Putting Water at the Top of the Agenda
When COP21 concluded in Paris, I was particularly struck by the lack of any mention of water in the agreement. Here we had the leaders of the world meeting to solve one of the greatest problems facing mankind and there was no evident acknowledgement of the impact that climate change is having on water. This, […]
Introducing Business Fights Poverty Challenges
I am delighted to announce the roll-out of “Business Fights Poverty Challenges” – to help drive innovation through collaboration – and an updated website to support this new focus. As I mentioned back in January, we have been exploring ways to foster deeper collaboration across the Business Fights Poverty community around specific, practical Challenges to […]
Transcending Boundaries through Contextual Intelligence
Disruption, innovation, inclusion. These days, there is a multitude of business school jargon used to discuss development, both in the realm of the public and private sector. But here is another one for you: contextual intelligence, achieved through innovation and inclusion. Contextual intelligence is the ability to understand the limits of our knowledge and to […]
Crossing Oceans for Child Health
Transcending boundaries to build a sustainable future naturally evokes different responses in everyone depending on their frame of reference. My own career and early experiences have been focused on child health, first as an orphanage volunteer in Africa, then a nurse, and later on working towards my doctorate, and now as an entrepreneur developing wearable […]
Banking on Change Helps the World’s Poorest Save $34m
More than 5,000 informal savings groups have been linked to formal banking sector Six years ago CARE undertook a pioneering partnership called Banking on Change with Barclays and Plan UK that has since helped more than 758,000 people, who typically live on less than $2 a day. In the past 3 years, we’ve supported 400,000 […]
Business in Support of Public Policy Education
Businessmen support Business Schools. This is perfectly normal since most MBA graduates go on to work for Businesses. But why should Businessmen support Public Policy Schools? What would they gain from providing such support? The simple answer is that they will gain a lot. No business – except corrupt business ventures – can survive and […]
Activating the Power of the Market for Humanitarian Aid
Activating the power and reach of the market for a sustainable future What does it mean to transcend boundaries? The definition of “transcend” is to rise above, or go beyond normal limits. For the purpose of this discussion, consider these boundaries: physical – defined by political/geographical regions; institutional – reflecting rules, written or unwritten, by […]
Transcending Boundaries to Fight Climate Change
Climate change is now at the forefront of the policy agenda. The Paris climate talks have ushered a new wave of urgency; the goal is to decarbonise the world by the second half of the century and try to remain below the 1.5-degree threshold. But in order to ensure this happens, we need everyone’s input. […]
DFID Business Survey on Women’s Economic Empowerment
Around the world, too many women are still locked out of the economy. From the simple right to open a bank account, to securing a seat in the boardroom – too many women still face significant barriers that stop them from reaching their full potential. I want you – and your business – to help […]
IMF Evidence Supporting Financial Inclusion
A recent IMF ‘staff paper’ (i.e. this is not the official view of the organisation, but they’re not disagreeing with it either…) provides additional support to CARE’s fight for financial inclusion by showing that four of the dimensions of financial development – access, depth, efficiency and stability – can significantly reduce income inequality and poverty. […]
Humanitarian Action with Business
Image: Kakuma refugee camp in the desert in NW Kenya, Somali refugee traders’ shop in the Kakuma camp By Dr. Kathryn Taetzsch, Senior Relief Coordinator & Private Sector Partnerships Lead, Global Humanitarian Operations/ Global Rapid Response Team, World Vision International “Ending Need” cannot work without “Connecting Business” from community to global levels, identifying gaps, disaster […]
Helping People Lead Healthy Lives
Last year saw the release of the much referenced Lancet report Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. Published prior to COP 21 in Paris, the report considered the impacts of climate change on public health and estimates that cutting carbon emissions could reduce 500,000 premature deaths a year from air pollution […]
A Framework for Justice
From the program of the 2016 Skoll World Forum. Justice is our north star. It provides the bearings to guide us through territory fraught with tests of character and will. It steers us to ever more powerful solutions to the pressing problems of our time. It summons in us the courage and fortitude to tackle […]
The State of Responsible Investment
Women Advancing Microfinance UK are hosting a dinner on Tuesday 12th April in London on responsible investment, specifically looking at how we can influence the way global companies act and impact the world. Tickets to the event are available here. On the evening Martina Macpherson will be accompanied by Natacha Dimitrijevic, Associate Director at Hermes […]
Obama Unshackles Slavery Ban
In 1938 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt effectively ended child labour in the United States by prohibiting its use in interstate commerce. He couldn’t outlaw the use of child labour in production because working age laws are determined at the state level. So he solved the problem in a realm he did control: trade. In 2016 […]
Inclusive Innovation: From Idea to Impact
In the next months, BoPInc experts will share insights on their inclusive innovation journey via blog posts on their experience of developing new products and services in BoP markets. 1. What is inclusive innovation? Inclusive Innovation is the entrepreneurial development of something new with impact together with low-income groups. Inclusive innovations create impact whether incremental […]
The Paradox of Partnership
At the heart of every partnership lies a paradox, an inherent contradiction that cannot be ignored in the process of building a successful collaboration. A primary goal of cross-sector partnership is to bring together organisations with different but complementary attributes and to achieve something together that neither organisation can achieve independently. That is what most […]
Inclusive Innovation – Context Matters
Image: How can wearable technologies become relevant for the BoP context? Check UNICEF’s Wearable for Good Challenge for some inspiration. In this second post of our blog series on Inclusive Innovation we focus on the challenges that lie in the adaptation of global (technological) innovations to specific markets and users in emerging economies. In the […]
5 Ways for Smart Businesses to Invest in Sustainability
The global economy is under pressure from the planet. This year, falling oil prices and stagnant growth, especially in emerging markets, is coinciding with extreme droughts and floods triggered by one of the most powerful El Niño events in the past 50 years. The severity of this naturally occurring shock is amplified by global warming, […]
How USAID Views the Future of Partnership
By Chris Jurgens, Director, Center for Transformational Partnerships, U.S. Global Development Lab, U.S. Agency of International Development Today, new economic powers have emerged, private investment to developing countries has soared, and new technologies have opened opportunities as never before. The nature of development is changing, with collaboration across diverse stakeholders now a central feature of […]