The GHR Foundation, in partnership with OpenIDEO, has named five social innovators as winners of its $1 million BridgeBuilder Challenge.

The challenge, a response to Pope Francis's call to "build bridges" and contribute to making the world a better place for all humankind, recognizes ideas that address urgent global concerns at the intersections of peace, prosperity, and the planet in radically new ways. Participants from a hundred and eighty-five countries responded to the challenge with more than six hundred and fifty ideas.

The winners, who will share $1 million, are Peace Direct, which proposed using ethical gold mining techniques as a pathway to peace and environmental protection in the Democratic Republic of Congo; BioCarbon Engineering, which will use tree-planting drones to help restore mangroves and livelihoods in coastal Myanmar, where more than 1 million hectares of forest have already been lost to rising sea levels; Local Youth Corner Cameroon, which will use its award to combat violent extremism in Cameroon by promoting participation in peacebuilding efforts and empowering violent offenders with leadership, vocational, and entrepreneurial skills; LIFT Chicago, which will build on its two-generation in-community ambassador approach to boosting access to early childhood education; and NaTakallam, which will help displaced and internally displaced persons from Syria and Iraq by leveraging their language skills and connecting them to learners worldwide.

"In his TED Talk earlier this year, Pope Francis encouraged people to apply innovation and collaboration to foster greater social equity and community in the world today," said GHR Foundation CEO and chair Amy R. Goldman. "The cohort of top ideas represents literally hundreds of ideas fulfilling the Pope's invitation to bridge complex, persistent issues in radically new ways. We look forward to partnering with each of these organizations to further develop their ideas and scale their impact."