A New Model for Gender Lens Partnerships
By Suzanne Biegel, Investment Director, SPRING, and Founder/Chief Catalyst, Women Effect On this 2016 International Women’s Day, it pays to reflect on the global partnership efforts achieved since 1975 – the International Women’s Year, when the United Nations (UN) officially started to commemorate the accomplishments towards women’s empowerment and gender equality. The theme set by […]
Training Beyond Gender Roles in Cambodia
Sopheak smiles widely and proudly after showing me her crops and then asks me if I can share her story, so this is for her. Sopheak Nop is 25 years old from Kandal province in Cambodia. Her father passed away when she was young and she lives with her mother and sister. Over the years […]
The “Missing Middle” in Women-led Investment
Women-led investment has slowly taken off in recent years in developed economies – initiatives such as 37 Angels in the U.S. and UAE-based WOMENA are prime examples. However, in the developing world – where the financing gap is the largest – women-led investment is still an anomaly. Africa has only a handful of women-led investment […]
What is the Point of International Women’s Day?
I can’t remember when or how I started observing International Women’s Day (IWD) but every year I ask myself the same questions about this day. The questions are: What is the point of International Women’s Day? Why do we need days like -International Women’s Day Has it helped advance African women’s fight for equality Is […]
Building Smallholder Resliance to Drought in Ethiopia
“There will always be a solution as long as we have food, but if a person has nothing to eat, there is no solution for any problem.” Collective savings and access to loans have helped a group of women in Ethiopia cope longer with the ongoing drought, but now resources are running out. The El […]
Livelihood Agenda for Refugees and Host Communities
On 3rd and 4th February 2016, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the governments of the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany and Kuwait co-hosted an international conference on the Syrian regional crisis. In advance of this, CARE International, the UK Department for International Development, Business Fights Poverty and the Ethical Trading […]
Hybrid Social Finance: Partnerships That Drive Success
By Bernard Coffey, Former business leader and long-time volunteer, Ashoka Support Network (ASN) team It was a simple networking dinner where a business executive met a social entrepreneur with a great idea, which led to a long-term and very successful partnership in the nascent field of social finance and “impact investing.” The social entrepreneur, Luke […]
Local Young People Solving Global Challenges
“No career is a sure thing anymore. The uncertain, rapidly changing conditions in which entrepreneurs start companies is what it’s now like for all of us fashioning a career. Therefore, you should approach career strategy the same way an entrepreneur approaches starting a business.” – Thomas Friedman, LinkedIn Founder The world today is shaped by […]
Embracing the Promise of Technology for Social Progress
By Ryan Scott, Co-Founder, NetCreations As global leaders prepare to gather at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, I’ve been musing on the topic of their forthcoming discussion: Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The premise of this anointed age is that human progress is now fully oriented around science […]
Equality: What Does This Mean for Women in Kenya?
As Christine Lagarde, mother, head of the IMF and star of the global stage arrives at Davos this week, Hannah Haciku mother, entrepreneur and village authority will be working hard to feed and clothe her three children in Kenya. Two women, two very different lives. Christine may face a glass ceiling, the one Hannah faces […]
Breaking the Chains of Dependency for Girls and Women
Throughout history, girls and women have often been invisible outside the home. Even now, in 2016, there are countries where women are prevented from getting a job, from owning their own land and even from setting up a bank account. This strips them of their independence. For every aspect of their lives, these women are […]
The Ripple Effect of Vision Care on the SDGs
When the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) were formally adopted last year, many in the sustainability community saw this as a moment of triumph. The seventeen goals are not only ambitious but also universal, and the private sector worked hand in hand with government and academics in their development. Yet sceptics have wondered whether the […]
Helping Young People Build a Stronger Private Sector
Image: Cristian Leger, founder of Dermaloe in Chile, who received entrepreneurship support from Accion Emprendedora – a member of YBI With 3.5 billion young people in the world, its clear that the Sustainable Development Goals will not be met without a clear focus on youth. There has been a lot of discussion about how we […]
Making Markets Work for Refugees
Ahead of the London Syria conference in early February, donors and governments in the region are working closely to agree a new plan for responding to the refugee crisis in the region, the private sector will be critical to its success. On the 4th of February the eyes of the world will turn to London, […]
How Can Digital Currencies Enable Financial Inclusion?
Uphold On January 26th, Tuesday, Women Advancing Microfinance UK are hosting a dinner in London to explore how innovations in financial technology, especially digital currencies, can further financial inclusion. Tickets to the event are available here. On the night, Diana Biggs from Uphold, the fastest growing money platform in the world since its launch in […]
Increasing Climate Resilience of BoP Communities
Since Monday, November 30th, 2015, representatives from over 190 countries gather at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP 21) with the imposing goal of developing a legally binding and universal agreement on climate to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. While the agreement to limiting the global temperature increase to less than 2°C […]
Creating Businesses from Nothing
“Entrepreneurship is key to tackling youth unemployment”, said H.E. Joyce Kikafuna, Ugandan High Commissioner to the UK, at an event held by Grow Movement on Tuesday 17 November. The event was held to mark Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurs which takes place in 160 countries around the world. From networking events […]
Celebrating the Power of Mentoring
Onty Mogofu says she was “born with an entrepreneurial spirit.” As a young girl in Botswana, she started plaiting the hair of the women in her village for a small fee, taking her profits home to supplement the family income. Onty now runs a thriving events management company called 360 Events Affair, which provides training, […]
Increasing Financial Inclusion in the Garment Industry
Today, BSR and theBill & Melinda Gates Foundationare announcing a new strategic partnership to increase financial inclusion for low-income women and men working in the garment industry in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Through this partnership, BSR will help garment factories in these countries transition from cash-based payroll or traditional direct deposit to mobile wallet accounts, […]
Five Steps to Family-friendly Holidays
Unicef UK Whether it’s keeping cranky toddlers busy or trying to impress moody teens, sometimes travelling with children can be tough. That’s why an increasing number of companies are offering child-friendly holidays – where kids’ pools, outdoor activities and baby-sitting services offer beleaguered parents the hope of a hassle-free stay. But if we look outside […]