The Rockefeller Foundation

The Rockefeller Foundation and UNDP in Asia and the Pacific are partnering to unlock opportunities and deliver results for people across the Asia-Pacific region. With 60% of the world’s population calling this region home, mobilizing financing for sustainable development is more urgent than ever. Today, Asia-Pacific faces an $800 billion annual funding gap needed to create jobs, improve healthcare, expand energy access, and build climate resilience. Through this partnership, we are committed to ensuring that communities, especially those too often left behind, have the resources they need to thrive. Together, we can close the climate finance gap and create a more sustainable future for all. https://lnkd.in/d-drFAs4

This week, we celebrated the reopening of our redesigned Asia Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand – marking over 110 years of commitment to delivering results for people and communities in the country and the Asia-Pacific region. The updated office includes a new and dynamic convening space that can further deepen our impact in the region by connecting likely and unlikely partners that can drive progress on the world’s most pressing challenges together. From transforming public health systems to expanding access to clean energy, we’re excited to continue addressing critical issues and co-creating meaningful solutions for the future. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e_nY4xah

Today we announced our support to Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI)'s City Climate Innovation Challenge for Zero Emissions Delivery. LACI's efforts support solutions that help cities across the U.S. pilot new innovations, develop partnerships to scale them, and create good-paying jobs–all while strengthening the American economy and entrepreneurship. So far, LACI has supported nearly 500 American startups that have: 🟢 reduced city congestion and emissions by 16% 🟢 increased parking turnover rates by 26% 🟢 created 2,626 jobs Read more about the Challenge: https://lnkd.in/ehZUS5aW

Today, we are investing $3.5 million to connect small and mid-scale family farms with #FoodisMedicine programs. These programs offer fresh produce, medically tailored meals, and nutrition support to people with chronic diseases. We are proud to collaborate with 4P Foods, Adelante Mujeres, Alameda County Recipe4Health, Community Servings, Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance, and The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University who are supporting rural farmers through innovative models, while also providing access to healthy foods and education for people who need it most. By locally sourcing produce from these farmers, Food is Medicine programs have the potential to improve livelihoods for farmers and support economic development in their communities. Together we can improve health outcomes, strengthen local economies, and build a healthier and more prosperous future. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/gFXd6hRe Christina Economos Kaiulani Odom

This Big Bets Fellow is turning nature's challenge into nature's solution. Fueled by warming seas, coastal pollution, and fertilizer runoffs, harmful sargassum seaweed's presence has dramatically increased in the last two decades. For local communities, sargassum's presence can impact their economies by reducing catches, making it difficult for fishermen to operate their boats, and experiencing a decline in visitors to popular tourist destinations. Elena Martínez Martínez, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of SOS Biotech and 2024 Big Bets Fellow, is collaborating with fishing communities in the Caribbean not only to harvest sargassum from areas where it causes harm, but to repurpose the seaweed into useful products for local farmers. Discover Elena's innovative solution that is helping coastal communities control the sargassum invasion. https://lnkd.in/d8BvuKzf Nathalia A. M. dos Santos (She, Her, Hers)

We’re honored to be recognized by Cigna Healthcare with the gold level Healthy Workforce Designation for our commitment to employee well-being and vitality! #CignaHWD

The idea that each of us is created equal, and that everyone has the inalienable right to live with dignity, stands at the heart of what makes the United States an exceptional nation. Generations of Americans from all walks of life — from government, civil society, businesses large and small, churches and faith-based organizations, philanthropies, and charities — have worked to advance this idea within our borders and across the globe. In doing so, they have demonstrated that lifting up others in our communities and across our planet makes our nation stronger and more secure. For instance, American humanitarian and development assistance, primarily delivered by the U.S. Agency for International Development working together with U.S. military service members and diplomats, has been essential to America’s national security for decades. USAID personnel and partners have helped millions of children, especially girls, attend school and lifted global literacy rates by a third over the last two decades. In recent years, they have protected 25 million children from deadly preventable diseases. They helped save 25 million people from AIDS and ensured 5.5 million babies were born HIV-free. They prevented pandemic threats such as Ebola from spreading within America’s shores. They fed millions of families who suffer from the risks of starvation and, by supporting better agriculture, helped 5.2 million families escape hunger altogether. They helped millions of entrepreneurs, many of them women, found and further small businesses and create jobs. And they fought corruption and advanced democracy, transparency, and the rule of law in difficult settings across the globe. We’re all better off for it. This work serves American interests: protecting us from wars, terror attacks, famines, pandemics, uncontrolled migration, and economic crises, even as it provides new markets, new allies, and new partners for the United States instead of America’s competitors. It has also furthered the belief — core to America’s founding, as well as the faiths of many Americans — that in serving the most vulnerable, we express our common humanity. Today, more than ever, the world needs individuals and institutions working toward shared prosperity and security. The Rockefeller Foundation is dedicated to doing our part, and we will continue to work with anyone committed to the same.

📢 The latest Global Survey of School Meal Programs conducted by the Global Child Nutrition Foundation, underscores the vital role of school meal programs in shaping sustainable food systems. 📊Drawing on data from over 160 countries, the report highlights how these programs not only provide nutritious meals to millions of children but also boost demand for healthy foods, support local farmers, and promote environmental sustainability. School meals can foster equitable livelihoods and encourage a shift toward home-grown, climate-resilient solutions. 🌱 Together we can transform food systems to create a healthier future for people and planet. 🌎 https://lnkd.in/g7pugHs6

Have a bold, ambitious idea you want to bring to life? Join the Big Bets Community to learn about two exciting fellowship opportunities. 🌏 Big Bets Climate Fellowship: Asia-Pacific | For emerging leaders working on bold climate solutions that advance opportunity for people in the Asia-Pacific region. 🌎 Big Bets Fellowship: Economic Opportunity | US For emerging leaders working to advance economic opportunity and improve the lives of working families in the United States. Take your big bet to the next level and apply. https://lnkd.in/d-bNTRpy Application deadline is Feb. 9, 2025.

Have you ever had a feeling that you were part of something big? Something transformative? Something for the benefit of humanity? That's how I felt during the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this week. Thirty African Heads of State and leaders from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors, including The Rockefeller Foundation, gathered to advance The World Bank's and African Development Bank Group's Mission 300, an effort to bring affordable, reliable electricity to 300 million people across Africa by 2030. As a woman of African descent, it was particularly exciting to be at an event in a country led by a Muslim woman, President Samia Suluhu Hassan. I had the privilege of a private meeting with President Samia as a part of a small Rockefeller Foundation delegation. During the Summit, President Samia shared her support of Mission 300 and her interest in clean cooking, which she believes can be transformative for women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, where 70% of households rely on charcoal and wood to cook their meals, exposing women and girls to harmful pollution and smoke. It was inspiring to hear President Samia share her goal of ensuring that 100% of households in Tanzania have access to clean cooking appliances. Early estimates indicate that Mission 300 could help ensure that nearly 100 million women no longer have to search for firewood, create 2 million direct jobs, electrify healthcare facilities to improve health for 90 million people, and give up to 3 million people better education. We can only achieve this type of impact if we work together. Fortunately, The Rockefeller Foundation has a leader like Rajiv J. Shah, who has the vision, ambition, and ability to bring partners together to work toward our collective goals. We are privileged to be in partnership with the World Bank Group, African Development Bank, and others that are committing unprecedented resources toward Mission 300. Together, we can bring energy and opportunity to communities across Africa, which ultimately benefits the world. #Mission300 Andrew Herscowitz, Ashvin Dayal, William Asiko, Cassady Walters, Ashley E. Chang, Danielle Geanacopoulos, Stephanie Dreyer, Umuliza M. Njiru, Jill Hamilton, Abhisvara Sinha, Andrew Yavinsky Eason Jordan