SNF Agora Institute Director Hahrie Han named Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Thought Leader

Hahrie Han, inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and Stavros Niarchos Foundation Professor of Political Science, today received a Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Thought Leader Award as part of the World Economic Forum Davos Agenda.

Image caption: Hahrie Han

Han was recognized for her research on how to make social movements and organizing effective in revitalizing democracy. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to working directly with practitioners and organizations to learn how to better engage citizens to solve problems together, especially where people who need or want change the most lack authority or the power to enable it.

"In my research, I work with social movements around the world to help them improve the ways they equip people to become architects of their own future," Han said during today's event. "We have found that when people have the experience of putting their own hands on the levers of change, grounded in their own experience, and connected to one another, then they become much more trusting of the leaders, processes, institutions that enable those experiences."

Founded in 1998, the Schwab Foundation is a sister organization to the World Economic Forum and supports a new model for social change, combining values of mission, compassion, and dedication with the best business principles to serve disadvantaged people around the globe.

This year's awards recognized the unprecedented social and economic challenges facing governments, businesses, and civil society: gender and racial inequalities, the need for sustainable and equitable growth, and the public's eroding trust in institutions.

"This year's Schwab Foundation Awardees demonstrate that through values-based approaches centering on inclusivity, collaboration, relationships of trust, and long-term sustainability, we have proven ways of changing institutions and mindsets, and disrupting traditional ways of working that hold systemic barriers in place," said François Bonnici, director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.

Said Han: "It's an honor today to be connecting our work at SNF Agora to this community of social innovation leaders who are doing the vital work of building a better world and helping to restore the trust we so desperately need."

Read more about the 2022 Schwab Foundation Awards or meet all of the 2022 awardees on the World Economic Forum website.