Ghana Cocoa Growers Trained for Secure Future
The third report in VSO’s Producing Progress series looks at VSO’s role in Mondelēz’s Cocoa Life Programme. The series hopes to help us and others continue to improve livelihoods and strengthen the private sector in developing countries. The Cocoa Life initiative aims to support the cocoa-growing communities in Ghana that supply the global chocolate company. […]
Readying Young People for a New Jobs Market
The second report in VSO’s Producing Progress series looks at a programme based in Tanzania: Enhancing Employability through Vocational Training (EEVT). The reports draw out lessons from a variety of programmes, including those that improve employment opportunities, strengthen markets for smallholder producers and align skills needs with supply. The EEVT project, started in 2012, is […]
Centres of Excellence Boost for Future Jobs
The first report in VSO’s Producing Progress series focuses on a programme in Kenya that tackles inequality through improving the provision of skills for entrepreneurship for marginalised groups, youth and women in particular. The reports draw out lessons from a variety of programmes, including those that improve employment opportunities, strengthen markets for smallholder producers and […]
Unlocking Domestic Resources in Developing Countries
Photo Credit: CARE The Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa from 13 to 16 July could be a key moment to build a framework for financing the work needed to eradicate poverty by 2030, and so build confidence for the effective pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals and for a fair and ambitious climate […]
Doing Good for Children is Good for Business
Lack of access to basic services such as water and sanitation, education and healthcare today prevent millions of children from surviving and realising their full potential. Combating the enormous threat these inequities pose to the wellbeing of children all over the world is a huge task and one that needs innovative ideas and solutions from […]
Ending Poverty Through Trade
How free trade can bring prosperity to people across the world. The playwright George Bernard Shaw once wrote that poverty is “the greatest of evils and the worst of crimes.” While Shaw penned those poignant words more than a century ago, the reality is that too many people still lead lives filled with hunger and […]
What are the Principles for Responsible Investment?
Responsible investment is an approach to investment that explicitly acknowledges the relevance to the investor of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, and the long-term health and stability of the market as a whole. The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment Init… is an international network of investors working together to understand the implications of […]
How Good ESG Standards Boost Business Competitiveness
Madagascar Lychee Export (MLE) is a lychee export station based in the port of Toamasina, Madagascar. The company buys fruits from collectors and local producers, and then processes, packages, and exports the fruit to European markets. Prior to 2010, MLE was a small, family-run business operating in a changing industry with rising standards and demands. […]
Collaborating, Evaluating and Changing Attitudes
Photo Credit: PEAS Uganda With the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) is supporting 37 projects working in 18 countries. On a recent trip to Uganda, I had the opportunity to see six of these projects (listed below) in action. There were a few insights that struck […]
Bridging the Health Systems Gap in Nigeria
“I regard universal health coverage as the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer. It is inclusive. It unifies services and delivers them in a comprehensive and integrated way, based on primary health care.” — Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO) Nigeria’s health care system is weak, ranking a dismal […]
The Co-operative Fairbourne Springs
The Co-operative is the only retailer to launch an own-brand ethical bottled water, in partnership with The One Foundation, raising funds for clean water and sanitation projects across sub-Saharan Africa. Social impacts Over 750 water pumps were installed or rehabilitated across 11 different sub-Saharan countries. Improved sanitation and adoption of good hygiene practices reduced the […]
Access to Sustainable Technology Through Microfinance
Pollinate Energy improved the lives of India’s urban poor by providing access to sustainable technology through microfinance, using a network of local distributors, termed ‘Pollinators’. Social impacts Children were able to study at night and adults able to do household work later, saving the daylight hours for productive income-generating work. Customers improved their health by […]
New Approaches to a Global Water Challenge
By Sue Adkins, International Director, Business in the Community PepsiCo works with partners to provide under-served communities with access to clean, safe water, and advocates for new approaches to global water challenges. Social impacts PepsiCo’s partnerships provided safe water access to more than 5.6 million people in developing communities worldwide. The partnerships produced innovative, replicable […]
A Blueprint for Ethical Supply Chain Management
Marshalls’ supply chain programme in India has made a positive impact on its suppliers and improved the lives of quarry workers and their families. It has also launched Fairstone, an ethically sourced range of natural stone, and partnered with Unicef to support the drive to effect systemic change in the industry. Social impacts Through a […]
Development Partnership for Edible Oil Fortification
BASF, in partnership with BioAnalyt, helped to reduce vitamin and mineral deficiencies in people at risk in over 40 developing countries. Social impacts Over 114 million people at risk of vitamin A deficiency were reached with vitamin A fortified oil. The development of two easy-to-use vitamin A test kits allowed successful national food fortification programmes. […]
Building Young Futures
This partnership between Barclays and UNICEF tackles youth unemployment by giving young people the skills, knowledge and confidence to set up their own small business or find a job. Social impacts The programme trained 72,921 young people in enterprise, financial, employment and life skills; 28,000 young people have started saving. Has led to the creation […]
Affirmative Action Employment Training in India
TCS Affirmative Action Employment Training has increased the employment prospects of women and young people in India’s most marginalised communities, the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST). Social impacts Over 42,000 people were trained over five years, 16,800 of whom came from underprivileged SC/ST communities. 50% of the total numbers trained were women (21,042 out of 42,000) […]
Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods
SOIL provides affordable, ecologically sustainable household sanitation services to Haiti’s most impoverished urban neighbourhoods. Social impacts SOIL provided 2,220 people in Haiti with a safe place to use the toilet, reducing the incidence of waterborne diseases such as cholera. The compost created as a by-product supported ecological restoration and agricultural livelihoods, improving food security. The […]
Solar Lights: An Economic and Environmental Solution
T The largest distributor of solar lights in Africa is working to cultivate a sustainable market so that other players will enter the game, with the long-term aim of eradicating the kerosene lamp from Africa by 2020. Social impacts £190 million was saved by the world’s poorest families. Customers gained a total of 1.8 billion […]
Promoting Regional Schools to International Standards
KEF spearheaded PRISM, a public-private partnership (PPP) that transformed a 120-year-old, dilapidated secondary school in Kerala, India, in just ten months. Social impacts PRISM has given hope to 3,200 students attending the school and their families, some of whom are from the lowest strata (SC/ST) of Indian society. The programme demonstrated a practical solution to […]