From ‘Immediate Response’ to ‘Rebuilding Better’: Public Webinar and Online Discussion
On 7 May 2020, Business Fights Poverty held a public webinar which brought together the experts behind our Business and COVID-19 Response Framework and Action Toolkits, designed to guide companies’ immediate response to COVID-19 and efforts to rebuild, with a focus on protecting the most vulnerable. The interactive webinar provided an overview of the Business […]
Businesses Want Governments on Stand-by for Coronavirus Relief
The COVID19 pandemic highlights, more than any recent crisis, the duty of Governments to provide social protection. For workers, social protection ensures strong labor policies, living wages, safe and healthy working conditions, and the ability to have a voice in the workplace — in particular, to raise issues when they arise without fear of retribution. It […]
What’s the Impact of Sustainable Farming on Smallholder Suppliers in Ethiopia?
In Ethiopia, the agriculture sector employs more than 70 per cent of the country’s population of 105 million people. The vast majority are smallholder farmers who practice subsistence farming and are relatively disconnected from global markets, and whose livelihoods are vulnerable to a number of risks such as uncontrollable weather conditions, crop disease and pests. […]
How Can Business Help in the Building of National Coalitions to Fight COVID-19
On 30 April 2020, Business Fights Poverty convened an online discussion, which examined how business can help build national coalitions and collaborations to fight COVID-19. What is making these collaborations work, what lessons need to be learned, and how can these be replicated to make a greater impact? What examples of national collaborative platforms to […]
COVID-19: How Business and NGOs Can Partner to Support our Global Community Through the Pandemic
As I, like many others in the UK and around the world, continue to work from home, much of my day is informed by hearing from our teams about the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict on our global community. While deeply concerning, I could not feel more proud to be part of […]
From ‘Immediate Response’ to ‘Building Back Better’: Public Webinar
The Business and COVID-19 Response Centre has been launched by Business Fights Poverty to empower companies to take action in support of their most vulnerable employees, suppliers, customers and communities. I would like to personally invite you to join a webinar on Thursday 7 May 2.30pm BST / 9.30am EDT / 4.30pm EAT to explore […]
CEOS from 25 countries Call for G20 Support to Help Developing Country Producers Fight Covid-19
At Fairtrade, our mission is to help farmers and workers in some of the world’s poorest countries to get a better deal and escape poverty. We’re deeply worried that this virus will devastate the communities we work with – not only because of its impact on people’s health, but also the very real possibility that […]
COVID-19 and the Garment Industry: Protect Workers, Transform the Industry
What is the Impact of COVID-19 on Women in the Garment Industry? Brands and retailers are cancelling orders from their supplier factories and many governments are imposing restrictions on travel and gatherings. As a result, a large number of garment factories are suspending production and either firing or temporarily suspending their workers. Over 1 million […]
Covid-19 and Creating the Future We Want
As the world comes to terms with a global pandemic that has threatened and turned upside-down the lives and livelihoods of people across the globe, it is clear we are living in extraordinary times. Many people will be feeling uncertain, anxious and even scared. And of course, for others things have already reached crisis point. Like […]
Covid-19 and the Voluntary Sector
Businesses and the self-employed have received significant financial support from the UK Government during the Covid-19 crisis, and the debts of NHS hospital trusts have been wiped out. Many voluntary organisations and community groups are under pressure too, facing reduced income at just the time when demand for their services has risen hugely. Should voluntary […]
The Business and COVID-19 Action Mapping Tool is Now Live
Over the last few weeks, it has become clear that we are facing the worst humanitarian and economic crisis of our generation. In these troubling times, it has been heartening to see multinational corporations across the world urgently mobilising to support the most vulnerable. At Business Fights Poverty, we have been directing all our energy […]
How Start-Ups are Helping to Fight COVID-19? An Emerging Market View: Kerala
Social distancing has been the buzz-word of COVID-19 response globally. But how do you #BreakTheChain of contact in public spaces like airports or bus stations? Kerala start-up, Asimov Robotics has deployed robots at entrances of office buildings and other public places to dispense hand sanitizers and for delivering public awareness messages on precautionary measures to […]
How Can Businesses Support their NGO Partners Through the Impact of COVID-19?
Many NGOs are facing multiple operational and business continuity threats from the COVID-19 crisis and the efforts to contain it. A new Action Toolkit has been developed following a recent Business Fights Poverty online discussion to explore how business should respond: what factors should they consider, and what actions can they take to support their […]
COVID-19 is a Chance to Invest in Our Essential Infrastructure Workforce
Even as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps millions of people home and many businesses shuttered for social distancing, up to 62 million essential workers are still reporting to their jobs in hospitals, grocery stores, and other critical industries. They are on the frontlines against the coronavirus, vital to our public health and economic survival. Of them, the 17 […]
Business Collaboration to Fight COVID-19 in Kenya
Kenya reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 16. That same day, private companies, the government of Kenya, members of the UN family, and civil society organizations came together to form a National Business Compact, a platform for collaboration for all of the stakeholders to coordinate and collaborate on tackling the outbreak. It was […]
Launching the Business and COVID-19 Response Centre
Today, we should have been coming together in Washington for Business Fights Poverty DC 2020. If you have ever been to one of our flagship events, in Oxford or in New York, you will have heard me talk about the power of purpose and the importance of collaboration. Purpose can enable us to become the […]
Don’t Allow the Coronavirus to Open Up Another Front
WHO has called for a “whole of government, whole of society” approach to combatting the pandemic. Beating COVID-19 requires more than just a health system response; it involves every person, everywhere, and every sector. We are all in this together. Food is our most basic need, and we must defend our food systems and the […]
Shaping a New Social Contract Through the Pandemic
In the midst of our COVID-19 pandemic, there are rising calls for government and business to form a ‘new social contract’. This would tackle the immediate economic hardship, and more fairly share the burdens and benefits from our economies. This comes from actors as diverse as the International Trade Union Congress and the Financial Times. In contrast, too […]
Covid-19: ‘We Won’t Get Back to Normal Because Normal was the Problem’
The crisis is set to generate a loss of at least 1.5% or $1 trillion worldwide, which would technically mean a global recession with all major regions affected and a devastating impact on the poorest countries. Plans for recovery are already being discussed, with a focus on the financial stimulus needed to help economies recover. But […]
In the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic: Do Non-Profits need to Rethink Sustainability?
‘Sustainability’ for Non-Profits For at least two decades, the term ‘sustainability’ has been at the centre of discussion about non-profits. While people fairly quickly accept the notion that non-profits, or NGOs, should be sustainable, there’s often little analysis of what the term means. Should non-profit finances be sustainable? This is what people usually refer to: the glorious […]