Collaborations Expand Tech Uses to Aid Refugees
Technology is playing an unprecedented role in addressing the global refugee crisis. In part, this is due to a level of collaboration that is new to the traditionally competitive, independent tech community. The massive numbers of people fleeing war and deprivation – over 82,000 refugees sought refuge in the first two months of 2016 alone, […]
Engaging Diaspora in Development and Diplomacy
Diaspora means “to scatter” in Greek, but today we use the term to describe a community of people who live outside their shared country of origin or ancestry but maintain active connections with it. With the rise of globalization, the number of people leaving their home countries to seek education and employment opportunities has skyrocketed. […]
Connecting Corporations and Social Enterprises
By Sheena Raikundalia, Senior Consultant, Intellecap Kenya-focused entrepreneur Moka Lantum, Founder and Managing Director of Microclinics, is preparing for pitch to a large pharmaceutical company. The Nairobi-based healthcare management company provides patient and clinic management systems to peri-urban and rural clinics. The software developed by his company, tracks commodities in clinics and enhances, availability, accessibility, […]
Cross-sector Approaches in Countering Violent Extremism
In the spirit of this year’s Global Partnerships Week (GPW) theme of “Leveraging Innovation in Partnerships”, Concordia has long been a proponent of innovative and collaborative efforts that advance global security agendas combating violent extremism (CVE). Many of the GPW partners, and a number of the affiliated organizations and events this week, have dedicated significant […]
How USAID Views the Future of Partnership
By Chris Jurgens, Director, Center for Transformational Partnerships, U.S. Global Development Lab, U.S. Agency of International Development Today, new economic powers have emerged, private investment to developing countries has soared, and new technologies have opened opportunities as never before. The nature of development is changing, with collaboration across diverse stakeholders now a central feature of […]
US State Department Celebrates Collaboration
By Andrew O’Brien, Special Representative, Global Partnerships The word “partnership” seems to be everywhere these days — and the U.S. Department of State is proud to be at the center of it. While public-private partnerships (P3s) have been around for years, they are increasingly becoming a primary way to achieve our objectives in diplomacy and […]
Reaching the SDGS – New Alliances in Digital Development
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call on all of us to work as partners to end extreme poverty, fight inequality, and address climate change. Digital technologies enable government and citizen action towards these global goals. The rising ubiquity of mobile phones, the increased global use of communication and social media applications such as WhatsApp and […]
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 […]
Design Thinking and Solar Power for BOP Markets
In Africa, two-thirds of the population is without access to electricity. To fuel economic growth and empower people to become more productive with their lives, governments, business, and the nonprofit sector have been working on providing people across the continent with solar energy. While progress has been made, many obstacles and barriers remain. Besides the […]
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 […]
iDE: Reaching 20 Million More People
Since 1983 iDE has leveraged the power of business to help rural entrepreneurs work their way out of poverty. From our first social enterprise in Somalia to our more recent businesses from Vietnam to Latin America, we have helped more than 23 million people gain access to a technology or service. We strive for tangible, […]
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 […]
Corporation Tax in the Modern World
Dr Aidan McQuade, Director, Anti-Slavery International In the wake of the recent controversies that have been sparked since the announcement of Google’s US $ 130 million settlement with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, it is worth contemplating, of all things, a few interrelated issues of political and moral philosophy; I find they can often help […]
How to Change the World: Do the Reverse
Interview with Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank, the pioneering Dhaka-based organization that spread microcredit and microfinance globally. Professor Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his transformative impact. Ashoka had a chance to catch up with him just before the 2016 World Economic Forum. Ashoka: […]
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 […]