Why African Agriculture Must Prepare for its Nana Benz Moment
African smallholder farming is facing a succession crisis that threatens the loss of generations of accumulated knowledge. Research shows that economically aspiring younger generations are seeking an exit route from being trapped in rural poverty and limited prospects. The challenges faced by smallholders indicate a systemic fragility across many sectors, including education, labour markets and […]
Dignity Is a Business Strategy
What 15 years in clinical practice and two years in Haiti taught me about the cost of overlooking the human experience I was 19 years old when I went to Haiti. I spent two years there doing service work, building physical structures, laying infrastructure, and spending a lot of time teaching people how to lead […]
Why Women Farmers Hold the Key to Fixing Our Broken Food Systems
Women farmers are central to fixing broken food systems, yet they remain excluded from the technologies, financing and markets needed to scale solutions. New research from CARE shows that reducing food loss and waste requires women-centered design, investment and partnerships. Empowering women farmers can strengthen food security, resilience and climate outcomes globally. In the UN’s […]
Heat Resilience: An Opportunity for Cross-Sector Action in the United States
Extreme heat is the deadliest—and most underestimated—climate threat in the United States (US). Each year, extreme heat kills more than 1,300 people in the US, making it the leading climate-related cause of death—surpassing hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. 2025 was hottest year on record in the US, with the coldest state in the nation, Alaska being […]
Agroecology: The Pathway to Sustainable Food Systems
Extreme weather and climate events such as droughts, cold waves, and heavy precipitation, along pest and disease and land degradation, are negatively impacting farmer livelihoods throughout the world. This is not only an environmental crisis – it is an economic and social one. Soil health degradation, water pollution and biodiversity collapse are undermining the foundations […]
Views from the Global Goals Summit on Business Fights Poverty’s New Report: Making the Five Bridges to 2045 a Reality
The Business Fights Poverty community felt broadly positive about the future despite the challenging headwinds (from geopolitical uncertainty to pushback on ESG funds and everything in between). It is probably fair to say that most felt in agreement with the recent Accenture survey ,which found that 88% of CEOs see the business case for sustainability […]
Closing the Healthcare Gap: Scaling Hybrid Solutions for Low-income Communities
Primary healthcare is the foundation of any resilient health system. Yet, in many low- and middle-income countries, that foundation remains dangerously thin. Clinics are too few as there are just 0.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people in lower-income countries, compared to 5.6 in high-income ones. Additionally, for many people, cost and distance put even basic […]
When Opportunity Knocks: Three Keys for Creating Inclusive Growth through Sales-Agent Models
Valentine Abayisenga, a young community animal health worker (CAHW) in Rwanda’s Nyamasheke District, struggled to find stable employment after graduating from high school. Meanwhile, in the same community, farmer Didace Kabayiza faced risks in smallholder agriculture. Without any financial protection for his livestock, he recalled feeling “…anxious whenever it rained, as thunder and lightning often […]
Co-creation with Community Organisations Vital to Effectively Address Health Inequality
Climate change impacts are increasingly causing extreme weather events which have a detrimental effect on public health. The Planetary Health Check Report 2024 states: “The impacts of warming include, but are not limited to, modified extreme events like torrential rainfall, floods, heatwaves, and droughts.”1 The World Health Organization predicts that between 2030 and 2050, climate […]
The Silent Voices of the Global South: How USAID’s Funding Freeze Exposes the Need for Change
I write this as an African, as a Ugandan, and as someone who has seen both the promise and the failures of international aid. I have benefited from aid in the past. I know what it means to receive free healthcare because of a foreign-funded programme. I have witnessed communities transformed when funding reaches the […]
How Businesses Can Use Behaviour Change Science to Improve Access to Safe Water, Clean Toilets, and Better Hygiene Habits
More than two billion people around the world still lack access to safe water and sanitation facilities. When these services are unavailable, people rely on unsafe sources of water such as rivers, ponds, and water bodies shared with animals for drinking, cleaning, and other daily tasks. With no available toilets, many must practice open defecation, […]
Protecting Garment Workers from Climate Extremes
The Case for Climate-Responsive Worker Insurance. Climate extremes—ranging from heat waves to torrential rains and droughts—are increasingly severe occupational hazards for workers in global garment supply chains. Among the many responses fashion brands can explore is the concept of ‘a climate-responsive worker insurance.’ While strengthening government social security schemes remains essential, a private insurance program […]
Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights: Smart Climate Action and Good Business
Fire, heat, flooding and drought are a recipe for climate disaster for workers. Companies urgently need to not only mitigate their causes but must also invest in resilience – especially in the health and well-being of women workers in corporate supply chains. Women’s health is material to human rights, productivity, and climate resilience. Women represent […]
How Can Businesses Harness the Power of Plants to Solve the Global Malnutrition Crisis?
Recent estimates show that 45 million children under the age of five are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), the deadliest form of malnutrition, globally. Reports also suggest that the world is not on track to reach any of the seven global nutrition targets by 2030. In many countries across Africa, hunger is still on […]
What 3,000 Farmers Told Us About Wellbeing in the Coffee Supply Chain
The global coffee industry, worth billions of dollars, relies on millions of smallholder farmers. Yet, how much do we really know about their lives and challenges? A plethora of foundations, NGOs, and coffee companies collectively invest millions of dollars in programs and certifications aimed at improving the lives of these farmers. Platforms like the Sustainable […]
An Open Letter to Global Leaders: Now is the Time to Address Youth Global Mental Health
Across the globe, the toll of poor mental health among our youth is staggering. It’s a leading cause of death, disease, and disability, particularly among older adolescents. Yet, despite its pervasive impact, mental health remains chronically underfunded and stigmatized. The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with other global challenges, such as humanitarian emergencies, the climate and ecological […]
Unintended Consequences of Environmentally Friendly Diets
As the world grapples with the urgent need to protect human health, combat climate change, and protect biodiversity, the foods we eat have come under scrutiny. Unhealthy diets are a major contributor to the global burden of disease. And food systems are a major contributor to climate change and environmental destruction. Deficiencies in essential vitamins […]
How Sustainable Agriculture Contributes to Achieving Zero Hunger
The second of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – SDG2: Zero Hunger – aims to create a world free of hunger by 2030. However, according to the UN, a combination of factors including the pandemic, conflict, climate change, and deepening inequalities, mean that hunger and food insecurity have been rising since 2015, and the world is […]
FemTech and the Gender Health Gap
Healthcare serves women less well than men. Women live more of their life in poor health than men and they are also more likely to report a negative experience of accessing healthcare. FemTech and the Gender Health Gap FemTech also aptly illustrates the way in which healthcare more broadly will evolve, as health, tech and […]
Delivering Healthier Futures for Women, Children and Young People
The Future Imagine for a moment a world in which every woman, child and young person enjoyed their right to the highest attainable standard of health, regardless of where in the world they lived. Pregnant women in the poorest communities are cared for by qualified midwives and healthcare professionals, with access via digital apps to […]