Michael Mapstone: Business-NGO partnerships – not why, but how….
For some time now many of us have woken up to the fact that there is more to business-NGO partnerships than money. Money, of course, remains important in these economically tight times – NGOs certainly need all the money they can get at the moment and it’s great to see corporate philanthropy remains strong. We […]
To Make HIV/AIDS Education More Effective, Start with Empowerment
While in Kenya this month, I sat in on a HERproject training on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for future peer health educators. BSR’s HERproject uses a peer-to-peer training methodology to reach women working in factories and farms in Asia and Africa—to date, we’ve reached more than 200,000 women across eight countries. The training was the […]
Inadequate health systems damage the growth of developing nations
Inadequate health systems have a disproportionate and crippling effect on the growth of developing nations. And yet the solution is within closer reach than many realise, says Dr Brian Brink, chief medical officer of Anglo American. A robust health system lies at the heart of building a country that has a healthy population, healthy society […]
Alive & Kicking – Africa’s Ball Maker Enters New Markets
It is increasingly acknowledged that growth in manufacturing is key to reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The 120 – 150 jobs sustained by stitching sports balls in Kenya and Zambia, with up to 50 more to come in Ghana, is a small but significant part of that crucial trend. With ‘Balls For Africa’ currently on […]
Alive & Kicking – Africa’s Ball Maker Enters New Markets
It is increasingly acknowledged that growth in manufacturing is key to reducing poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The 120 – 150 jobs sustained by stitching sports balls in Kenya and Zambia, with up to 50 more to come in Ghana, is a small but significant part of that crucial trend. With ‘Balls For Africa’ currently on […]
TEDxEuston 2012 – Challenging Conventional Wisdom, 1 December, London
Fashioning Sustainability With Style
Photo: Sougha Designer Training Emirati Artisan Saima Al Mansoori Ayesha Mustafa, Founder and Director, Fashion ComPassion Fashion ComPassion was created as a retail platform for socially responsible fashion labels. Through a combination of online sales and distribution, pop-up shops and boutique exhibitions, a global marketplace is given access to the brands we work with and, […]
What I learned from Social Investors over Breakfast
I was delighted to have the chance to attend the Investor Breakfast at the ClearlySo SBC12 conference. After a career in the City, being around social entrepreneurs feels so “nourishing”. I love their energy and ideas. But I was curious about the investor experience: what are their concerns and aspirations, where are they satisfied and […]
Improving the lives of workers and producers through global value chains
Dr Stephanie Barrientos, Capturing the Gains, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester We are all aware of companies in the North that source in developing countries. For decades, campaign groups have put them under pressure for poor working conditions in their global value chains. But what happens when the lead firms in those global […]
Improving the lives of workers and producers through global value chains – what are some of the necessary conditions?
Dr Stephanie Barrientos, Capturing the Gains, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester We are all aware of companies in the North that source in developing countries. For decades, campaign groups have put them under pressure for poor working conditions in their global value chains. But what happens when the lead firms in those global […]
Brussels event looks at ways to engage private sector in sustainable agricultural development
European Development Days, an annual event hosted by the European Commission and held in the Belgian capital, Brussels, is Europe’s premier forum on development and international affairs. In 2012, the meetings addressed inclusive growth, resilience, and private sector engagement, with a special focus on new partnerships and innovative financing of anti-poverty solutions. One high-level panel […]
Unlearning to innovate: 7 steps entrepreneurs need to know when getting into inclusive business
Dr. Fernando Casado Cañeque. Director, Centre of Partnerships for Development It is typically in crisis situations when the absence of political leadership becomes most evident. In such situations, it is also when social innovation becomes most needed. However, as a concept, for innovation to be really social, it should challenge current thinking models and recognize […]
THE LAST 500 FEET
By Paul Polak, Founder, iDE, Author Out of Poverty Developing new practical and profitable ways to cross the last 500 feet to the remote rural places where poor families now live and work is the first step towards creating vibrant new markets that serve poor customers. In rural Orissa, India, the women are not permitted […]
Paul Polak: The Last 500 Feet
By Paul Polak, Founder, iDE, Author Out of Poverty Developing new practical and profitable ways to cross the last 500 feet to the remote rural places where poor families now live and work is the first step towards creating vibrant new markets that serve poor customers. In rural Orissa, India, the women are not permitted […]
Planting the Seeds for Development
It has been eight years since Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work planting trees in Kenya. During that period, the Rio+ 20 conference has been and gone, Climate Change has finally come to be recognised as a serious worldwide threat, and terms such as ‘Green Growth’ have started to emerge. In […]
Working Towards Responsible Labour Standards for Cocoa Growing
Child labour is both a symptom and a self-perpetuating cause of poverty. Children in cocoa growing areas often face the harsh realities of rural poverty (including scarcity or low-fertility of land, food insecurity, lack of education infrastructure, poor access to potable water, and remoteness from markets). The practice of children working on cocoa farms is […]
IFC’s “Being the Change”: Exploring the Personal Side of Inclusive Business
One usually thinks of the International Finance Corporation as a hard-nosed investor – an unlikely source of inspiration. Yes, IFC is a development institution whose purpose is “to create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives.” Yes, it is one of the largest investors in the world in companies with inclusive business […]
The BIG Smallholder Opportunity
By Dian Hollman, Program Officer, GIZ and Christina Gradl, Founder and Managing Director, Endeva Over the past few years, agriculture has returned to the center stage of the development agenda – particularly as price fluctuations and demographic growth aggravate the challenge of food security. A staggering 870 million people, 12 percent of the world’s population, […]
Women Mean Business: Supporting Enterprising Women
At Paper Craft Africa in the Bwebajja neighborhood of Kampala, Uganda, Harriet Nantale oversees a bustling workshop. Outside, employees soak and recycle paper, banana fiber and pineapple fiber, creating thick sheets of paper in vibrant colors. Inside, the team uses the paper and other recycled material to craft calendars, notebooks, cards, jewelry, soap and other […]
The Promise of Measuring Shared Value
Can something simultaneously be both a cliché and an emergent, nascent approach? Consider corporate approaches to working with smallholder farmers. This is fairly mainstream thinking in international development. We hear these examples at every conference and in every report on agricultural development. Companies create shared value by helping improve yields of critical crops such as […]