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 […]
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 […]
New Research Reveals the Benefits and Costs of Gender-Smart Technical Assistance to SMEs and Investors
Gender lens investing includes three key entry points for investors: (1) providing capital to women-led/founded companies and/or gender-forward businesses; (2) applying a gender lens to the investment cycle, such as during pipeline development; and (3) funding and supporting the design and implementation of gender-inclusive technical assistance (TA) activities. Investors often focus on the first two […]
Why Investing in Informal Women Workers is Critical to Maintaining Resilient Supply Chains
Over 60% of the world’s employed population make their living through informal work, with no access to formal contracts or protection. Women make up a disproportionate percentage of informal workers, with 740 million women’s livelihoods dependent on the informal economy globally. Lack of secure employment contracts or social protection for these workers means that when […]
Fostering Innovation in Healthcare Financing for Vulnerable Populations
Major progress has been made in improving the health of millions of people globally, with higher life expectancy, lower maternal and child mortality, and better prevention of prevalent communicable diseases. But in many parts of the world, especially in developing countries, access to quality healthcare remains unaffordable for most people. Without a financial safety net, a […]
Why the Burden on Business Women to ‘do it all’ Must Stop
Glorifying multi-tasking by women entrepreneurs must stop. Women the world over are often celebrated for juggling their business with childcare and household responsibilities. The assumption that a woman should be the primary caregiver and the man should be the breadwinner are norms so entrenched they remain consistently unchallenged. This needs to change. NGOs and businesses […]
Who’s Putting the ‘S’ in ESG?
Lately, ESG is mostly in the news for the wrong reasons. Reading certain articles, it can seem as though some companies are happy to reap the benefits of seeming good, while shifting expenses (e.g., pollution) onto society. However, a lot of the negative coverage references ESG in its role as a guidance for investors (i.e., ESG for Assurance), despite the fact […]
Stronger Together: How the Food Fortification Ecosystem Can Fight Malnutrition
Stronger together – how the food fortification ecosystem can fight malnutrition by supporting small and medium-sized millers What do the World Food Programme, BASF, Royal DSM and Nigeria Flour Mills have in common? They all recognize the key role of small-scale and medium-sized millers to bring food fortification to scale, as part of national strategies […]
How Businesses Can Make Their Giving Count
Businesses play a big part in philanthropy. Between 2018 and 2019 corporate giving in the United States went up by 13%, hitting just over $21 billion. But do all those dollars lead to impact? Open Road Alliance found that where impact projects encounter roadblocks, a staggering 46% of these obstacles are caused by funders. How can businesses avoid […]
Deeper Collaboration to Cut Value Chain Emissions: Are We Missing a Trick?
Innovative, deeper partnerships between businesses and their suppliers can play a vital role in bringing value chain emissions down faster and more equitably. There is growing focus on value chain (scope 3) emissions[1] as the next frontier in the race to net zero, and businesses increasingly talk of partnerships with suppliers as essential to meeting […]
It’s Time for Companies to Step Up on Net Zero
As UN Experts Call for an End to Greenwashing, Companies in the richest countries have still not agreed to climate measures that are in line with staying below 1.5 degrees. Danielle Smith and Hilde Stroot welcome new guidance from a UN panel, released at COP27, to push action by firms on corporate net-zero plans – […]
The Paradox of ESG
Can for-profit businesses really aid in preserving the environment? The practice of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment has long been plagued by the question. You could have assumed the answer was Yes based on the euphoric increase in everything ESG. According to estimates, a sustainability lens is now being used to oversee more than […]
Three Actions for Business in the Face of the Global Polycrisis
If you’re struggling to wrap your head around the multiple crises facing the world right now, the phrase “global polycrisis” may help you get a sense of just how truly awful things are. The term reared its head at the just-completed World Bank Annual Meetings, and is forebodingly described by the Cascade Institute as happening […]
Why is Sustainability a Concept Closer to JUSTICE than to the ENVIRONMENT?
Environmental protection such as packing, renewable energy, climate action, water, and waste management have dominated the sustainability mindset. Today, many people, including experts, thought leaders, and even some sustainability gurus, use the terms “sustainability” and “environmental protection” as synonyms. And they aren’t. Sustainability is a broader concept, and the level of success in achieving it […]
How the Climate Justice Framework Helps put People at the Heart of Net Zero Ambitions
Climate change and inequality are two of the biggest challenges of our time. Tackling one without the other is increasingly seen as not an option, including for business. The Business and Climate Justice Framework helps businesses identify both the opportunities of putting people at the centre of their climate ambitions and the risks of inaction. […]
Making the Care Economy Everyone’s Business
Take our survey to help us better understand business motivations for addressing the care economy and how entrepreneurs innovating in this space could support your business. Are you an FMCG company, concerned about the double day women in your supply chain are working – at the factory and then at home. What does this do […]
Sustainable Supply Chains: Future Proofing by Farmer-Focusing
Prices are the sharp end of a long stick. Gas prices. Food prices. Inflationary prices. Downward price pressure. Upward price pressure. Global supply chains. On and on it goes, with each new headline revealing a business environment stripped of its old rhythm. The environment feels particularly chaotic for any business dependent on functioning supply chains […]
Companies Need to Wake up to the Urgency of Ending Deforestation in Supply Chains. Here’s How
The announcement in June this year that parties to the COP15 biodiversity convention, billed the ‘Paris agreement’ for biodiversity, will meet in Montreal in December, ends uncertainty about the meeting taking place at all this year, after two years of delays. The urgent need to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis was highlighted at Davos earlier […]
Network of Small-Scale farmers in India Tackle Climate Change
“It was a turning point for me,” said Ruchi Jain, Founder and CEO of Taru Naturals, about her trip to the villages of small-scale farmers in India struggling with the effects of climate change. “I realized that if you want to make a big impact on the world, you have to be grassroots-based—it has to be […]
Effective Support for Women Entrepreneurs Goes Beyond Skills Training
Effective Support for Women Entrepreneurs Goes Beyond Skills Training Bernadette Sambo is an entrepreneur, wife, and mother of three in Maputo province, Mozambique. The challenge of balancing these roles is only made more difficult by restrictive gender-based social and familial expectations. “It had been very difficult to work and negotiate with my husband,” she recalls. […]