely dedicated to supporting refugee rights in countries of first refuge in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Instead of the traditional humanitarian aid approach, Asylum Access’ innovative model helps refugees rebuild their lives through access to safety, legal work opportunities, education, and the ability to move freely and make empowered choices for themselves.

The organization uses four tools to help refugees access social justice: individualized legal counsel or representation, community legal empowerment, policy advocacy, and strategic litigation. The group has advocated for major reforms regarding the legal standing of refugees in Ecuador, Thailand, and Tanzania. The keynote address at the Grinnell Prize ceremony this year was given by Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty activist whose experiences were portrayed in the film Dead Man Walking.