COVID-19: A Proposal for a Better World and an Opportunity Not to Be Wasted
The COVID-19 pandemic has given us a new purpose. We now have a rare opportunity to affect positive change. Beyond dialogue for creating awareness, it’s time to develop and implement tools that empower us to take committed action and credibly measure our progress toward affecting long-overdue transformations. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a stark reminder […]
Going beyond the poverty line
Ensuring resilient livelihoods and sustained employment for vulnerable communities was already a stretch pre-Covid-19. For those communities lacking a stable income, the impact has been inconceivable. With border closures and travel restrictions, the downturn in trade has massively affected the income and employment of these vulnerable communities, especially the self-employed. Currently, more than 475 million […]
Digital innovation to support African SMEs
COVID-19 may significantly hinder economic and social development across Africa. If the continent is to recover, then micro-entrepreneurs and SMEs will be the engine of growth. Local businesses will provide livelihoods for millions of people and goods and services to a growing consumer base. At the heart of this business-led recovery will be digital technology; […]
Bold choices required to move from crisis response to future pandemic preparedness
At the recent UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit, leading voices from business, government and the UN discussed how to “recover better, recover stronger, and recover together.” Part of that recovery must be to invest more in pandemic preparedness and disease prevention. With more than 400,000 deaths worldwide, in less than 6 months, COVID-19 has given […]
The Business Fights Poverty Magazine: Issue 5
Developing Skills and Quality Jobs for Young People
The creation of jobs for young people may now be an even greater challenge than before the pandemic hit, with competition for positions being all the more fierce once economic activity resumes. In light of the enormous shock that COVID-19 has had on our economic system, how can we think differently about what is required […]
Why some companies leapt to support the COVID-19 response
Many companies acted to assist the public response to the pandemic. Companies that already had established relationships with community organizations, governments, business partners, or others, leveraged those connections to channel resources. High risk and poor coordination impeded many companies’ early response. The first phase of the COVID-19 crisis posed an unprecedented challenge for the private […]
Business has a vital role to play in fighting poverty after the DFID-FCO merger
By some estimates, half a billion people globally will be pushed into poverty by COVID-19. For many in the international development community, therefore, the government’s decision to merge its Department or International Development (DFID) into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is ill-conceived and poorly timed. On 19 June, 188 NGOs called on the Prime […]
5 lessons from the pandemic: Agility, clarity, and sincerity define game play today
The most successful businesses continuously evolved to stay relevant and remain competitive. Yet sometimes it takes a crisis to jolt our best intentions into action. Whether that crisis affects a business, an industry or, in the case of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the systemic problems it has exposed, the world, it’s essential to reflect […]
Early actions to stop the spread of COVID-19 and help the most vulnerable
During the COVID-19 crisis, Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) partners are focused on protecting the wellbeing of their staff, repurposing their resources and networks, and finding ways to support livelihoods through their supply chains. Here are a few stories of how our partners are leveraging their unique social impact business models to support their communities during […]
Integrated Corporate Governance: Six Leadership Priorities For Boards Beyond The Crisis
The Covid-19 crisis is accelerating a shift toward a more integrated approach to corporate governance that has been gathering force for some time. The pandemic has put people’s lives, livelihoods and learning at the center of the public policy and business response in almost every country and industry sector. It has dramatically underscored the need […]
Scalability, Sustainability and Participation in Value Chain
This is the second in a three part series, published in the lead up to Standard Chartered’s Futuremakers Forum online events 2020. Join the conversation exploring innovative ideas and tangible solutions for financing young entrepreneurs. Supporting youth-led enterprises is good for business and vital for inclusive economic growth. According to the World Bank, SMEs represent […]
Unlocking systems transformation – A business view
The term “systems transformation” is increasingly being used to describe what is needed to achieve sustainable development. Players across government, industry, academia and civil society are more and more aligned in their position that the sustainable development challenges we face are complex, highly interconnected and systemic, and that incremental change will not be enough to […]
The post-Covid-19 world presents an opportunity for better business, but will it happen?
The global outbreak has not only exposed the frailty and complexity of human needs, but also how quickly they can evolve – and thus how quickly organisations must adapt to keep up. Without diminishing its devastating impact, if this crisis has a silver lining, it is the opportunity it provides businesses to prepare for a post-pandemic world: […]
Why Supporting Businesses and Communities Through Mobile Technology is Vital to Combat COVID-19 in informal settlements.
COVID-19 has increased the urgency for reliable, accessible and regular health information, and forced a shift to remote community engagement and greater focus on local-led responses. Our experience in Kenya shows that capacity building and mobilisation of local informal businesses through digital technology can empower high-risk communities with knowledge to combat COVID-19 and reduce financial […]
The Winners of COVID-19
The Covid-19 crisis has upended the global economy. Airlines face dwindling passenger traffic; hospitals suffer exhausted workforces or mass layoffs; social venues are largely closed with many unlikely to re-open; and students and graduates experience fewer job prospects. Another deep recession is expected. Even as so many sectors struggle, there are winners. Proctor & Gamble […]
One Key to Getting People Back to Work? Childcare
Instead of finding support, many people have discovered deep fault lines in access to social services, including childcare. The childcare system has been deeply affected, with childcare centers around the world closed to protect children and workers. A survey in South Africa reveals that 68 percent of childcare center owners are concerned that they will […]
Purpose and Investors: Collaborating to #RebuildBetter
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is creating the worst humanitarian and economic crisis in a generation, threatening the lives, livelihoods, and learning of hundreds of millions of people around the world. While the final impact is hard to predict – as it will depend on the future pattern of the disease spread and potential resurgence, […]
Industries Post-COVID-19: A Gender-Responsive Approach to Global Economic Recovery
What most crises have in common is that they hit the most vulnerable and marginalized populations—among which women are disproportionally represented—the hardest. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, especially those facing multiple forms of discrimination related to poverty, race or disability, is increasingly being documented. As reported in the UN Secretary General’s “Policy […]
Early Insights From Four Practitioners in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis
This article is a follow-up to the webinar “Resilience for Inclusive Businesses – Early Insights from Practitioners” that took place on April 9, 2020. For the video recording, please click here. To be updated on future webinar installments, please check out the Hystra website or the Global Distributors Collective’s dedicated COVID resources page. As the […]