Watch the Videos: Business Fights Poverty Oxford 2018
On 18 July, over 300 individuals from business, civil society and government came together for Business Fights Poverty Oxford 2018 to explore the themes of business, purpose and collaboration. We took the opportunity to celebrate Mandela’s Centenary and this year’s theme for Mandela Day: #ActionAgainstPoverty. The event centred around the stage that Mandela, himself, spoke from […]
Business and the SDGs – WBCSD’s key takeaways from the 2018 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, the UN’s central platform for follow-up and review of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), took place at the UN headquarters in New York City from 9 to 18 July 2018. Gathering some 2,000 representatives from UN member states, business leaders, mayors, the scientific community, foundations, UN […]
Why, and How, Business Needs to Change its Approach to the SDGs
Ever since they were endorsed in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals have been an increasingly hot topic for countless companies around the world. Each day, business is examining how it can best contribute to the ambitious goals and targets set out by Agenda 2030. Not all, however, are doing it right. Many are making the […]
Two Weeks to Go and Acumen Explore Investing in Impact
Acumen was founded in 2001 with the mission of changing the way the world tackles poverty. Our model: To raise philanthropy and invest it for up to a decade, sometimes more, in intrepid entrepreneurs building businesses to serve the poor; Early-stage companies at critical moments in their evolution, because that’s where capital is most scarce. […]
Partnerships with Innovation and Impact
On 18th July our flagship Business Fights Poverty Oxford conference takes place. With over 300 key stakeholders from business, NGOs, academia and public policy, this interactive day will explore how to enhance business with positive social impact, through collaboration and building trusted relationships, whilst learning from others and sharing ideas. Click here to apply for […]
Advocating Together to Promote the Value of Overseas Development Assistance
Last year, when Congress was considering the FY 18 budget, the new US administration proposed significant funding cuts to US overseas development assistance, the State Department and the United Nations. If enacted, the cuts would have had a significant impact on US aid programmes supporting food and nutrition security, human rights and labour protections in […]
Care Work Matters: Advocating for Greater Recognition of Unpaid Care and Domestic Work
In some parts of the world, women and girls currently spend as many as six hours each day on unpaid care and domestic work, which includes tasks like laundry, cooking, cleaning, collecting water and caring for dependants. Despite its vital contribution to families and communities, unpaid care and domestic work often goes un-recognised. It affects […]
Advocating Together for the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights
Long gone are the days when companies and NGOS could barely talk to each other. NGO-private sector partnerships are now the order of the day, and governments increasingly hope that companies will help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from poverty reduction to climate change. But joint advocacy between companies and NGOs is still […]
Advocating Together for Universal Health Coverage
In a world where at least half of the world’s population cannot obtain essential health services, achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) – the idea that everybody in the world should be able to access the healthcare they need without fear of financial hardship – has become a critical building block for Save the Children and […]
Joint Civil Society – Business Advocacy Is Emerging as a Powerful Tool to Drive Policy Change in Support of the SDGs
Nearly three years after formally adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is increasingly clear that governments face significant challenges that could undermine progress. These include fiscal constraints, lack of political will, institutional failures and state fragility. Moreover, governments are always under pressure to deliver short-term results, but many of the complex systemic challenges being […]
Entrepreneurs Are Changing The World
Entrepreneurship has proven to have a positive impact on today’s global challenges. Each one of us, by developing and using our strengths and skills, are agents of social change. As stated by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, over 43% of the global population pictures themselves starting a business in the next six months. Entrepreneurship is becoming […]
Meet the Longlist: Unilever Global Development Award, Supported by Business Fights Poverty
For the fifth year in a row, Business Fights Poverty is partnering with Unilever and Business in the Community on an award that recognises businesses that demonstrate positive impact against one or more of the SDGs Business has a key role to play in helping drive progress on ending poverty and protecting the planet. More […]
Formal Finance and Informal Groups: Inside the Black Box
A successful business case for linkages must offer something useful to all involved parties. This means looking ‘inside the black box’ of different mindsets: the bank or microfinance institution (MFI) interested in mobilizing money; the fintech or platform provider interested in moving money; and last but not least, the informal groups and the people using […]
Helping Refugees Move From Crisis To Resilience and Self-Reliance
It is estimated that, on average, a refugee spends over a decade in exile. This means that many refugee children, who make up more than half the world’s refugees, will spend most of their childhood in exile, jeopardizing their education and access to future economic opportunities. For millions of refugee adults, decades of displacement have […]
Missed our Skoll World Forum 2018 Ecosystem Event on Corporate Social Innovation?
Corporate social intrapreneurs develop profitable new products, services, or business models that create value for society and their company. But being a social intrapreneur is not easy. The “corporate immune system” tends to fight different or unfamiliar ideas and it can be hard to make a convincing investment case. Despite the challenges, social innovation is […]
Why Retailers are Uniting to Tackle Climate Change
The products we can buy today may not be available to us in the future unless action is taken to address the most pressing global challenges facing us. Take a simple cotton shirt for example. Cotton production is being hit by environmental impacts such as climate change and water scarcity, social challenges in production such […]
4 Tips for Effective and Dynamic Groups
Call them networks, working groups or knowledge hubs, communities of practice have been flourishing in the international development sector for some time now. Whether you want to influence decision makers, share best practices or connect with professionals within or beyond the sector, communities can help you strengthen your organisation’s outreach and knowledge. And today, thanks […]
Collaboration: How Business Must Lead to Achieve Sustainable Development
How does business lead? When we think of leadership, we often think of a single, iconic leader. We celebrate leading companies for their bold actions on sustainability risks and opportunities; yet one of the most important ways business leads is through collaboration. In the past year, it has become increasingly clear that the world is […]
Making the Most of Interesting Times – and Achieving the Global Goals
As Robert Kennedy remarked in 1966, “Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind.” For many of us, the first months of 2018 will go down in history as a similarly interesting […]
Supporting the SDGs through the Power of Data
To wrap up 2017, GSMA, the UN Foundation and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (the Global Partnership) met in New York with UN agencies and country missions to discuss the actual and potential contribution of partnerships and data to a better world. GSMA shared concrete examples of how an industry sector is using […]