Strengthening Gender Equity in the Voluntary Carbon Market
Integrating gender equity into the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) is essential for achieving environmental and social sustainability. At the heart of this discussion is the question: How can carbon credit quality be improved, whilst also driving benefit for the planet and the people most affected by climate change? Integrating gender equity into carbon credit initiatives […]
Empowering the Next Generation: The Future of Youth Entrepreneurship
At Youth Business International (YBI), the only organisation dedicated to youth entrepreneurship on a global scale, we believe that young entrepreneurs are not just the leaders of tomorrow, they’re the changemakers of today. In our rapidly evolving world, young people are stepping up as innovators, driving social change, and forging paths in entrepreneurship like never […]
Boosting Smallholder Farmer Incomes Requires an Innovative Data-Driven Approach
The Challenges Facing Farmers Today Smallholder farmers are essential to the global food supply, producing up to 80% of the food consumed in much of the developing world. Yet many of these farmers live below the poverty line due to a combination of factors, including rising production costs, inefficient farming techniques, and pricing models that do not […]
From Waste to Wonder: Empowering Global Education and Transforming Lives
Redefining Waste: Turning Corporate Surplus into Lifelines for Communities in Need In today’s world, where the effects of climate change and social inequality are increasingly evident, the need for innovative and sustainable solutions is more critical than ever. Environmental degradation and the widening gap between social inequalities pose significant challenges to our collective future. Waste […]
Harnessing the Power of Women Entrepreneurs can be a Game- Changer for Prosperity and Economic Growth
Based on the evidence and experience, iDE is dramatically scaling up its work with women entrepreneurs Flora Mostiço is a change agent in her community. At her market store, in Mozambique’s Beira Corridor, the mother of six sells affordable agricultural supplies including high quality seeds, fertilizer, and water pumps. Despite repeated cyclones that devastated the […]
How Businesses Can Meet EU Deforestation Regulation: Innovative Solutions for Supply Chain Transparency
Trade in commodities linked with deforestation poses significant environmental and social challenges. According to The Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) and CDP 2024 report Time for Transparency, land clearance for agriculture accounts for over 10 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and is linked to at least a third of global biodiversity loss. When forests are cleared, […]
What 3,000 Farmers Told Us About Wellbeing in the Coffee Supply Chain
The global coffee industry, worth billions of dollars, relies on millions of smallholder farmers. Yet, how much do we really know about their lives and challenges? A plethora of foundations, NGOs, and coffee companies collectively invest millions of dollars in programs and certifications aimed at improving the lives of these farmers. Platforms like the Sustainable […]
Rising Extremism in Africa Requires New Approach
The growing power of violent extremist groups in Africa requires cross-sector solutions that go beyond military action. Africa now accounts for nearly half of all global deaths from terrorism each year. Benin–one of the countries where our organization, TechnoServe, works–experienced two security incidents during 2019. In the first half of 2023 alone, the country experienced […]
How Digital Wages Can Contribute to the Living Wage Agenda
Today, it’s estimated that over a billion workers worldwide – about 1/3 of the global workforce –earn less than they need to afford a decent standard of living. A living wage is defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO) as a level of pay that gives workers and their families a decent standard of living. […]
Philanthropy as a Catalyst for Change: Lessons From the G20
In late July, finance leaders of the world’s major economies gathered in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting. There, they pledged for the first time to cooperate to ensure that the super-rich are effectively taxed: a move that attracted headlines in the global media. This unprecedented declaration on taxing wealth […]
From Carbon to Cash: The Climate Innovations Raising Smallholder Farmers’ Incomes
There are an estimated 600 million smallholder farmers around the world who are working to produce one-third of our global food supply. As climate challenges increase, these farmers are disproportionately affected by changing weather and rising temperatures that lead to increased droughts, erosion, pests, and disease. The stakes are high – both for keeping people […]
Afro-futurist Innovators Know What We Should Build Next
How might philanthropy shift if we framed Black economic mobility as an inherent right and a collective responsibility? Might we, as funders, abandon “risk” terminology to automatically recognize Black, African, and diaspora founders’ expertise and authority? Might we trust Black and diaspora leaders’ advocacy of their communities’ real needs, widely supporting proximate leaders to author […]
Empowering Poor Populations: How Business Can Transform Poverty Relief
Freedom is Not Trusted When It Comes to the Poor Population, Let’s Change That with Business There has been a consensus that capitalism and the free market are not designed to overcome poverty. We need to overcome this belief. We celebrate the capitalist economic framework for its ability to improve the lives of the majority who […]
Connecting Mexican Farmers and Buyers Through Regenerative Practices
From Small Farms to Formal Markets: Connecting Mexican Farmers and Buyers Through Regenerative Practices Agriculture is a lifeline for over 8 million farmers in Mexico, with smallholders representing a significant portion of the farming landscape in the country. Small farms account for 57% of crop farms, 78% of cattle farms, 89% of pig farms, and […]
Profit with Purpose: How Women-Inclusive Business Practices Drive SME Success
Can inclusive investments advance growth within the localized private sector? Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are powerful drivers of economic growth: they account for 90 percent of businesses, more than 50 percent of employment, and create two out of three jobs globally. This presents a significant untapped opportunity to advance gender equality in low- and […]
Unlocking the Potential of Young Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa
A Call for Innovative Financing Solutions Youth entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa represents an extraordinary opportunity to drive economic independence, societal transformation, and sustainable development. Yet, millions of young entrepreneurs remain constrained by a rigid financial landscape. These young minds, particularly women and other underserved groups, operate predominantly in the informal sector, with no access to […]
The Fairtrade Foundation: 30 Years of Transformative Change
“It’s more revolutionary what you put on your plate than what you post on the internet.” Those are the words of Silvia Herrera, a second-generation coffee farmer from Chiapas, southern Mexico, who I met earlier this month. Silvia is right. We should never underestimate the power we have as consumers. Power to change an unfair […]
Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter: The “Invisible Market Segment”
There is a common mantra in business that companies can “do well, by doing good.” And while that may be true; too often, “doing good” is more difficult than meets the eye and many businesses opt out, even if “doing good” could bolster bottom lines. But what if there was a way to make “doing […]
Small Business, Big Impact: The Transformative Power of Women Entrepreneurs
In the corner by one of the many potted plants, three Vietnamese women sit around bowls of steaming noodles and dumplings, engrossed in discussion. Despite the noise and chaos of the traffic outside, it’s peaceful in this small and cozy vegetarian restaurant tucked away in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Sounds of conversation and laughter grow as […]
How Can Businesses Build Partnerships that are Fit for the Future?
Click here to take the 5-minute survey Businesses Partnerships for the Future With the world in the midst of overlapping social and environmental challenges and pushback in some countries against the engagement of businesses in addressing them, there has never been a more important time to build a new consensus on the role of business […]