The Virtues of Virtual Volunteering and Online Fundraising
Your employees want to perform community service; they really, really do…but amidst their busy schedules they just can’t seem to find the time. So how about making volunteering easier than ever by offering virtual volunteer opportunities? It’s just one more tool that savvy companies are using to sharpen their employee volunteer programs, and by extension, […]
Improving Education Governance and Financing- A Bigger Role for the Private Sector
By Allison Anderson Nonresident Fellow, Center for Universal Education, Brookings Institution, and Amanda Gardiner, Head of International Affairs, Pearson What are the key obstacles in financing education? Who should be held accountable for ensuring that children receive a good quality education? These questions are at the heart of the debate going on in the post-2015 […]
Ossob Mohamud: Voluntourism – More Harm than Good?
I recently came across an interesting article problematizing voluntourism and assessing whether it does more harm than good in communities of the global south. It reminded me of my own concerns with voluntourism that originated in my college years in which I had participated in ‘Alternative Spring Breaks.’ It was considered an ‘alternative’ to what […]
Nutrients for All: Vitality in Soil, Food, and People
Being fully nourished is a must for good health, but did you know that the carrot you’re eating today probably has far fewer vitamins and minerals than a carrot grown 50 years ago? Soil depletion, as a result of unsustainable farming methods, is a primary culprit. Another cause of depleted nutrients has been the breeding […]
Creating Jobs through Youth entrepreneurship in Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire, like many countries all over the world, is facing the difficult issue of how to create jobs for the country’s young population. Already in 2008, Côte d’Ivoire had more than four million unemployed youth (the total population is estimated to be 21 million). At that time, the unemployment rate was 24.2% among 15-24 […]
Professionalizing Pro Bono Volunteering
I’ll volunteer that I’m a big fan of the Taproot Foundation, an organization that’s been an instrumental player in the pro bono movement in 2001 and has been steering the way ever since (matter of fact, I’m a new board member of the organization). Through award-winning programs, groundbreaking thought leadership and partnerships with companies to […]
Development in Transition
This morning the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening, gave a major speech on international development, setting out her priorities for the Department for International Development (DFID). The event was hosted by ONE Campaign UK. Below is a transcript of the speech: I’ve been privileged to head up DFID now as Secretary […]
Business Model Innovation for Bottom of the Pyramid
By Julia Guren, Impact Lab On December 6th, Impact Lab and LAB Open Innovation came together with the support of Business Fight Poverty to present a discussion on the challenges and opportunities faced by social entrepreneurs whose work is geared at the Bottom of the Pyramid (‘BoP’). The event brought together a panel of voices […]
Social Impact Bonds Help Investors Bridge Philanthropy and Business Goals
Long before doctor and entrepreneur Paul Polak began trying to revolutionize social investing — before he could even drive a car — he was planting the seeds for a movement he hopes will change the way some people do business. It was 1939, and Polak’s father was making a good living as a peasant farmer […]
Interview with Katharine Bierce: The Corporate Culture
The characteristic that defines intrapreneurs like Katharine Bierce is their ability to understand the intricacies of different settings, as they adjust to the culture at hand—whether they are volunteering at an animal shelter or traveling through Europe post-university to working in a corporate office. This skill requires leveraging the resources at hand, or finding the […]
Melanne Verveer and Kris M. Balderston, U.S. Department of State: Celebrating the Power of Collaboration
Yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted over 200 representatives from business, non-governmental organizations, and civil society groups to celebrate the power of collaboration. As one of the last events the Secretary hosted, the meeting was momentous. Not only for the more than $80 million in public-private partnerships announced but also because it showcased […]
BPO for the BoP: Impact Sourcing and potential for boosting employment
, Manager, Research Project Implementation, William Davidson Institute From the global business manager to the casual customer who interacts with a call center when they review a credit card bill, just about everyone is familiar with business process outsourcing (BPO). A myriad of books, news media articles, even an American TV series, explored the pros […]
Home Fortification of Foods: a Sustainble Business Model?
As part of the Business Innovation Facility’s work looking at opportunities for inclusive business approaches in nutrition, we have developed a report that explores the regulatory and political environment for commercial home fortification products in Bangladesh in more detail, and will be useful for those interested in exploring this approach. The report can be found […]
UK NGOs Launch "IF" Campaign on Food and Hunger
The Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign which 100 charities launched yesterday includes some inspiring and also challenging messages for business and the wider world. At the heart of the new campaign is the fact that although the world produces enough food for everyone, hundreds of millions of people are hungry and malnourished, with devastating […]
UK NGOs Launch “IF” Campaign on Food and Hunger
The Enough Food for Everyone IF campaign which 100 charities launched yesterday includes some inspiring and also challenging messages for business and the wider world. At the heart of the new campaign is the fact that although the world produces enough food for everyone, hundreds of millions of people are hungry and malnourished, with devastating […]
IFC: What Does It Take to Create Jobs?
By Roland Michelitsch, Manager and Leader of IFC’s Jobs Study, International Finance Corporation (IFC) With so many young workers joining the labor force, more than 600 million jobs must be created by the end of the decade just to maintain today’s employment levels. The vast majority—90 percent, by most estimates—must come from the private sector. […]
Lisa Dreier: Can partnerships feed the world?
Global food systems are increasingly at risk. Rising demand, scarce resources and increased volatility are putting new pressures on agriculture and food systems. More than 870 million people are chronically hungry, many of whom are small farmers. Farmers are not the only ones struggling. Governments, companies, international agencies and civil society groups are looking for […]
Karel De Gucht: Helping developing countries trade their way out of poverty
One thing is for sure: No country has ever lifted itself out of poverty without international trade. Trade is key to help countries develop. So we need to make sure that people in the world’s poorest countries have access to markets, to create jobs and encourage growth as a result. But trade needs the right […]
Aid for Trade- Continued Success in a Rapidly Evolving Environment
“Aid for Trade” has galvanised broad engagement from the international community to support developing countries to make the most of international trade. Successive Global Reviews have provided clear evidence that the Initiative has lead to an integration of trade policies in national development strategies, to an inclusion of trade considerations in planning frameworks and consultations […]
The Importance of Aid for Trade
Photo: WTO Aid for Trade is as relevant today as it was when the Initiative was launched at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005. Developing countries, and in particular Least-Developed Countries (LDCs), have made measurable progress in their participation in the global trading system. But for many, this participation still remains too narrowly focused […]