Working Toward Sustainability in the Sugar Sector
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Bonsucro, originally known as the Better Sugarcane Initiative, is taking place in Manila this week. I remember the first AGM in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2008. It was a small group then, about 25 people. I participated in the review of the first draft Production Standard, visited the São […]
Scaling Corporate Social Enterprise in Latin America
Support for social entrepreneurship has grown rapidly in the last decade, and individuals seeking to launch new social enterprises now have a variety of options for networking, support for converting an idea into a tangible venture, and raising funds. But, despite these advances, social enterprises rarely have the opportunity to scale operations and, thus, impact. […]
Modern Slavery Bill: The Power of Collaboration
We can celebrate the UK Government’s recent announcement that it will include a reporting requirement for businesses in the Modern Slavery Bill. This has the potential to make a significant difference. Following the establishment of the Joint Committee led by Frank Field in January 2013, the draft Bill was published in December 2013. The Government […]
New Corporate Volunteering Hub to Fight Poverty
At the recent Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, the UK Development Minister Justine Greening announced that she is backing a new volunteering initiative for businesses and the development community. The Hub, set to launch in early 2015, will be run by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Speaking during Economic Development day alongside World […]
The Nutritional Value of Toilets
“Don’t ever, ever eat in the toilet!” When I grew up I imagined every mother in the world admonished her children with this warning. If you’ve grown up hearing this message, as so many children in middle and high income countries have, you simply cannot think of food and toilets in the same sentence without […]
Partnerships for Good Growth: Improving Crop Efficiency
Vegetables and Specialty Crops, Syngenta We all know that, globally, our population is growing. To put it into perspective, we are adding over 200,000 people to our planet every day. The good news is that infant mortality is down to the lowest rate in history in many countries, and many people are living longer, fuller […]
How Do We Achieve Scale in Markets for Nutritious Food?
There is unprecedented interest in building value chains and market-based solutions to make nutritious foods more accessible to the people who need the most, and drive better nutrition. Efforts are spanning conventional sectorial divisions: agricultural development programs are introducing nutrition targets, national-level fortification programs are being scaled up and enterprises are developing specially-formulated supplementary foods […]
Partnerships for Nutrition and Agricultural Development
Every night, 842 million women, children and men go to bed hungry. Every day 8,000 children die needlessly from conditions linked to under-nutrition. Globally, 2 billion people suffer from micronutrient malnutrition. These statistics are well known, but they bear repeating. The burden of under-nutrition is incalculable, and the ramifications for children are particularly severe. When […]
Implementing a Transformative Development Agenda
In September 2015, the international community is expected to agree an ambitious post-2015 development agenda (the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs) to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), aiming to combine economic, social and environmental objectives in a balanced manner. At the same time there will be a financing for development conference in Addis Ababa in […]
Advancing Research on Sustainable & Inclusive Business
Citi Foundation, Tufts University and Business Fights Poverty Launch New Report: Growth for Good or Good for Growth? Study Explores How Sustainable and Inclusive Business Activities are Changing Business The Citi Foundation is excited to announce our partnership with the Institute for Business in the Global Context at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, and Business Fights […]
Advancing Research on Sustainable & Inclusive Business
Citi Foundation, Tufts University and Business Fights Poverty Launch New Report: Growth for Good or Good for Growth? Study Explores How Sustainable and Inclusive Business Activities are Changing Business The Citi Foundation is excited to announce our partnership with the Institute for Business in the Global Context at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, and Business Fights […]
Reinvesting 20% of profits in poor countries
Five years ago, GSK made a pledge. Our chief executive – Andrew Witty – committed to reinvest 20% of our profits from developing countries back into those countries, using the funds to strengthen their healthcare systems by training frontline workers. It was a bold move, but necessary. The World Health Organization currently estimates a global […]
The Partnership Behind Uganda’s Soybean Industry
One of the main bottlenecks to the development of Africa’s rural economy and agriculture sector is an often divergent agenda from the government, private sector, researchers and NGOs. Someone needs to “connect the dots” to enhance synergy, and avoid contradictory advice for farmers. East and Central Africa face many complex agricultural problems that no single […]
An Evolving Relationship between NGOs and Private Businesses
A common misperception regarding NGO-private sector relations is one based on mutual distrust and occasional confrontation, or with the advent of corporate social responsibility funding, one solely based on donor-recipient transactions. With the international development landscape rapidly evolving, some historical and present-day assumptions are simply inaccurate. The following statements are NOT true of operational U.S. […]
Business as a Partner in Development
Partnerships are vital if we are to make the greatest possible impact on development. This is why the whole global community – governments, businesses, emerging and developing nations, civil society – needs to agree a new partnership to work together and unite behind the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and work together to achieve them. […]
Securing Growth with Depth
In the push for African states to collaborate with business for economic transformation, this report offers fresh, promising ideas for the “how.” Economic transformation, as we champion it at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), is growth with DEPTH. That is, growth with diversification, export competitiveness, productivity increases and technological upgrading, all leading to […]
Partnering for Impact
Despite growing optimism about Africa’s economic prospects, progress is fragile and incomplete. Growth has yet to benefit many Africans, with almost half the population still living on less than $1.25 a day. With almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24, Africa has the youngest population in the world, and with that number expected […]
Business Call to Action Annual Forum 2014
Women’s and Children’s Health and the SDGs
By Next year, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) will be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) — a set of even more ambitious targets for global development. In a bold attempt to create the healthiest generation of young women and children in the world, the new SDGs will require the near elimination of preventable […]
Integrating Trade in the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Trade must be a prominent part of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, given its importance in structural economic transformation. The SDGs could help tackle some of the trade challenges facing African LDCs by moving beyond the agenda of market access. This would imply a focus on addressing behind-the-border measures, such as rules of origin, enforcement […]