Dates of Project: August 2006 to July 2008

Field of Work: Supporting innovators whose ideas push beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and health care.

Synopsis of the Work: Changemakers, an online community for social entrepreneurs, provides a forum in which social innovators can develop solutions to entrenched health and social problems. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded three online competitions through Changemakers to generate innovative projects related to specific issues. "No Private Matter! Ending Abuse in Intimate and Family Relations" was one of the competitions.

Story Told: "No Private Matter! Ending Abuse in Intimate and Family Relations" sought organizations and programs pursuing new approaches to tackling domestic violence. The competition was aimed at existing programs that were ready for expansion, scale-up, or replication elsewhere. The three winners were:

• Men of Strength Clubs, sponsored by Men Can Stop Rape, Washington, D.C., school-based clubs for young men that use a 16-week curriculum to explore concepts of manhood, life experiences, academic development, and other issues that young men face.
• Men for Gender Equality Now, sponsored by African Women's Development and Communication Network, Nairobi, Kenya, is a network of Kenyan men that works to end gender-based violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS in Kenya.
• Women, Law and Social Change, sponsored by Action India, New Dehli, India, developed a network of "mahila panchayats" (modeled after traditional Indian village panchayats who help settle local disputes) to offer crisis intervention and legal aid for women in New Delhi's slums.

Read the sidebar for more information on the competition and winning projects.