Labour Rights in Unilever’s Vietnam Supply Chain
Rachel Wilshaw, Ethical Trade Manager for Oxfam, introduces their latest report on labour rights in Vietnam, a unique study done in conjunction with Unilever. Five years ago, Oxfam and Unilever agreed to an unusual study. Unilever opened up its business so Oxfam could understand how it managed labour rights, and what this meant for workers […]
Socio-cultural Interventions to Increase Women’s Access to Finance
By now, we know that women – especially in the developing world – have less access to finance than men. Business has an important role in levelling the playing field through interventions aimed at easing constraints on the demand-side (awareness of financial products or business and literacy training), the supply side (designing financial products and […]
Unleashing Inclusive Business for the SDGs
On 5th June 2016, Business Call to Action (BCtA), in cooperation with The Partnering Initiative (TPI), SNV Netherlands Development Organization, UNDP Bangladesh and Business Fights Poverty hosted an exclusive invite-only event introducing Inclusive Business in Bangladesh to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals – a part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The primary objective […]
Interview with Komal Sinha on CSR Trends in India
Komal Sinha, Head of Partnerships at ClimateCare’s India Office, has been working with CSR teams to plan and implement corporate social responsibility programmes in large corporates in India for over 10 years. In that time, she has witnessed a drastic shift in how organisation’s CSR priorities have changed. Two years on from India’s implementation of […]
Does Sustainability Reporting Still Matter?
Pearson has launched its 2015 Sustainability Report with its new five-year 2020 Sustainability Plan. Amanda Gardiner explains some lessons learned At a leading sustainability conference a couple of years ago, a panelist asked the audience: “How many of you read corporate sustainability reports?” A few hands went up. But in an audience of about 400 […]
Why International Volunteering is (In)valuable to Your Company
Getting involved in international corporate volunteering can leave you with mixed emotions. It sounds alluring, but you might get laughed out of the board room for making the case. The crucial question you will need to answer is; what would volunteers and the business get in return from spending anything from a month to a […]
The Case for Improving Job Quality in Supply Chains
Improving job quality in supply chains benefits everyone. More reasonable working hours, fairer pay and better working conditions are all fundamental for employees – and companies gain as a result of implementing these measures too. Doing so can improve productivity, protect a brand’s reputation and, according to research from KPMG, increase profit margins by as […]
Supporting Research in Neglected Tropical Diseases
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) seriously undermine the physical and cognitive health and economic opportunity of more than one billion people, most of them among the world’s poorest populations and least able to access or advocate for solutions. Although encouraging progress has been made in recent decades, the prevention, control, elimination and eradication of these diseases […]
Empowering Women in the Supply Chain
Primark is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the lessons learnt. Q) What challenge does Primark’s programme serve to change? Like almost every other fashion retailer, Primark products are made in countries like India where wages are lower and […]
Saving the Lives of One Million Children
GSK’s partnership with Save the Children is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the global development impacts achieved. Q) What challenge does the GSK-Save the Children partnership serve to change? In 2015, 5.9 children under the age of five […]
Challenging Innovators to Turn the Power On in Africa
Six hundred million. That is the number of Africans who do not have access to electricity. Imagine what this might be like. No street lights to help you find your way home after dark. No place to charge your computer or cell phone. No way to read a book before bed or have your kids […]
Bringing Sustainable Energy to Informal Settlements
Pollinate Energy is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the lessons learnt. Q) What challenge does Pollinate Energy’s programme serve to change? 400 million people live in India without electricity. Wood cooking fires and kerosene lamps cause epidemic levels […]
Tackling Slavery in Supply Chains – What Can We Do?
The ILO estimates that there are approximately 21 million people enslaved around the world at present – these will include many people who are in bonded labour, those trafficked and kept against their will in enslaved situations – but slavery also exists in global supply chains. Modern Slavery can also take the form of exploitation […]
Three Key Steps to Empowering Women in Global Value Chains
Global value chains can be a powerful lever for empowering women, but companies must identify where women work, must develop a clear gender strategy and must articulate the business case for supporting women. As the UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment continues to develop its thinking over the next few months, they should […]
Transforming Cotton Supply Chains in Côte d’Ivoire
Olam International is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the lessons learnt. Q) How did Olam International’s programme begin? When we began operating in Côte D’Ivoire in 2008 we had to consider a number of risks. The region was […]
Catalysing Impact Investing in East Africa
FSG’s newest office, located in Mumbai, houses our inclusive markets team, which works to develop and scale inclusive business models to create new opportunities and better lives for the global poor. Learn more about our inclusive markets approach. While East Africa has demonstrated robust growth over the past years, poverty is still widespread. Across the […]
Increasing Supply and Demand for Healthcare in Kenya
In a country where one child in 19 dies before their fifth birthday, a typical scenario in Kenya’s western county of Bungoma can be; a mother-to-be is feeling ill; she is not sure whether she should go to hospital, but the husband doesn’t think it’s important, so she stays home. Or the husband is supportive, […]
Innovations in Safe Water for Millions
Unsafe drinking water is a global problem that affects more than 660 million people every day. And yes, we know there are low-cost solutions that have been proven to work in rigorous scientific studies – for millions of people with the least access to safe drinking water. Evidence Action is a social enterprise that develops […]
Water for the Poor Prorgamme
Manila Water Company is a Finalist in the Unilever Global Development Award supported by Business Fights Poverty. We asked them some questions about their programme and the global development impacts achieved. Q) What challenge does Manila Water Company serve to change? Poor access to water leads to major health risks such as diarrhoea and other […]
To Help Save Children’s Lives, We Need to Be Bold
Only by breaking down boundaries and working together in unprecedented ways can we tackle the entrenched issues which cause millions of children to continue to die each year from preventable causes. That was the shared understanding which brought GSK and Save the Children together three years ago, creating a groundbreaking partnership to help save one […]