Curt Rhodes, PhD, founder and international director of Questscope, a nonprofit social development organization, has been named Social Entrepreneur of the Year for the Middle East and North Africa by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. The award recognized him for having demonstrated innovation, organizational sustainability and significant impact on the marginalized.

 

Rhodes received a master's degree in parasitology and laboratory practice at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in 1976.

 

An innovator in social development, Rhodes relies on a theory of social change that recognizes the interconnected nature of individual transformation, community involvement and policy changes at the government level. For more than 20 years, Rhodes' organization has applied this model in partnership with dozens of community and government organizations, and has impacted hundreds of thousands of individuals in eight countries in the region.

 

"Questscope has had the opportunity to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with marginalized young men and women, equipping them with tools and insights to create real, lasting change - one person at a time," Rhodes said. "It is a privilege to invest in youth in communities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  We are honored to be recognized by the Schwab Foundation, and grateful for the support of the Jordanian Ministries of Education and Social Development."

 

 
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.