Growing Food in a Resource Scarce World
The world is changing. And those changes bring with them new structural challenges. Rapid population growth, increasingly scarce resources, food lost or wasted and climate change are putting enormous pressure on agricultural productivity which is vital for food security and livelihoods. No one will be immune from the effects of climate change. But it will […]
If You Want to Make Money be a Farmer, Not a Financier
As an investor, I’ll cut to the chase – I’m long agriculture. That’s to say I’m very optimistic about its potential despite the fact that the sector has been a disaster for the past 30 years – my own Commodities Index tells me that agriculture prices are just 75% of what they were in 1998. […]
Managing Boundaries in an Unbalanced World
The global food system is a strange and twisted thing. One in eight people go hungry while one in five is overweight. A farmer in Iowa can grow ten tonnes of grain on each hectare, while most farmers in Africa struggle to harvest a single tonne. The rich countries of the world are among the […]
The 21st Century Commodity Trader
Change in the 21st century is proceeding at a pace and a scale that are unprecedented. Last century’s strategies are no longer viable options for institutions that want to survive in this one. That said, those institutions that can transcend yesterday’s thinking and today’s boundaries can actually thrive in the 21st century. Nowhere is this […]
Innovations in Maternal and Newborn Healthcare
In a recent breakfast meeting held in Kenya by the Innovation Challenge Fund for the private sector, the technical partner of the Fund, Population Council, revealed a startling fact: Up to 287,000 women die around the globe each year during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period – largely due to access to skilled routine and […]
The Next Step for Sustainable Supply Chains
Supply chains are complicated and none more so than those of a retailer like M&S with our thousands of food, home, clothing and beauty products. Beyond our product suppliers are many processors, traders, ingredient manufacturers, wholesalers and farmers who we need to support our sustainability ambitions. Certification has been the traditional approach to managing these […]
‘Decent Work for All’: But How is This to Be Achieved?
Extreme poverty has been halved in the last 15 years, and with a concerted effort the next 15 could see it virtually eliminated from all but the most fragile states. The Sustainable Development Goals provide a vital framework for this effort. Goal 8 is to ‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive […]
Efforts to Measure Progress in Job Creation
In 2012, CDC announced its intention to target its capital more precisely on building businesses to create jobs in African and South Asian countries where the private sector is weak and starved of investment. Getting a good job makes a lasting difference to people’s lives. Not just for the workers, but for their families. But […]
Unilever: Enhancing Livelihoods, Advancing Human Rights
At Unilever, we’re striving to build a company that represents a responsible and successful business model, in which business exists to serve – not take from – society. The company’s commitment to this ambition is reflected in the fact that they created my role, which promotes Unilever’s social impact across our value chain. In 2014, […]
Business & the SDGs: How Can We Deepen Scale & Impact?
The role of the private sector in realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is widely recognized. What remains unclear is how exactly business should contribute most effectively and responsibly to the broad development objectives that government leaders will adopt this September. The SDGs will affirm the importance of the private sector in achieving economic […]
Business & the SDGs: How Can We Deepen Scale & Impact?
The role of the private sector in realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is widely recognized. What remains unclear is how exactly business should contribute most effectively and responsibly to the broad development objectives that government leaders will adopt this September. The SDGs will affirm the importance of the private sector in achieving economic […]
Divine Chocolate: Empowering Women Cocoa Farmers
An interview with Charlotte Borger, Communications Director, Divine Chocolate 1. How does Divine Chocolate work with women in your supply chains? (If you have any specific examples of women being empowered by project(s) you have run, or as a result of your efforts, please mention here). Divine Chocolate is a UK based Fairtrade chocolate company […]
The Girls’ Education Challenge in Afghanistan
As the Fund Manager for the Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC), we are extremely limited in our ability to visit field project locations in Afghanistan. It is designated as too ‘high risk’. For this reason, we held our recent Annual Review workshop with project teams in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. These teams have similar […]
What will the Modern Slavery Act Achieve?
This March saw the passing of the Modern Slavery Act in UK parliament. It includes a transparency in supply chains clause requiring large companies to publish an annual public statement on modern slavery. This should detail evidence of what actions they have taken to eliminate the risk and presence of in their business or supply […]
Harnessing Value Chains: Bring the Rights Back In
How can we harness supply chains for the SDGs? Bring the rights back in. With the September Summit on the Sustainable Development Goals fast approaching, the years of wrangling over goals, targets and indicators has now reached fever pitch. Throughout, a consensus has endured that business has a crucial role. In order to deliver a […]
Harnessing Value Chains: Hand in Hand’s Experience
We see more companies recognising that they can make a contribution to wider economic, environmental and social progress and starting to adapt the way they do business. That is great, and is essential. But it is not enough. We have also to unlock the potential of poorer people, particularly women, to seize these opportunities. Hand […]
Collaborating to Enhance Women’s Business Skills
Cherie Blair, Sevi Simavi and team with Yvonne at her cyber cafe. Credit: William Hirtle/Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. After surviving the Rwandan genocide 21 years ago, Yvonne worked hard to rebuild her life. She now runs a busy cyber café on a bustling street in Kigali. She set up this business in 2011 and, […]
On Business, Human Rights and Globalisation
As we release our first Human Rights report, Professor John Ruggie argues that caring for people and planet, in addition to being the moral imperative of our time, must become a core business mission. The issue of business and human rights is not new. After all, the slave trade involved businesses; governments were complicit; and […]
Boosting the Livelihoods of Dairy Farmers
The final report looks at a five-year market development project in Malawi, funded by Accenture that finished in 2014. The project addressed the bottlenecks and opportunities in the dairy industry in Malawi, where inefficient smallholder production (which accounts for 80% of the domestic milk supply) is contributing to the fact that Malawi has the lowest […]
Ghana Cocoa Growers Trained for Secure Future
The third report in VSO’s Producing Progress series looks at VSO’s role in Mondelēz’s Cocoa Life Programme. The series hopes to help us and others continue to improve livelihoods and strengthen the private sector in developing countries. The Cocoa Life initiative aims to support the cocoa-growing communities in Ghana that supply the global chocolate company. […]