The VSO-Accenture volunteer helping Nigerian female farmers improve their livelihoods
“My role will, I believe, lead to greater efficiency and fewer challenges for those working in agriculture in Nigeria’ s Nassarawa State, Plateau State and Kaduna State. As a Knowledge Share Manager for VSO Nigeria, my job is part of the VSO secure livelihoods program, Making Markets Work for the Poor. This program aims to […]
Nestlé Prize in Creating Shared Value
Help your programme scale up! We are looking to invest in social change by helping innovative, commercially viable, and high impact initiatives achieve social scale and financial sustainability. The winning entry will benefit from financial support of up to CHF 500,000 (approx. USD 530,000). Specific fields of activity include, but are not limited to: agriculture, […]
Candace Dixon: The VSO-Accenture volunteer helping Nigerian female farmers improve their livelihoods
“My role will, I believe, lead to greater efficiency and fewer challenges for those working in agriculture in Nigeria’ s Nassarawa State, Plateau State and Kaduna State. As a Knowledge Share Manager for VSO Nigeria, my job is part of the VSO secure livelihoods program, Making Markets Work for the Poor. This program aims to […]
Impact Accelerator- Social change through the power of entrepreneurship and business
Jesse Grainger, Agora Partnerships Thirty-six entrepreneurs representing 25 companies from Mexico to Chile arrived in Managua, Nicaragua Monday, January 28 for the start of Agora Partnerships’ Entrepreneur Retreat, a four-day kick-off to Agora’s Impact Acceletrator The phrase Impact Accelerator refers to a program that invests and leverages social, human, and financial capital into entrepreneurs working […]
The Virtues of Virtual Volunteering and Online Fundraising
Your employees want to perform community service; they really, really do…but amidst their busy schedules they just can’t seem to find the time. So how about making volunteering easier than ever by offering virtual volunteer opportunities? It’s just one more tool that savvy companies are using to sharpen their employee volunteer programs, and by extension, […]
Improving Education Governance and Financing- A Bigger Role for the Private Sector
By Allison Anderson Nonresident Fellow, Center for Universal Education, Brookings Institution, and Amanda Gardiner, Head of International Affairs, Pearson What are the key obstacles in financing education? Who should be held accountable for ensuring that children receive a good quality education? These questions are at the heart of the debate going on in the post-2015 […]
Nutrients for All: Vitality in Soil, Food, and People
Being fully nourished is a must for good health, but did you know that the carrot you’re eating today probably has far fewer vitamins and minerals than a carrot grown 50 years ago? Soil depletion, as a result of unsustainable farming methods, is a primary culprit. Another cause of depleted nutrients has been the breeding […]
Development in Transition
This morning the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening, gave a major speech on international development, setting out her priorities for the Department for International Development (DFID). The event was hosted by ONE Campaign UK. Below is a transcript of the speech: I’ve been privileged to head up DFID now as Secretary […]
Oxfam and Unilever – no longer such strange bedfellows?
Oxfam GB has today published a groundbreaking report on labour rights in Unilever’s supply chain. It is groundbreaking not so much because of its content (although as the project’s technical advisor and co-author of the report, I do think we have some fascinating findings to present). No, it’s the fact that a company as large […]
Business Model Innovation for Bottom of the Pyramid
By Julia Guren, Impact Lab On December 6th, Impact Lab and LAB Open Innovation came together with the support of Business Fight Poverty to present a discussion on the challenges and opportunities faced by social entrepreneurs whose work is geared at the Bottom of the Pyramid (‘BoP’). The event brought together a panel of voices […]
Prioritising Africa – Introducing Microsoft 4Afrika
There is an African proverb that reads, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”We couldn’t agree more. Microsoft has been operating in Africa for 20 years, and today we have offices in 14 countries. As we look forward to our next 20 years, we wanted […]
What’s the Good of Capitalism?
On 6 February, 6.05pm, I will speaking at a JustShare talk at St Mary le Bow Church, Cheapside, London, EC2V 6AU. To register, click here. In the eyes of many observers, capitalism has been left badly wounded by the recent financial turmoil. Yet commercial enterprise faces unprecedented opportunities to be an agent of positive material, […]
BPO for the BoP: Impact Sourcing and potential for boosting employment
, Manager, Research Project Implementation, William Davidson Institute From the global business manager to the casual customer who interacts with a call center when they review a credit card bill, just about everyone is familiar with business process outsourcing (BPO). A myriad of books, news media articles, even an American TV series, explored the pros […]
Home Fortification of Foods: a Sustainble Business Model?
As part of the Business Innovation Facility’s work looking at opportunities for inclusive business approaches in nutrition, we have developed a report that explores the regulatory and political environment for commercial home fortification products in Bangladesh in more detail, and will be useful for those interested in exploring this approach. The report can be found […]
Clara Brandi: Successful trade promotion in emerging economies: Lessons for low-income countries?
Emerging economies have been very successful in supporting their own trade performance. But how have they achieved this, and what lessons could less developed countries learn from their experiences? Trade performance in China, India and Brazil: the key ingredients for success The German Development Institute and ODI, as part of a Gates Foundation-funded research programme, […]
Gunnar Oom: Swedish Aid for Trade
Sweden has a vision of an international trading system that embraces all nations of the world, not only those that are already well-off. That is why free trade coupled with trade-related development cooperation is a priority for the Swedish Government. This is also why I, as State Secretary to the Swedish Minister for Trade, am […]
SolarAid's 'SunnyMoney' becomes the biggest seller of solar lights in Africa
As major players in the African pico-solar market met in Dakar in November 2012 for the World Bank Lighting Africa Conference, it emerged that SunnyMoney, SolarAid‘s ambitious social enterprise, has become the biggest last mile seller of solar lights in Africa ahead of oil giant, Total. This progress is the culmination of many years’ work […]
SolarAid’s ‘SunnyMoney’ becomes the biggest seller of solar lights in Africa
As major players in the African pico-solar market met in Dakar in November 2012 for the World Bank Lighting Africa Conference, it emerged that SunnyMoney, SolarAid‘s ambitious social enterprise, has become the biggest last mile seller of solar lights in Africa ahead of oil giant, Total. This progress is the culmination of many years’ work […]
Quality medicines for all
Ensuring that patients in the developing world get access to the medicines they need remains an unfulfilled desire. This is true in spite of the significant progress over the last decade in providing treatment to poor people suffering in particular from the “big three” pandemics, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The reasons for this access gap […]
The Talent Paradox: Funding Education as a Global Public Good
Addressing the massive needs of India’s education system was one small part of the discussion at the most recent World Economic Forum in Delhi. But for a country that is projected to supply approximately 25 percent of the global talent pool by 2030, what could be more important than getting education right? Especially for corporate […]