Shantha Sinha

2003 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership from India. In India, many of those in bonded labor are children, given to creditors as payment for their families' debts. Disagreeing with many who believe that bonded labor is a deterrent to further poverty among the poor, Shantha Sinha instead sought to promote the absolute right of every child to education. Starting with a three-month long "camp" for fifty children rescued from bonded labor, she and volunteer teachers prepared the children to attend school. This initial project grew into a full-blown program encouraging parents and employers to release bonded children and prodding local communities to support "bridge schools" which eased the transition of the children into the formal curriculum of public schools.

Sinha also sought to improve the schools where bridge-school students would eventually be enrolled; this she did by mobilizing parents, teachers and local officials in each school district to advocate for and to support various improvements. Today her foundation's bridge-schools and programs extend to more than 4,000 villages, benefitting some 250,000 children. Sinha's effective strategies have been adopted and are being implemented throughout the Andhra Pradesh state.