Why Cheap Bananas Threaten Farmers Futures
To mark Fairtrade Fortnight and the Make Bananas Fair campaign. Michael Gidney, CEO of the Fairtrade Foundation, explains why we need to make sure all bananas are sourced fairly and ethically in the UK. I have just come back from visiting banana producers in Colombia. Along the humid tropical coast bananas seem to be everywhere […]
Economic Inclusion – Accelerating Impact Collectively
Social Entrepreneurs with proven models for including low-income populations convene to refine their impact scaling strategies and collectively overcome ecosystem barriers. Great business ideas go global to serve customers around the world. Great social innovations, however, too often remain local or national because market forces do not work as efficiently in low-income markets. Although many […]
A Call for More and Better Data
The debate is no longer is about whether the private sector has a role to play in ending poverty but how. Over the course of this week, we have explored where business can do more to end poverty. What we haven’t discussed in detail up until now is how the private sector can achieve this. […]
Bridging the Gap for African Women in Business
As we get closer to the 2015 deadline, the debate about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is no longer about whether the goals will be met but instead what will replace them. The debates about what the new development agenda should look like have generated wide-ranging opinions and a corpus of literature has been produced […]
How Do We Achieve Pro-Poor Economic Development?
Sarah Montgomery, Economic Justice Analyst, CAFOD The focus of economic development within DFID and other donors internationally is potentially very exciting, and undoubtedly, as the International Development Committee point out, the changing geography of poverty is an important factor affecting the future role and provision of aid. This shift however, does not come without risks. […]
Collaboration to Maximise Impact on Poverty Reduction
At a recent meeting in Paris, a German government representative took us through their approach to blending public money with private investment and development finance institutions (DFIs). Germany recently spent €40,000 of official development assistance (ODA) to leverage €300,000 of private sector funding to scale-up water and sanitation programmes. The investment reached 9.5 million people, […]
DFID’s Increased Focus on Economic Development
DFID’s shift towards a stronger focus on economic development is a top priority for the UK Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening. Last month, she delivered a speech at the London Stock Exchange where she gives the rationale for ramping up our work in this area. A new strategic framework – “Economic development […]
How Can Donors Help Mobilise Investment?
The Investments to End Poverty report revealed dramatic change in the global financial landscape. It underlines the need to get beyond the sterile argument about whether developing countries need aid or private investment to promote prosperity and end poverty by 2030. The clear answer is both. A mix of resources is necessary to meet the […]
Effective MSME Strategy in Malawi
Micro Small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in the economy of many developing economies and Malawi is no exception. Evidence[1] shows small and medium enterprises make up about 1.7 million people, equivalent to 38% of Malawi’s total working age population. Women make up 46% of these employment figures – up 4% from […]
The Power of Water and Soap
Sometimes in seeking solutions to big challenges, the simple things can be taken for granted. I recall a meeting I attended several years ago. Johnson & Johnson’s Contribution Committee for Africa convened in Lusaka, Zambia to decide what strategies we would pursue to improve health care for the needy in Africa. It is an exotic […]
Do Small, Local Businesses Fit into DFID’s Increased Focus on Economic Development?
International Investments in Emerging Economies
Yesterday we saw that private investment is becoming increasingly important for many developing countries. Today we focus on two questions: What role do foreign investors play in different developing countries? And how can we maximise their contributions towards getting poverty to zero? Most foreign investment in developing countries is either in the largest and most […]
The Critical Role of the Private Sector in Ending Poverty
There is growing consensus about the vital role that the private sector does, can and should play in development and ending poverty. The idea of sustainable business – going beyond social responsibility to strike a different balance between the goals of profit and social return – has been a new source of energy in the […]
Impact Investments to End Poverty
All resources flowing to developing countries – domestic and international, public, private and commercial – can be used for ending poverty: aid is not the only resource that can be used. Some will deliver immediate returns; other investments will deliver longer-term impact. They will each have advantages for different objectives and in different contexts. The […]
Social and Business Co-Creation
In a world defined by rapid change, the search for solutions to societal and environmental challenges has become more complex. While market systems have become interconnected and supply chains have become supply webs, public policy and industry norms are not changing as fast. As a result, they are increasingly inadequate tools to govern our societies. […]
Uniting David & Goliath to Accelerate Agri-Development
Having worked across public, private and non-profit sectors in agricultural development for over 25 years, I have seen first-hand the benefits of successfully engaging with small-scale farmers in emerging economies. There is a clear link between the development of a viable agricultural sector, inclusive economic growth and food security in emerging markets. Research by Imperial […]
Uniting David & Goliath to Accelerate Agri-Development
Having worked across public, private and non-profit sectors in agricultural development for over 25 years, I have seen first-hand the benefits of successfully engaging with small-scale farmers in emerging economies. There is a clear link between the development of a viable agricultural sector, inclusive economic growth and food security in emerging markets. Research by Imperial […]
A DFID Perspective on the Private Sector
An Interview with Alistair Fernie, Head of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) Private Sector Department. The interview was conducted by the Business Call to Action. Alistair Fernie has been head of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) private sector department, based in London, since 5 August 2013. Prior to that he spent four and […]
What No Cash? Does Technical Assistance to Inclusive Business Really Help?
‘What no cash?’ is what some businesses thought on first sight, responding to the offer of technical assistance from the Business Innovation Facility, funded by DFID. ‘Technical assistance can help inclusive businesses to develop faster and/or build more robust business models.’ That was one of the assumptions on which the programme was based, and is […]
Six Partnership Propositions
The roadmap for business engagement in partnership, being launched at GPEDC in Mexico in April, is based on a series of linked propositions. These draw on a recent BAA / Harvard CSRI / TPI report, and they have been refined during the roadmap interview process. In this blog article we are inviting feedback and challenge […]