2009

Thinks Tanks from 12 Countries Honored for

Contributions to Public Debates on Free Enterprise

s
and Individual Liberty

e r
Named for the late investor and philanthropist, Sir John

n
Templeton, the prestigious awards programs was estab-
lished in 2003 by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation

in
with funding from the John Templeton Foundation to help
those who are making significant contributions to enhancing
opportunity and prosperity.

W
The sixteen organizations recognized within the 2009
program represent four continents and twelve countries –
For Excellence In Promoting Liberty Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, the
Republic of Georgia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, and
the United States. Winners were selected from more than
130 applications from 47 countries, by an independent
panel of judges. The 2009 awards grant a $10,000 prize to
each winner, and two prizes are given in eight categories.

T he largest international prize program
that celebrates the think tank contribu-
tions to the understanding of freedom.
Atlas will host a conference, featuring the Templeton
Freedom Award winners on November 9 & 10, 2009 at the
Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. The
conference is tied to Atlas’s Freedom Dinner, a gala
celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the
Berlin Wall. Winners of Templeton Freedom Awards will
give presentations relating to “The Moral Imperative of
Economic Freedom, and Innovations in Promoting Liberty.”
 New Economic School, Georgia
From poverty to wealth – Lessons
from successful free-market reforms
Free Market Solutions to Poverty
The New Economic School (NES) in Georgia
is the winner of the prize for their tireless ef-
forts between October 2005 and June 2009
to lift the country from poverty by shaping the
debate to focus on pro-growth policies. Using
political advocacy, consultancy and educational
meetings with high ranking foreign experts and
experienced politicians, NES made significant
progress promoting individual liberty, personal
dignity, private entrepreneurship, non-violence
and peace.
www.nesg.net
2 3
Free Market Foundation,
South Africa
Political advocacy regarding the
reduction of unemployment
Free Market Solutions to Poverty
Also winning first prize in the Solutions to
Poverty category is the Free Market Foundation
(FMF) of South Africa. In 2003, FMF published
the book “Jobs for the Jobless” denouncing the
high legal restrictions on job security that has led
to massive unemployment. The latest statistics
put South Africa at one of the world’s highest
jobless rates at 22.7%. “Jobs for the Jobless”
made waves in the country, gaining a large
amount of attention in the media, public forums,
and from lawmakers.
www.freemarketfoundation.com
 Samasource, USA
Empowering the poor through
remote work
In most developing countries high school
and college students graduate to a stagnant
job market. In Africa unemployment reaches
60% in some areas. 130 million skilled rural
workers in India are un- or under-employed.
Social Entrepreneurship
Samasource, a nonprofit social enterprise
based in San Francisco, is recognized for its
efforts to identify small African businesses,
train them in eight core services, and make
it easy for U.S. clients to work with them by
providing a project management and payment
gateway.
www.samasource.org
4 5
Fundación Paraguaya, Paraguay
Education that Pays for Itself
Fundación Paraguaya is the winner of the
Social Entrepreneurship prize for its San Fran-
cisco Agricultural School, a financially self-
sufficient school for transforming poor youth
into successful entrepreneurs. The School
runs 17 small-scale, on-campus, agricultural
enterprises integrated within the school to
Social Entrepreneurship
cover all operational costs. This approach
exposes students to an entrepreneurial, cost-
conscious environment on a daily basis.
www.fundacionparaguaya.org.py
 Conservative Institute, Slovakia
Conservative Economic Quarterly Lecture
Series (CEQLS)
The Conservative Economic Quarterly Lecture Series
(CEQLS) project of the Conservative Institute in Slovakia is
awarded the prize for bringing renowned free market think-
ers to Slovakia to attend lectures since 2005. Participants
were attracted by diverse and qualified views of interna-
tional experts on important issues from the economics and
ethics point of view.
www.institute.sk
Ethics & Values
6 7
Globalization Institute, Poland
The Mythology of the Greenhouse
Effect
The Globalization Institute in Poland created
real social movement questioning the science
of global warming during the last year. They
published “The Mythology of the Greenhouse
Effect” written by Tomasz Teluk, causing a stir
right before the United Nations Conference
on Climate Change in Poznan. Working with
Rzeczpospolita, the most popular opinion-
making daily in Poland, the Institute started a
national debate on the scientific evidence of
the global warming movement.
Ethics & Values
www.globalizacja.org
 Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education (FIRE), USA
Campus Freedom Network (CFN)
In a 2003 survey conducted by Foundation for
Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), almost
a quarter of U.S. college students could not
name any First Amendment rights. Even worse,
today’s college students are learning from
unconstitutional campus speech codes and
illiberal administrations that they have a right
or even a duty to censor opinions with which
they disagree. In response, FIRE launched the
Student Outreach
Campus Freedom Network (CFN) in 2006 to
start a grassroots effort to educate students and
make them active partners in restoring liberty to
campus life and to create a nationwide network
of student advocates who share experiences,
strategies, and ideas.
www.thefire.org
8 9
Invertir Institute, Peru
LiderAcción
Invertir Institute is recognized in the Student
Outreach category for its education program.
LiderAcción is an education program that seeks
to promote concepts and abilities of leadership
and entrepreneurship activity among the future
national leaders in order to fight against poverty
in a free market and law state framework. The
project promotes the principles of leadership
and entrepreneurship as well as the virtues of
democracy and free markets. Over 200 top-per-
Student Outreach
forming university students from all the regions of
Peru receive a full ride scholarship to learn how
to set up a business and run it efficiently. The
best projects are awarded with a prize that can
be used as seed capital for their business.
www.invertir.org.pe
 Centre for Civil Society, India
School Choice Campaign
The School Choice Campaign (SCC) of the
Centre for Civil Society in India is a national policy
reform campaign operating in seven states to
promote an education system in India where all
children get quality education of their choice.
Initiative in Public Relations
The project wins the Initiative in Public Relations
prize for its outreach by using the performing arts,
especially street theatre, to reach the huge rural
population, almost half of whom are illiterate.
www.ccs.in
10
Institute for Information on the
Crimes of Communism, Sweden
The Silent Land / About Communism
The Institute for Information on the Crimes of
Communism of Sweden is awarded the Initia-
tive in Public Relations prize for its approach
Initiative in Public Relations
in communicating the essential facts about
communism and the consequences of com-
munist ideology and rule. To increase public
awareness of the nature of communism and of
the threat to liberty posed by utopian totali-
tarianism, the Institute let the voices of victims
of communism speak through popular media
channels.
www.upplysningomkommunismen.se
11
 Sam Adams Alliance, USA
Sunshine Review
The Sam Adams Alliance (United States) is
recognized for their initiative, Sunshine Review
(SunshineReview.org), a website devoted to
issues of government transparency and account-
ability. Sunshine Review bridges an information
gap between the people and their government
by providing a way for citizens to keep tabs on
Innovative Media Award
their government and call for reform of wasteful,
fraudulent, and corrupt behavior uncovered by
measures of transparency.
www.samadamsalliance.org
12
Free To Choose Network, USA
Izzit.org
The Free to Choose Network (United States) is
winner of the Innovative Media Award for building
a unique information pipeline that brings mes-
sages of freedom to U.S. high schools. Izzit.org
produces its own videos and repurposes other
videos, and then offers them to teachers across
the country. Over 1 million teachers get updated
Innovative Media Award
regularly by e-mail and 100,000 active teachers
are signed up to receive DVDs.
www.freetochoose.net
13
 Center for Ethics & Entrepreneurship,
USA
Entrepreneurship and character
by a University-based Center
education
Award for Special Achievement
The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rock-
ford College in Illinois is awarded the University-based
prize for their efforts in educating students in ethics,
character and entrepreneurship. In the first two years
of the institute’s existence, six courses have been
launched focusing on the ethical infrastructure of
entrepreneurship and the preconditions of the free
society. In addition to different activities for students,
like essay contests and guest speakers, the Institute
runs a weblog, publishes a newsletter and provides
online video content.
www.ethicsandentrepreneurship.org
14
Center for Entrepreneurship
and Innovation, Universidad
del Desarrollo, Chile
by a University-based Center
Pioneros Program
Award for Special Achievement
The work of the Center for Entrepreneur-
ship and Innovation moved Universidad del
Desarrollo in Chile into a leading position for
entrepreneurship education among the top
business schools in Latin America according
to AméricaEconomía magazine. The Center’s
goal is to conduct and disseminate high qual-
ity research on entrepreneurship and improve
curricula and teaching methods. Activities
vary from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
for Chile to the annual “Hot-Dog-Challenge”,
a hands-on experience for students to train in
entrepreneurship.
www.cei.udd.cl
15
 Millenium Institute, Brazil
Millenium Institute Initiatives
by a Young Institute
Instituto Millenium of Brazil is awarded the
Award for Special Achievement
Young Institute award for its multitude of
outstanding accomplishments, including: two
recent books, two forums at Universities to
discuss free market ideas with over 1,000
students, more than 100 articles in newspa-
pers and magazines, over 30 videos online, a
network featuring more than 75 experts from
different disciplines, and a weekly newsletter
with more than 5000 subscribers.
www.imil.org.br
16
Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth,
Egypt
EULY Initiatives
by a Young Institute
Award for Special Achievement
Among EULY initiatives were the first essay
contests in the Arabic world in cooperation
with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation ask-
ing students to answer the question: “Why
am I a liberal?” The project was featured by
Journal of Al-Masry Al-Youm, the biggest
private newspaper in Egypt, and announced
in 5 other different papers, two websites,
a youth radio station, and releases by two
major Egyptian political parties. Twenty articles
have been selected by the judges and will
be published in a book carrying the competi-
tion’s name, which is going to be printed and
translated into English.
www.euly.org
17
 economic research foundation

F or nearly three decades, the Atlas Economic Research

Foundation has been supporting independent think tanks that promote
free markets, individual liberty, and rule of law. Atlas currently works
with more than 250 think tanks in 90 countries. More than half of these
organizations were assisted in their formative years by Atlas through
financial support or advisory services.

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