How to Build a Robust Human Rights System
“Some problems are just too complex for a simple solution. When it comes to human rights abuses, a punitive approach can drive the problem underground, making it even harder to address.” As a human rights specialist at the Rainforest Alliance, I have learned that creating an environment where farming communities feel supported to speak up […]
Gender and Climate Change: Sustainability Systems Supporting Adaptation and Resilience
Women bear a disproportionate burden of the adverse impacts of climate change. In low- and middle-income countries, women are highly dependent on agriculture and natural resources, which, combined with existing inequalities, leaves them especially vulnerable. Yet, they are important economic actors who can play a critical role in tackling climate issues if given the right […]
10 Things You Could Be Doing as a Man on International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day. A day to not only celebrate everyone who identifies as a woman but also help drive gender equity in the workplace. Alas our Masculinity in the Workplace report shows that there is still so much more work to do and that starts by ensuring we engage more men. And that means getting far […]
Empowering Foundations of Learning Pave the Way for Gender Equity
Achieving gender equity requires a multi-faceted approach. As the global community searches for solutions to inequalities, a strong focus must be on the foundation of empowerment – education and the ability to learn. This International Women’s Day (IWD), Wednesday 8th of March, the world celebrates the achievements and contributions of inspiring girls and women across […]
Why the Fashion Industry’s Four Largest Women’s Empowerment Programmes Came Together to Form RISE
This International Women’s Day we are celebrating the launch of RISE: Reimagining Industry to Support Equality. It’s a celebration of collaboration for the greater good, with the four largest women’s empowerment programmes in the garment industry – BSR’s HERproject, Gap Inc. P.A.C.E, CARE and Better Work – coming together to build on their proven approaches […]
Refugee Employment Through Remote Work: How Na’amal is Creating Change
There are approximately 29 million displaced people who are categorized as “refugees” worldwide. Within this group, self-sufficiency proves to be difficult with many individuals being subjected to informal work in precarious conditions and in indignity to be able to afford their basic needs. The premise for such treatment, in most cases, continues to solely be […]
What Does It Really Take for Companies to Lead on Gender Equity?
Women drive our global economy. They control more than $20 trillion in annual consumer spending today, and that figure is expected to rise to nearly $30 trillion annually in the next five years. As a market, they represent an opportunity more than twice as big as China and India combined. And the number of women joining the workforce is […]
Women Smallholders Will Drive Africa’s Transition to Regenerative Agriculture
An estimated 140 million people in Africa are facing acute food insecurity[1], yet, in Kenya alone, 50% of all productive soil is badly degraded. Worse still, because of record droughts, half of Kenyan farmers have harvested nothing in the last four seasons. Regenerative agriculture techniques offer the world’s poorest farmers a lifeline, restoring soils and […]
Time to Act on Mental Health: UNICEF’s Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being
The Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being, hosted by UNICEF, was born out of the belief that the mental well-being of youth cannot be addressed by one entity alone but needs collective action. It is time for joint action on mental health. Mental health and psychosocial well-being are fundamental components of a child’s healthy development […]
How Gender-Responsive Media Can Help Women’s Economic Empowerment–and Business
The existence of a gender income gap in Sub-Saharan Africa is perhaps not a surprise, given the existence of similar gaps around the world, but its magnitude is still startling: according to the World Bank, the median monthly income of men is more than twice that of women. What is driving this? Women are both […]
Systems change for social and ecological transformation: putting nature at the heart of scaling impact
Increasingly people are recognising that our current economic system and business structures are not delivering a world that is ‘prosperous’ in the way we want to prosper; that the pursuit of more is leaving us all with less. And we are increasingly aware that there is a different path forward: we can build different kinds […]
The View From the Blimp: How Cultural Artifacts Provide a Sense of Perspective
In this Episode 9 of Nudges and Bridges (forget what I said as I opened that this was Episode 8; it’s Episode 9), I look at the idea that if we view things from a (metaphorical) Blimp, we have a sense of perspective, of how events that happen at one place and time give us […]
Four Essential Elements for the “Just” in “Just Transitions”
The concept of “just transition” – a whole-of-society approach to decarbonisation that respects human rights while promoting sustainable development, the eradication of poverty, and the creation of decent work and quality jobs – has come increasingly centre stage in national and international discussions on finance, energy, agriculture, and other key industrial transitions to net-zero. While […]
How Storytelling Can Paint a Full Picture of Impact for Businesses
Across the globe, inclusive businesses are making differences in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable – from empowering rural women to improving access to education. However, plain numbers struggle to capture the breadth of important work they are doing to investors, potential partners, and the people they aim to help the most. To bring […]
Millers Change the Game for Food Fortification
Food fortification has been recognized as a highly effective intervention to counter malnutrition, and it has been the subject of events and commitments at the Davos World Economic Forums before. But millers – shorthand for the food processors who produce fortified staples, including rice, flour and oil – have not historically been at the centre […]
Effective Partnerships: Key to Supporting Climate Vulnerable Communities
A quarter of the world’s population already faces significant flood risk, which is particularly challenging for people already living in or vulnerable to poverty. Which is why our partnership with Zurich Insurance to help change the way flood risk is understood and managed so that communities can continue to thrive is so important. Ten years […]
To Build Thriving Cocoa Communities, Educate the Children
The theme of this year’s UN International Day of Education, “to invest in people, prioritize education,” resonates with us at Cargill as it aligns with the work we are doing in cocoa growing communities. In these communities, improving access to quality education helps keep children away from child labor and grants them the opportunity to […]
Nudges & Bridges: As Good As It Gets
The category As Good As It Gets is about a sense of joy. Think to a time when you experienced something that was just, well, as good as things can get. What mood does it put you in? How do you feel about others? Do you have a sense of wanting to connect with others, […]
Five Lessons from Ten Corporate-Charity Partnerships
In one of my series of articles about progress on eliminating world poverty in the last 25 years, I talked about why it’s not just about official aid. Government policy and the private sector really matter too. At CARE I worked with ten of the UK’s largest FTSE100 companies. And I gave a couple of […]
Seafood’s Social Justice Problem: How to Better Share the Benefits of Aquatic Foods
The global fish and seafood sector – the world’s fastest growing food-producing industry – is at a crisis point. The narrow pursuit of profit has led not only to unsustainable growth but to the exclusion of entire communities, undermining social justice, mobility and progress. Three countries – China, Norway and Peru – account for almost a quarter of […]