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, […]
An Opportunity for Companies to Reverse Tax Trends
As the world’s top corporate leaders gather in Davos this week, the question I have on my mind is “Is business delivering for the greater good?” New analysis by Oxfam shows that the gap between the richest and the rest has widened dramatically. The wealth of the poorest half of the world’s population – that’s […]
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 […]
Transcending Boundaries to End Hunger
Ending hunger is in everyone’s interest. Succeeding in this Goal #2 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals means not only ending the misery and debilitation of the starving and malnourished, but also stemming the spread and persistence of disease, and enabling at least 2 billion people, if better nourished, to be more productive for themselves […]
Fighting Malaria, Improving Health. Together
“We know what works. The challenge now is to do even more.” That was the mission set out by Dr Margaret Chan, World Health Organization director-general, as she introduced the latest annual malaria report. Published just last month, this showed astonishing progress against one of the world’s oldest and deadliest diseases. Since the start of […]
The Problem with Slavery and the SDGs
The inclusion of slavery eradication in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is recognition by the international community that, until now, many of the world’s poorest people had been comprehensively ignored in the wider struggle to end poverty. That is a fact confirmed by the number 5.5 million, the International Labour Organization’s most recent […]
Understanding and Tracking Social Impacts of Business
2015 was a year of progress. We have a long way to go to understand, track and strengthen the social impact of business. But we are beginning to ask the right questions and shape better tools. In case you missed them, these are my top highlights of 2015 for building the impact measurement space for […]
PPPs: The Business Case
Why should corporations partner with international development organizations? There are many other ways to develop a strong and ethical corporate image: Ways that do not involve the complex and sometimes messy business of working with a completely different type of organization than your own. And we’ve all heard the term ‘only partner if you have […]
Pay As You Go Solar Distribution
Today, more than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are living without access to electricity, most of them in rural areas. This is due largely to the high cost of expanding grid infrastructure to poor and remote locations. Access to sustainable off-grid energy in Africa has drawn an enormous amount of attention from donors, activists […]
How Science Can Inform Business Climate Commitments
Big business can make a big difference to tackle climate change in agriculture, but needs a strong scientific base to guide and monitor investments, says Sonja Vermeulen When the world’s biggest agribusinesses, with collective revenues of over $800 billion, come together to announce their intentions to reduce food emissions by almost a third in the […]
How Do We Get Businesses Working Towards the SDGs
“Let us put aside what divides us and overcome narrow self-interest in favor of working together for the common well-being of humanity.” With those inspiring words, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon kicked off last week’s Addis Ababa conference on Financing for Development. It was the first of a series of major events that could make […]
What Businesses Need to Know About the SDGs
The UN General Assembly held its regular meeting in New York this fall. But this year its purpose was different – and with significant implications for the future of the human condition. More than 190 member countries committed to “eliminate poverty in all its forms everywhere” by 2030, together with 16 other “big, hairy, audacious […]
3 Ways to Make Your Supply Chain More Climate Resilient
Your business sells products that depend on agricultural commodities. You have built a great brand, you have a loyal and expanding customer base and great relationships with your providers. But is your supply chain really sustainable? Can climate change affect your business? Most of the debate and focus in Europe and the US has been […]
Global Goals Could Trigger a Burst of Innovation
Leaders from 193 nations are converging on New York for the U.N. General Assembly. They are expected to adopt the sustainable development goals, which are not short on ambition. Beginning with a goal to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere,” they cover gender equality, food security, peace, health, clean water and sanitation, sustainable cities, […]
Why I’m Optimistic About Climate Change
Only a few days into the UN climate summit, and it is already time to sing the Paris blues. The path to Paris was, unfortunately, paved with pessimism and imperfect accords: Rio, Kyoto, Copenhagen. In the meantime, carbon dioxide in the air has increased, raising the world’s average temperature by one degree Celsius relative to […]
The Boon and Bane of Index-Based Weather Insurance
After the enthusiasm on microcredit has somewhat faded over the past few years, the next microfinance revolution in the form of index-based microinsurance is well underway. In this blogpost we will take a closer look at the index-based approach to insurance and highlight some of its advantages as well as some of its challenges. Insuring […]