Living Goods employs and trains local people–the majority of whom are women–to sell goods and life-saving medical supplies at competitive prices.
Living Goods is thrilled to be selected for The Audacious Project, a new model from TED that supports and funds big ideas for global change.
Click the image to watch a video clip of Living Goods’ founder Chuck Slaughter speaking passionately about the importance of our Audacious Project at the Skoll World Forum.
As recently announced at the TED Conference and the Skoll World Forum, we launched our audacious partnership with Last Mile Health to deploy 50,000 digitally empowered community health workers across Africa over the next four years. Our bold vision for transforming access to healthcare helped spur the creation of TED’s The Audacious Project. This groundbreaking philanthropic initiative galvanizes the momentum and the funds to fuel game-changing solutions to the world’s most intractable problems.
It is thanks to the dedication of our supporters that we have arrived at this remarkable moment. We would not be taking this huge step forward without you.
It’s a big win that the visionaries behind The Audacious Project believe in the catalytic power of investing in community health. And it’s an even bigger win for women like Sarah Nakyambadde, and the countless other heroic community health workers (CHWs) around the world, who need meaningful training, tools and resources to effectively save lives.
Our project with Last Mile Health began with a critical question: What if we digitally empower thousands of community health workers to make care available to all?
We could ensure no one went without healthcare. That children didn’t die of preventable diseases. That we could deliver life-saving care to people’s doorsteps no matter where they lived. Entire communities would be uplifted, more resilient and economically productive.
There’s no doubt our goals are audacious, but big problems require bold solutions, considering 1 billion people lack access to healthcare and an estimated 1 million CHWs are needed in Africa alone.
A coalition of funders and partners, including the Skoll Foundation, Virgin Unite, ELMA, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and The Bridgespan Group are helping to light the flame to power our bold idea. They are committing a $50 million matching grant to the partnership, split between Living Goods and Last Mile Health over the next four years to catalyze us towards achieving our vision.
This monumental commitment will only be unlocked if we secure 1:1 match funding. And we cannot stop there. Our goals are even bigger: We want to pave the way for the lasting digital transformation of community health across the African continent. We want to ensure every family has access to care where they need it, when they need it.
Our journey to transforming healthcare for every community has only just begun, and your continued support will be more critical than ever.
Over the next four years, Last Mile Health and Living Goods are going to unleash an army of 50,000 digitally-empowered community health workers (CHWs) across six countries in East and West Africa, starting with Kenya, Uganda and Liberia. And these CHWs will be providing lifesaving healthcare to 34 million people, working in their own communities to help their neighbors thrive.
They will be assisting women to have safe births and engage in family planning, dramatically reducing childhood mortality (our studies have shown up to a 27% reduction), providing access to critical treatments, and ensuring effective referral systems.
We couldn’t do any of this alone. We are tremendously grateful to you for helping us get to this point, and look forward to our shared journey ahead.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for more information and to discuss our plans in more detail. Learn more about our project and the other impressive groups receiving support through this initiative at www.audaciousproject.org
We invite you to view our Founder’s 5-minute speech from the Skoll World Forum at this link – we found it quite inspiring and think you’ll share in that sentiment.
