What Does It Mean to Prosper? Three Lessons from Listening to Frontline Communities
When organisations talk about prosperity, the conversation often centers on income, employment, assets, or economic growth. These measures matter, but they do not tell the whole story. Through Prosper Global’s Voices of Prosperity initiative, we asked more than 1,100 people across Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kenya, Syria, and Ukraine a simple question: […]
Scaling Impact Through Collaboration with Lisa Hawkes and Noshin Suleman
Meet Social Impact Pioneers, Lisa Hawkes, Global Sustainability Senior Manager at Unilever, and Noshin Suleman, Associate Director, Global Corporate Responsibility team at EY. In this article, they share insights from more than a decade of TRANSFORM, exploring what it takes to build effective cross-sector partnerships, support locally-led innovation and help impact enterprises move from promising […]
The True Power of Cross-Sector Partnerships: Building What No Organization Can Build Alone
Today, more than 117 million people worldwide have been forced from their homes, many displaced multiple times. That number is staggering, but what stays with me are the individual stories behind it: people navigating profound uncertainty while working to rebuild their lives, support their families and regain a sense of stability. The gap between humanitarian […]
Climate Change, Care, and Women-Led Businesses: The Missing Link in Climate Resilience
On the islands of eastern Indonesia, climate change is creating a difficult balancing act for Komodo Water, a social enterprise that provides clean water to remote communities. Heavy rains can wash away mountain pipelines, storms make inter-island transport unsafe, and flooded roads can cut off entire communities. At the same time, climate shocks drive unpredictable […]
Resilience, Regenerative Agriculture, and Farmer Income: A Reinforcing Cycle
For years, coffee farmers in the Pech community of Subirana, Honduras, had little reason to invest in their land. Isolated in the buffer zone of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, they sold through local intermediaries who paid low, unpredictable prices regardless of quality. “Before the project I did not take care of my farm, and […]
Credit Guarantees: Closing the Gap Between Rhetoric and Social Impact
With development budgets under pressure and the financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals remaining substantial, governments, donors and development finance institutions are increasingly looking for ways to make limited public and philanthropic capital go further. Credit guarantees have become one of the tools of choice. By promising to absorb some of a lender’s losses […]
We Keep Training Refugees. But Where Are the Jobs?
In the refugee livelihoods sector, we have invested heavily in digital skills training. Refugees are learning software development, data analysis, digital marketing, freelancing and other skills intended to connect them to a global labour market. This investment matters. But there is an uncomfortable question we need to ask: where are the jobs? At Na’amal, our […]
Growing a Critical Mass of Food Systems Leaders in Africa: Lessons from the African Food Fellowship
The Need for Food Systems Leadership Globally, our societies are grappling with a wide range of systemic challenges, such as the destruction of natural ecosystems, growing water scarcity, malnutrition and obesity, youth unemployment, poverty, and inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity. In the food and agriculture sector, global initiatives like the 2021 United Nations Food […]
Water as a Case Study on the Unpriced Risks of the AI Age
A decade ago, investors across the board believed water was an un-investable sector. At the same time, millions of underserved families across emerging markets (particularly women) were demonstrating their bankability, repaying microloans for sustainable water and sanitation solutions at an astounding rate of 97-99 percent. Water.org and its microfinance partners led this model. What was […]
Building More Than Roads: The Wider Impacts of Climate Resilient Transport Infrastructure
What if the true measure of infrastructure were not what we build, but what communities are able to do because of it? For people in remote communities in developing nations, a road is more than asphalt. It can mean getting produce to market before it spoils, reaching a clinic in an emergency, sending a child to school safely, or deciding that […]
Sustainable Supply Chains: Why Compliance Alone Is Not Enough
Every day, people consume products that have stories beginning thousands of kilometres away. The coffee we drink and the clothes we wear are the end points of journeys that cross borders and pass through the hands of countless farmers and workers. In conversation with Vidya Rangan, ISEAL’s Director of Policy and Engagement, we explore why […]
Whose Resilience Are We Building?
From the approaching super El Niño to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), global supply chains are facing pressures from many directions, and those pressures are not felt equally. For a smallholder farmer experiencing repeated drought-driven crop failures, a business responding to new due diligence requirements, or a consumer confronted with higher prices, resilience means something […]
Keeping Our Eyes on Our North Star: Building a Future of Resilience and Shared Prosperity Beyond 2030
As the saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. In true form, business leaders and social impact professionals are thinking creatively about how to remain ambitious amid crisis and constraint. New financing models. New AI tools. New partnerships. This has been the focus of much of our work over the past 12 months. At […]
Moving from Grants to an Ecosystem Approach with Nalini Tarakeshwar
Meet Social Impact Pioneer, Nalini Tarakeshwar. Nalini is the Global Head, Standard Chartered Foundation and Corporate Philanthropy. In this article she shares what she is working on, insights into moving the Foundation from grants to an ecosystem approach and the emerging trends she is thinking about. With Government and bilateral funding for development declining just […]
How Do We Build Resilience Before the Next Heatwave?
Heatwaves around the world are fast becoming a regular occurrence in our daily lives.We are now beginning to understand the profound direct and indirect impacts of extreme heat on our health. We are also beginning to understand the equally real and significant impact on our economy. From lost productivity to disrupted supply chains, heat impacts […]
Sun-Powered Farming: Ethiopian Farmers Save Thousands by Switching to Solar Irrigation
Smallholder farmers in Ethiopia are slashing their farming costs, increasing food production and protecting the environment thanks to solar-powered irrigation systems introduced through the Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable and Inclusive Development programme, led by the international NGO Farm Africa. In a country famous for its “13 months of sunshine”, Ethiopia has enormous potential to harness […]
What Does a Human-First, AI-Enabled Approach to Fighting Poverty Look Like?
For much of this year, we’ve been focusing with our community on the question: “How do we stay ambitious in the context of crisis and constraint?” With needs rising and budgets falling, AI is opening up new ways to do more with less. Yet AI is not neutral. As with all technologies, it offers opportunities […]
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 […]
Digital Inclusion Isn’t a Technology Challenge. It’s a People Challenge.
After spending several days with teachers, police officers, community organisations and older learners all involved in our work in Romania in May, I came away with a simple conviction. When it comes to social impact, we spend a lot of time talking about strategy, innovation and scale. But the difference is rarely strategy. It is […]
The $1 Trillion Blind Spot: Redirecting Climate Finance to Women-Led Solutions.
Women-led micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are already delivering climate solutions across critical sectors, from clean energy and food systems to waste, water, and digital services. Yet despite more than USD 1 trillion flowing into climate finance each year, only a small fraction reaches these businesses, and less than 5% supports adaptation (Climate Policy Initiative […]