Empowerment Through Metrics
You might be surprised to learn that the solution to global hunger doesn’t lie in simply increasing the world’s food supply. If more food isn’t the answer, then what is? For an issue as wide-reaching as global hunger, the basic questions can be the most important – and most elusive. For example, how do we […]
Agency Through Community
Even the most groundbreaking ideas will fail if only one or two individuals pursue them. In order to reach a tipping point, an idea needs the support of a community—and the bigger the community, the better. That’s why Ashoka invited more than 150 experts from diverse fields to a Globalizer Summit in Frankfurt, Germany this […]
3 Lessons Food Companies Can Learn From Social Entrepreneurs
One panel discussion at Ashoka’s recent Globalizer Summit in Frankfurt, Germany, “Fighting the ‘Hidden Hunger,” brought together stakeholders from various sectors, including funding agencies, agri-businesses, think tanks, nutrition organizations, and social entrepreneurs who were interested in growing a global nutrient economy. Reflecting these diverse backgrounds, the panel included Prof. Dr. Konrad Biesalski, author of the […]
Revolutionising the Rice Industry in Mali
When I was growing up in Ethiopia, Cameroon and Mali in the 90s, my friends and I talked about creating companies that addressed problems in our communities. However, we always thought that first we’d have to become financially solvent ourselves. The perception that planting the seeds for a formal business requires a degree of financial […]
Pearson launches scheme to fund education entrepreneurs in India
Pearson, through our Affordable Learning Fund, today launch a partnership with innovative funding firm Village Capital to support and invest in education entrepreneurs in India who are serving some of the world’s less privileged students. Applications are now being invited for the autumn programme, which will see 16 India based education start-ups taking part in […]
Coffee Farmers: Turning Competitors Into Colleagues
Erik Mandell, a Contributor to Mercy Corps’ Global Envision Blog, Interviews Rick Peyser, Director of Supply Chain and Community Outreach for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. If coffee farmers can’t adequately feed their families, they’re unlikely to be able to take care of the plants that produce the high-quality coffee beans importers want. That’s one […]
Saudis to benefit from new vocational training colleges
TQ Education and Training, a Pearson business that provides outsourced training solutions, has been awarded a five-year contract to develop and operate three vocational colleges in Saudi Arabia, providing high quality vocational skills and qualifications for more than 8,000 students. The contract, which makes TQ fully responsible for vocational training at the colleges in Mecca, […]
The Latest Tool for Women Entrepreneurs in Tanzania
Mama Muze, a widow in Dar es Salaam, has always had an interest in producing her own food products. After retiring as a banker, she set up her own food processing business, making chilli sauce and packaging it in jars with her own personalised labels. The primary challenge she faces is getting more customers. She […]
OECD Report Highlights Role of Vocational Education
The annual Education at a Glance report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development takes a particularly hard look this year at the link between youth unemployment and vocational education in the current difficult economic situation. Countries such as Switzerland and Germany with an above-average share of vocational graduates have seen a higher rate […]
Pearson launch online MBA programme
Increasingly, students who need a flexible path to earning a degree are looking to online learning programs to access quality higher education. In response, higher education institutions around the country are investing in comprehensive educational services that develop and scale online programs that are high quality, rigorous and drive student achievement. Pearson Embanet, the leading […]
What is the role of business in delivering on the post-2015 development goals?
What is the role of business in delivering on the post-2015 development goals? This was the question I was asked to address on a panel at the EU High-Level Conference on Education and Development on 23 May, aimed at strengthening the momentum for education as the foundation for a new international development framework. The panel […]
Pearson and CBI launch UK education and skills report 2013
Educators, employers and policy makers gathered at our HQ in London today to formally launch the findings of CBI/Pearson education and skills survey 2013. This annual survey provides a valuable insight into how well the skills needs of some of the UK’s largest and most successful businesses are being met. The findings from the survey […]
Pearson helping UAE to develop their school leaders
30 principals, vice principals and teachers from the UAE arrive in the UK tomorrow as part of a unique development programme run by Pearson. The School Leadership Programme, which is sponsored by the UAE Ministry of Education, hopes to use global training opportunities to improve the quality of teaching skills to international levels, as well […]
Vote for Gamechanging Business Models in Health
Vote to help transform health systems in markets around the world! Earlier this year, Ashoka Changemakers and Boehringer Ingelheim launched Transforming Health Systems: Gamechanging Business Models, a competition in search of innovative business models that are solving systemic health problems in different markets around the world. An expert panel of judges has selected five finalists […]
G8 New Alliance should focus investments on the right foods for nutrition
We are in the midst of some of the biggest weeks on the global food and nutrition calendar. Last weekend the Nutrition for Growth Summit announced new funding pledges and this week food and agriculture will be major priorities in discussions leading up to the G8 Summit. Much of the attention is being focused on […]
Scaling Proven Mobile Maternal Health e-Vouchers in Western Kenya
Changamka Microhealth Ltd is making healthcare delivery more cost-effective and accessible in Kenya by using mobile phones and mobile money. It is piloting a program that helps low-income, expectant mothers get electronic maternal health vouchers that they can present on their mobile phones at health facilities. The vouchers qualify mothers for antenatal, maternity, and post-natal […]
Health Kiosks for Kenya Slums – Taking Community Healthcare to Scale
Access Afya is bringing a chain of “ultra-mini-clinics” to slums in Kenya. The mini-clinics are neighborhood kiosks staffed with qualified medical professionals and equipped with the latest health technologies and diagnostics. Access Afya’s pilot mini-clinic is designed to encourage patients to seek timely preventative care and early diagnosis of illness because the clinics are more […]
Building Business Platforms to Catalyze Action and Impact for Nutrition
In London last Saturday, the global community came together to catalyze action around the Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit. Since UK Prime Minister Cameron pushed for a multi-stakeholder approach to tackling malnutrition at the Olympic Hunger Event he co-hosted with the Government of Brazil last year, actors from across the public and private sectors have […]
G8 Nutrition for Growth
UK Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the role of foreign aid in reducing poverty and malnutrition. Originally given at G8 Nutrition for Growth conference on Saturday, 8 June 2013. This is the text of the speech as drafted. There will be a lot of people talking about statistics today. I want to start by […]
MeraDoctor: Reaching Rural Households with Trusted Health Advice
MeraDoctor is providing reliable health advice over the phone in rural India, where licensed doctors are scarce. It has been a life-saving health intervention for many patients who have found that treatments prescribed by unqualified health agents—called “quacks” in India—are ineffectual, or even harmful. For example, one customer, a 26-year-old woman who was eight months […]