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Our Staff Writers and Editors offer insights on the latest news, events, interviews and other happenings from the development through enterprise and base of the pyramid universes
Tuesday, June 04, 2013 — No Region Specified

Changing lives, a hen at a time

Source: Standard Digital

Helping hand: Three years ago, four campus students started a revolutionary project that has begun to alleviate poverty in rural areas nyan communities of giving visitors a hen.
Monday, June 03, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

From base of social pyramid, only way is up

Source: The Japan Times

Firms serving Africa's poorest paving way for mutual growth
Friday, May 31, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

The Best and Simplest Way to Fight Global Poverty

Source: Slate

Proof that giving cash to poor people, no strings attached, is an amazingly powerful tool for boosting incomes and promoting development.
Thursday, May 30, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

The Best and Simplest Way to Fight Global Poverty

Source: Slate

Poverty is, fundamentally, a lack of money. So doesn’t it make sense that simply delivering cash to poor people can be an effective strategy for alleviating it?
Monday, May 20, 2013 — South Asia

Instilling soft skills in chauffeurs

Source: The Hindu Business Line

In the travel industry, the bottom of the pyramid is the driver.” Ram Badrinathan, Founder & CEO, GlobalTHEN.
Thursday, May 16, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

The hottest frontier

Source: The Economist

Strategies for putting money to work in a fast-growing continent.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 — No Region Specified

How to Plan when you don’t know what is going to happen? Redesigning aid for complex systems

Source: Oxfam International

They’re funny things, speaker tours. On the face of it, you go from venue to venue, churning out the same presentation – more wonk-n-roll than rock-n-roll. But you are also testing your arguments, adding slides where there are holes, deleting ones that don’t work.
Monday, May 13, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Venture Capital to invest US$20m this year

Source: Ghana Web

The Venture Capital Trust Fund will invest US$20million in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in different sectors of the economy this year, building on a portfolio of investments currently valued at close to US$60million.
Monday, May 13, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Us Family Biz Icon Launches Africa Fund

Source: Campden FB

Dr John Coors, fourth-gen chief executive of ceramics company CoorsTek and a member of the Coors brewing dynasty, is behind the launch of an investment group targeting Africa that plans a new approach to investing in the continent.
Friday, May 10, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Venture Capital Trust Fund signs MoU with GIMPA to establish Centre

Source: Ghana Business News

Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to establish a Centre for Impact Investing in the country.
Thursday, May 09, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Where Private School Is Not a Privilege

Source: The New York Times

In the United States, private school is generally a privilege of the rich. But in poorer nations, particularly in Africa and South Asia, families of all social classes send their children to private school.
Wednesday, May 08, 2013 — South Asia

Ramadorai new chairman of NSDC

Source: Live Mint

S. Ramadorai took over the post from M.V. Subbiah, who was heading NSDC since 2008.
Wednesday, May 08, 2013 — No Region Specified

A Microlender Backs Startups to Bring More Than Loans to the Poor

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Microlending has lost a lot of its shine in the seven years since Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for delivering small loans to help poor women start businesses.
Monday, May 06, 2013 — No Region Specified

What is the best way of innovating for social change?

Source: Financial Times

There are many different ways – organisationally speaking – that you can save the world.
Friday, May 03, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Banishing poverty through banking

Source: The Guardian

Access to financial services could pull millions of people out of poverty, so where does microfinance fit in?
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

IFC, Others Invest $20m In Ghanaian Microfinance Bank

Source: Ventures Africa

The IFC, the German Investment and Development Corporation (DEG), and the African Capitalisation Fund (ACF) have together invested about GH¢46 million ($20 million) into one of Ghana’s leading microfinance banks, UT Bank.
Monday, April 15, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

World Bank: Africa's economic growth to outpace average

Source: BBC

Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa should significantly outpace the global average over the next three years, according to the World Bank.
Friday, April 12, 2013 — South Asia

World Bank proposes multi-billion plan to reduce poverty in India

Source: The Hindu Business Line

The World Bank has come out with a multi-billion ($12-20 billion) four-year plan aimed at bringing down poverty levels in seven low-income Indian States.
Wednesday, April 03, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

New apps transforming remote parts of Africa

Source: Associated Press

For generations, breeding cows in the rural highlands of Kenya has hinged on knowledge and experience passed down from parents to children. But Mercy Wanjiku is unlike most farmers. Her most powerful tool is her cell phone, and a text messaging service called iCow.
Tuesday, April 02, 2013 — No Region Specified

World Bank chief calls for ending extreme poverty by 2030

Source: Reuters

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called for a commitment by the international community on Tuesday to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people living in developing countries.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 — South Asia

Sheetal Mehta Walsh, on the Rise of Social Entrepreneurship

Source: The Next Women

Sheetal Mehta Walsh, is the founder of Shanti Life, a unique microfinance platform serving the poor in Gujarat villages and slums so that they can create sustainable businesses.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 — Asia Pacific

IDB's assignment: A proposal to reform private sector operations

Source: Devex

The Inter-American Development Bank’s annual meeting has concluded with a lot of promise for businesses in the region, from the establishment of a new Chinese cofinanced fund to a plan to streamline the activities of the bank’s private sector windows.
Monday, March 18, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

LAPO Boss: Microfinance Industry Needs Intellectual Leadership

Source: The Guardian

LIFT Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO) operated as a pro-poor non-government organisation (NGO) more than two decades before it was licensed a microfinance institution in 2010. The same year it was recognised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a micro lender, it paid out N21.9 billion loans.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 — South Asia

World Bank promises big push to poverty alleviation schemes in India

Source: The Hindu

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday indicated an assured annual funding of $3-5 billion for the next four years to push development projects and poverty eradication programmes.
Friday, March 08, 2013 — No Region Specified

Trade-offs in FY14: A case for the Global Fund

Source: Devex

Amid an increasingly complex fiscal environment in Washington (i.e. the newly-triggered sequester and the soon-to-expire FY13 continuing resolution), I can’t help but think about the tough trade-offs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must be considering as they finalize the 2014 budget request to Congress, expected to be released in mid-March.
Wednesday, March 06, 2013 — North Africa and Near East

Egypt: Empowering Women Challenges Poverty - CEO of Thomson Reuters Foundation

Source: All Africa

The Chief Executive Officer of Thomson Reuters Foundation, Monique Villa, said on Monday that helping women know and defend their rights tackles the very root of poverty.
Friday, March 01, 2013 — Asia Pacific

Growth and Poverty

Source: Inquirer News

The ten years of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave the Philippines a much faster economic growth at around 4.8 percent annually. The only decade-long gross domestic product (GDP) growth higher than this was recorded in the 1950s.
Friday, February 22, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa: Closing the Gap - Meet Aims to End Extreme Poverty

Source: All Africa

When 17-year-old Sona Traore represented the Child Protection Network of Liberia at a civil society event organized in conjunction with a three-day United Nations meeting in this capital city earlier this month, she knew she was not speaking for Liberian children alone.
Thursday, February 21, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa: Global Fund News Flash - Issue 14

Source: All Africa

The Global Fund plans to launch its new funding model in the coming days.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

I promote farming to get people out of poverty

Source: Daily Monitor

Following the success of Upland rice that Professor Gilbert Bukenya promoted throughout the country while he was Vice President, he is planning a similar exercise in the near future. He talked to Daily Monitor's Dorothy Nakaweesi about that and more.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 — Latin America

Brazil's Rousseff says extreme poverty almost eradicated

Source: Reuters

President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday raised the monthly stipend of 2.5 million people living below the poverty line to make good on her promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil, a nation with enormous income gaps between rich and poor.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013 — No Region Specified

Entrepreneurship: One Answer to Poverty

Source: Huffington Post

In his State of the Union address President Barack Obama placed a spotlight on global poverty and the 1.2 billion people on the planet who stay alive on around $1 per day.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 — No Region Specified

John Kerry to USAID: 'Deeply, deeply committed'

Source: Devex

John Kerry did not detail his plans for development cooperation, but his message to colleagues at the U.S. Agency for International Development on Friday may have been as important: He fully supports their work and will fight for their cause in upcoming budget battles and hot spots around the globe.
Friday, February 15, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa calling: rewarding patient investors

Source: Financial Times

In the 1970s, it was Idi Amin’s expulsion of Asians from Uganda. In 1980s, it was a malnourished child in Ethiopia, struggling just to stand up. In the 1990s, it was piles of mutilated corpses in Rwanda. For many in the west, these remain the defining images of Africa – despots, disasters and despair.
Thursday, February 14, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Obama in SOTU: Eradicate extreme poverty in 20 years

Source: Devex

In a Feb. 12 speech focused on improving the lot of the U.S. middle class, Obama also vowed to help stabilize countries such as Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Mali, and help to spread democracy from the Middle East to South-East Asia.
Monday, February 11, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

EU budget deal freezes foreign aid spending

Source: Devex

After tense negotiations in Brussels, European leaders reached a historic budget-cutting deal on Friday – but appeared to have spared foreign aid. The consensus reached today could have potentially negative consequences on the ability to achieve global anti-poverty goals, especially in Africa,” said Natalia Alonso, head of Oxfam’s EU office.
Friday, February 08, 2013 — Sub-Saharan Africa

In Microsoft’s ‘4Afrika’ launch, a surprising game-changer

Source: Devex Impact

In the next three years, the Microsoft Afrika Initiative aims to “help place tens of millions” of smartphones in the hands of African consumers, bring 1 million small and medium-size African businesses and nonprofits online, train 100,000 African university graduates (and find jobs for 75,000 of them), and pilot low-cost wireless broadband in Kenya using “white-space” spectrum.
Wednesday, February 06, 2013 — South Asia

Diaspora-driven development: how to turn wealth to health in Bangladesh

Source: The Guardian

A large number of Bangladeshi expatriates are unskilled labourers so cash transfers will still dominate the way they contribute to development back home. However, due to high tax on remittances and high money transfer fees, many chose to use informal channels. The Daily Star, a Bangladesh English language broadsheet reported that up to 24% of remittances are brought into the country through informal channels. Reducing tax, as well as transfer fees by organisations such as Western Union could encourage more people to use formal channels and hence increasing government revenues
Monday, January 14, 2013 — No Region Specified

Deal leaves risks for global health to fall or be pushed off the cliff

Source: Science Speaks Blog

Will the U.S. government's fiscal cliff deal mean steep drops in global health and research funding?
Tuesday, January 08, 2013 — No Region Specified

Inequality and accountability key to post-2015 development, report says

Source: The Guardian

Save the Children outlines its proposals for the development agenda after the millennium development goals expire in 2015
Thursday, December 20, 2012 — No Region Specified

5 development innovations to watch in 2013

Source: Devex

Although this year had welcome news about poverty rates falling across the globe, almost two and a half billion people still get by on less than $2 a day. Innovative solutions for tackling global poverty are needed as much as ever. Here are five development innovations to watch in 2013:
Thursday, December 13, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

How to Light Africa Within a Decade

Source: Forbes

Today, when the sun goes down in Africa, over 150 million homes will not turn on the lights. The reason is simple: they don’t have electricity. Instead, they will extend their day by the dim light of kerosene lamps. Families will huddle around these lamps, inhaling the lung-burning equivalent of two packs of cigarettes each from kerosene fumes.
Friday, December 07, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Global Impact Investing Network Receives GBP 10.5 Million Commitment from UK's Department for International Development

Source: Press Release

The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) announced today that the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) will provide GBP 10.5 million to support the GIIN’s role in developing and growing the impact investing market in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Wednesday, December 05, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

AfDB, researchers launch $63 m initiative to lift Africans out of poverty

Source: Africa Science News

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and researchers have launched the US$63.24 million AfDB-funded initiative aimed to raise agricultural productivity and also lift millions of Africans out of poverty.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012 — South Asia

Pakistan to follow Brazilian model in tackling poverty

Source: The Express Tribune

ISLAMABAD: Emulating the Brazilian model of zero hunger and with support from donors, the Pakistan government has expressed the resolve to alleviate poverty and hunger from the country.
Thursday, November 29, 2012 — No Region Specified

Fantino’s private-sector foreign aid: It can work, if he gets the details right

Source: The Globe and Mail

The world’s poorest, sacrificed to the whims of the almighty market. Charities and non-governmental organizations carrying the water for profitable mining companies. Profits before people. These are just some of the critiques levelled against the federal government’s foreign-aid pivot, recently formalized in an address by new International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino.
Thursday, November 29, 2012 — South Asia

‘Rising Star’ Leila Janah on Fighting Poverty

Source: Wall Street Journal

Leila Janah is trying to find a way to connect women and young people living in poverty to dignified work via the Internet. Her company Samasource, which she founded in 2008, provides free, specialized technology training via 16 centers in nine countries, including India, Pakistan, Kenya, Haiti and Uganda.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012 — No Region Specified

One billion raise a stink

Source: Al Jazeera English

Sanitation is not merely a development wish list, but a fundamental requirement that directly affects people's survival.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa: Development Targets Ride on Vitamins

Source: All Africa

One hundred and ninety million - that's more than the populations of Germany, France and Poland combined. It is also the number of children affected by vitamin A deficiency around the world.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Child marriage perpetuates cycle of poverty for young people

Source: Deseret News

In the developing world, one in 10 girls is married before the age of 18. One in seven is married before 15. Tino Borantu of Ethiopia was married at age 9.
Monday, November 26, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Enter the iShack, a possible answer to improving Africa’s slums

Source: How We Made it in Africa

For those who aren’t familiar with South Africa’s informal settlements, it is estimated that seven million South Africans live in shacks in the country’s many “squatter camps” located around all major cities.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012 — South Asia

Justrojgar Joins With Upaya Social Ventures to Create Service Sector Jobs for the Very Poorest

Source: Press Release

Equity Investment Will Create New Corporate, Domestic Employment Opportunities For Those Living At The Base Of The Pyramid
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 — No Region Specified

GADCO Announces Investment from AATIF Fund sponsored by KfW, Deutsche Bank and the German Government

Source: Acumen Fund Blog

Global Agri-Development Company (GADCO), the FMCG agri-food company operating in sub-Saharan Africa, is pleased to announce an investment from AATIF (Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund), the public-private partnership funded by the German Government, KfW, and Deutsche Bank.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 — North Africa and Near East

Observing the Arab Spring, African Bankers Devise Economic Strategies

Source: Knowledge@Wharton

The African Development Bank (AfDB) was established in 1964 to guide the continent onto a path of sustainable pan-African economic growth and reduce poverty. Heading its efforts is Mthuli Ncube, chief economist and vice president at the multilateral bank, which is temporarily headquartered in Tunisia.
Monday, November 12, 2012 — No Region Specified

The Paradox of Property Rights and Economic Development

Source: Council on Foreign Relations Blog

Recent weeks have seen simmering property rights conflicts around the world: Burmese citizens marching in protest against the government’s seizure of their lands for a hotel zone; Vietnamese villagers contesting the confiscation of their land for an EcoPark satellite city project; and violent clashes breaking out in Panama City over a controversial law allowing the sale of state-owned land in the port city of Colón—Latin America’s largest duty-free zone.
Tuesday, November 06, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Study paints sad picture of women in poor countries

Source: Standard Digital

Women perform more than half of all economic activities in developing countries but only a third of their work is captured by statisticians, a new report says. This means women are likely to miss out on business, industrial and social development opportunities arising from globalisation.
Friday, November 02, 2012 — No Region Specified

Santa Clara University Welcomes Applications from Investment-Ready Social Enterprises

Source: Market Watch Press Release

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov 01, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Applications are now open for Santa Clara University's Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI(TM)), an 11-year-old program that helps social entrepreneurs create greater impact in their poverty-alleviating missions.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 — South Asia

Bill on property rights to slumdwellers in the works

Source: Hindustan Times

Millions of slum dwellers across India could soon aspire to become home owners. The Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry is all set to finalize the draft Model Property Rights to Slum Dwellers Bill which, once enacted by states, would for the first time give landless slum-dweller living in an urban area long term legal entitlement to a “dwelling place.”
Friday, October 26, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Group mitigates poverty with alternative building technology

Source: Creamer Media's Engineering News

JSE-listed energy and chemicals group Sasol’s enterprise development vehicle, ChemCity, believes alternative building technology (ABT) has the potential to curtail unemployment and poverty – two of South Africa’s most pressing issues.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Technology a pathway out of poverty

Source: Tech Central

It will take a century for a poor household to tweet its way out of poverty. That’s a very long time for anyone wondering where their next meal is coming from. But it’s a significant new finding because it proves once and for all that social media and access to information and communication technology (ICT) is a pathway out of poverty.
Thursday, October 18, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Handheld Poverty Fighters: Building the Killer Apps of Global Prosperity

Source: GOOD

Among many in the development space, connective technologies are either the cheat code to global prosperity or a false prophet obscuring the real challenges effecting the world’s poor. Officials as high-ranking as Secretary Hillary Clinton have called the spread of cheap cell phones and laptops a driving force against poverty even as many of their most promising applications are failing to deliver on scale.
Monday, September 17, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

World Hunger: The Problem Left Behind

Source: New York Times

THE drought-induced run-up in corn prices is a reminder that we’re nowhere near solving the problem of feeding the world. The price surge, the third major international food price spike in the last five years, casts more doubt on the assumption that widespread economic development leads to corresponding gains in agriculture.
Friday, September 14, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

In Uganda, Villages Reap Benefits of “Machine” Energy

Source: National Geographic

Immaculate Kongai said she was quick to spot the potential of the Multifunction Energy Platform (MFP) as soon as it arrived in Usuk, her village in northeastern Uganda. Kongai grows and sells sorghum to local beer brewers, and has earned a reputation as a shrewd local entrepreneur. When the MFP—or, as she calls it, "the machine"—first showed up three years ago, she said she saw a chance to "make a lot more money" for her family.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 — Latin America

Haiti insurance firm receives $2 million in equity to expand services to the poor

Source: Montreal Gazette

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A non-profit set up by former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush after the 2010 earthquake has given $1 million in equity to an insurance firm based in Haiti.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 — No Region Specified

Sure, We Can Build a Better Toilet. But Will People Use It?

Source: Wired

The Gates Foundation’s plan to build a better toilet has inspired optimism for the future of sanitation in the developing world.
Monday, September 10, 2012 — No Region Specified

The 2012 Social Entrepreneur Awardees

Source: World Economic Forum Blog

When Klaus Schwab and I created the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship back in 2000, no one knew what social entrepreneurs were. They were uncommon and unsung heroes in their respective countries and communities, working in relative obscurity to test out new approaches to tackle profound market failures. When they came to Davos, few participants attended the session ‘Meet the Social Entrepreneurs’. Their voices – and the voices of the bottom billion of humanity, the poor people they serve – were often not heard.
Friday, September 07, 2012 — No Region Specified

Solar lighting: Lighting the way

Source: Economist

Energy technology: Cheaper and better solar-powered electric lights promise to do away with kerosene-fuelled lanterns
Wednesday, September 05, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Oando seals pact with LAPO on access to cooking gas

Source: The Guardian Nigeria

Following its plan to switch millions of Nigerians from biomass to a clean and sustainable cooking gas, Oando Marketing Plc has entered into an agreement with Lift Above Poverty Organisation Microfinance Bank (LAPO) to provide soft loans for low-income households in Nigeria to purchase Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Thursday, August 30, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

New alliance for food security would accelerate agricultural development -Namoale

Source: Business Ghana

The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, an initiative to lift 50 million people out of poverty over the next 10 years through sustained agricultural growth, was on Wednesday launched in Accra.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Reverse innovation brings social solutions to developed countries

Source: The Guardian

Social entrepreneurship often focuses on finding solutions to problems in the developing world. But, as the European Union battles with the ongoing recession and the US experiences rising levels of poverty, social enterprise solutions are increasingly appropriate in advanced industrial countries as well.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 — Asia Pacific

Haircuts Can be Serious Business for Myanmar Women

Source: The Jakarta Globe

Khin May Phyo, 18, fought back tears as she bickered with the barber over the length of her haircut. “If you want to make 20,000 kyat [23 dollars], then it has to be cut here,” said Kay Aye Mon, chopping the girl’s waist-length hair at the base of her neck with her palm.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Unilever sees 'return to poverty' in Europe

Source: The Telegraph

Unilever will adopt marketing strategies used in developing countries in order to drive future growth in Europe, as the head of its European business warned that poverty will rise in the region as a result of the debt crisis.
Monday, August 27, 2012 — South Asia

Is a Youth Revolution Brewing in India?

Source: The New York Times

Among the world’s major countries, India has the youngest population, and the oldest leaders. A startling four-decade gap between the median age of India’s people and that of its government officials most recently reared its head with a heavy-handed and widely-maligned crackdown on free speech on the Internet.
Thursday, August 16, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Acumen Fund Announces Duncan Onyango as New Director of Acumen Fund East Africa

Source: Acumen Fund Blog

Nairobi, Kenya, August 15, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty across Africa and in South Asia, today announced Duncan Onyango as the new Director of Acumen Fund East Africa. Mr. Onyango joins from Rift Valley Railways having served as Group Chief Finance Officer. He replaces Biju Mohandas who is leaving Acumen after five years of leading Acumen’s local office and building the portfolio to its current size of $29 million in cumulative investments. Mr. Mohandas will play an informal role through this transition.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Avon's 'Lipstick Evangelism' Shows Promise in Poverty Fight

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Lipstick may be the newest weapon in the fight against global poverty. A recent study (PDF) by University of Oxford researchers suggests that selling Avon (AVP) cosmetics have helped women in South Africa become financially independent. Other businesses are mimicking Avon’s model of direct sales as a way to alleviate poverty in developing countries.
Thursday, August 09, 2012 — South Asia

Government assisting SMEs development to reduce poverty

Source: Pakistan Observer

Islamabad—The government has made strategic shift in its strategies to assist infrastructural development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in order to enhance productivety and exports of this particular sector to help reduce poverty in the country.
Thursday, August 02, 2012 — No Region Specified

US intelligence predicts poverty plummet by 2030

Source: Boston.com

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Poverty across the planet will be virtually eliminated by 2030, with a rising middle class of some two billion people pushing for more rights and demanding more resources, the chief of the top U.S. intelligence analysis shop said Saturday.
Thursday, August 02, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

U-M researcher deals with hope, not charity, in far corners

Source: Detroit News

On the east side of Nairobi, in a slum called Mukuru, Ted London went looking for outhouses and found a Steve Yzerman hockey jersey.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012 — No Region Specified

Is Wall Street a Good Training Ground for Social Entrepreneurs?

Source: Forbes

Luanne Zurlo is the founder of Worldfund, an organization dedicated to improving education in Latin American countries. We recently featured one of her collaborations with the Rassias Center for language. Here we return to Luanne to learn more about her, and about her involvement in this organization that facilitates the education of so many Latin Americans.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

A promising strategy for SA's development

Source: Financial Mail

By focusing on key sectors, government believes it can reduce unemployment from 25% to 15% by 2020. The priority sectors are infrastructure development, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, the “green” economy, and tourism — as identified in the November 2010 New Growth Path.
Monday, July 30, 2012 — South Asia

Acumen Fund Invests INR 1.5 Crore ($300K) in Edubridge Learning

Source: Acumen Fund Blog

Mumbai, India, July 25, 2012 – Acumen Fund, a pioneering nonprofit global venture fund addressing poverty across Africa and South Asia, today announced a INR 1.5 Crore ($300K) equity investment in Edubridge Learning Private Limited, a growing company that provides vocational skills training for low income youth across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Growing Rwanda Out of Poverty

Source: Forbes

For the last few years, development wonks and international organizations have had the “Green Revolution for Africa” on their radars. Leaders in Africa have recognized that the first Green Revolution (spurred by the work of agronomist Norman Borlaug) resulted in massive improvements in health and productivity around the world, and are now looking to do the same on the so-called “Dark Continent”.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 — South Asia

Grassroots entrepreneurship helps alleviate poverty

Source: The Financial Express

Bangladesh has positioned itself in global community as a forward-looking nation, with firm footprint on path of steady, accelerating growth and development towards rapid poverty elimination and eventual prosperity. Bangladesh has achieved fairly steep decline in poverty over the past two decades from 57.0 per cent in the 1990s to 31.5 per cent in 2011. According to the latest projections of the Planning Commission, poverty will come down further to 26.4 per cent in FY 2012-13.
Monday, July 02, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Nigeria: Using Call Centres to Bridge Poverty Gaps Among Unemployed Youths

Source: AllAfrica

Due to the recent economic recession, more people have become unemployed adding to the security problems that are plaguing the country. Evelyn Okoruwa writes on how call centres could bridge poverty gap by providing makeshift jobs for the country's teeming youths.
Monday, June 18, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Business fighting poverty

Source: The Guardian

For nearly 100 years, Africa has been a key driver of Anglo American's business success. Almost 40% of our assets remain in South Africa. Three of our seven main business groups (platinum, iron ore and thermal coal) and two of our key associates (diamonds and manganese) operate out of South-ern Africa. These are all globally competitive businesses and we are investing in them: $20bn in capital expenditure in South Africa over the last 10 years, and a future growth pipeline of almost $15bn.
Friday, May 25, 2012 — South Asia

Yes, Microfinance Does Work. Here's How...

Source: Huffington Post

By now, anyone with an interest in microfinance or poverty alleviation has read the criticism. There are tragic crises in Andhra Pradesh, the regrettable stepping-down of Muhammad Yunus from Grameen, and provocative headlines in the media claiming to refute microcredit's effectiveness. However, I feel strongly that if readers listen only to the white noise, they'll do themselves and the microfinance industry a disservice and, more to the point, they'll be misled.
Friday, May 18, 2012 — South Asia

Hope springs a trap

Source: The Economist

THE idea that an infusion of hope can make a big difference to the lives of wretchedly poor people sounds like something dreamed up by a well-meaning activist or a tub-thumping politician. Yet this was the central thrust of a lecture at Harvard University on May 3rd by Esther Duflo, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology known for her data-driven analysis of poverty. Ms Duflo argued that the effects of some anti-poverty programmes go beyond the direct impact of the resources they provide. These programmes also make it possible for the very poor to hope for more than mere survival.
Friday, May 18, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Owning a mobile phone does not move you to the middle class

Source: New Vision

James Ogule, who lives in Namugongo, a Kampala surburb, thinks the vendors selling matooke (plantains) by the road to his house should not be considered middle class. The vendors spend more than $2 (sh5,200) a day and Ogule who works with a government regulatory body thinks equating a middle class to sh5,200 a day is a pity.
Friday, May 18, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Obama turns to private sector to feed world's poor

Source: Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama on Friday reached out to the private sector in hopes of lifting 50 million people in the developing world from poverty, as wealthy nations grapple with a budget crunch.
Monday, May 14, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Africa Growth Isn't Meeting Needs of Young, Poor: Report

Source: Wall Street Journal

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Foreign investment and increasing exports are propelling high economic growth rates in Africa, but haven't established enough jobs to substantially reduce poverty or meet the high expectations of the continent's large number of youths and poor, according to an annual economic progress report released Friday at the World Economic Forum's meeting here.
Monday, May 14, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Uganda's Middle Class Grows As Poverty Dips

Source: AllAfrica

Kampala — The number of absolutely poor Ugandans has dropped to 7.5 million (24.5%) from 8.5 million (31.1%) as of 2010, a Ministry of Finance status report released in Kampala shows.
Monday, April 23, 2012 — Asia Pacific

Environmental Index Could Save Rural Communities

Source: Phys Org

By creating the world's first long-term record of ecosystem health, Chinese and UK researchers have identified where specific social and economic policies have damaged the environment in eastern China. The work shows that wealth generation over recent decades is damaging essential ecosystem services on which the poorest rely - things like food, fuel, and clean water.
Friday, April 13, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa: Brazilians to Share Experiences On Beating Hunger

Source: allAfrica

Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini says sharing experiences with Brazil will help South Africa deal with the challenge of hunger.
Thursday, April 05, 2012 — No Region Specified

What It Will Take to 'Graduate' 1.2 Billion People Out of Extreme Poverty

Source: The Huffington Post

Despite the worldwide recession of the late 2000s, the total number of people living in extreme poverty has actually gone down in recent years -- so much, in fact, that we've reached the first of the UN's eightMillennium Development Goals five years ahead of schedule, a startling achievement. The number living in "extreme poverty" decreased by 100 million between 2005 and 2008.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 — No Region Specified

Is Sustainable Local Development A Persuasive Alternative to Microfinance?

Source: The Guardian

Milford Bateman has made a cogent case for community-based financial institutions that prioritise sustainable local solutions
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Investing in Agriculture Most Effective Way to Eradicate Poverty in Africa – UN

Source: UN News Centre

With the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) just three years away, a senior United Nations official today emphasized that spending on agriculture is the most effective type of investment for halting poverty in Africa.
Monday, March 26, 2012 — South Asia

World Bank Chief in India, Focus on Poverty Alleviation

Source: Business Standard

World Bank Group President Robert B Zoellick begins an official visit to India tomorrow, to see what more it can do to support government efforts to overcome poverty, as India embarks on its 12th five-year Plan and global recovery remains fragile.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 — South Asia

For a New Highway, from Rio to Delhi

Source: The Hindu

Brazil and India can benefit from each other's experience for an inclusive development agenda.
Tuesday, March 06, 2012 — No Region Specified

A Fall to Cheer

Source: The Economist

For the first time ever, the number of poor people is declining everywhere
Thursday, February 16, 2012 — South Asia

Community Workers Help to Bridge Treatment Gap in Mental Health

Source: The Guardian

Training lay people can play a crucial role in helping to deliver effective care for depression and anxiety in resource-poor, primary healthcare settings
Monday, February 13, 2012 — South Asia

Brac Programme Lifting 'Ultra-poor' Out of Poverty in Bangladesh

Source: The Guardian

The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee is helping communities escape extreme poverty by providing individuals with livestock and a monthly payment for two years
Thursday, February 09, 2012 — South Asia

Akhuwat: Making Microfinance Work

Source: Stanford Social Innovation Review

A groundbreaking microfinance model is bringing out the best in society and bucking the trend of giving out loans that could realistically never be paid back.
Thursday, February 09, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

U.C. Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley Lab Part of White House Poverty Push

Source: San Francisco Business Times

Both the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory above it on the hill are part of a public-private push to fight poverty around the world.
Wednesday, February 08, 2012 — No Region Specified

Are Mobile Solutions Overhyped?

Source: CNN

Are mobiles just another high-tech solution to what are essentially systemic and deeply rooted problems? Are mobile solutions for combating global poverty overhyped?
Tuesday, February 07, 2012 — Sub-Saharan Africa

Microfinance Services in Ghana Greeted With Hope, Concern

Source: Voice of America

Microfinance, providing financial services to low-income clients, has gained popularity in Ghana in the past 20 years and has played an important role in helping the poor - especially women - improve their lives.
Monday, February 06, 2012 — South Asia

Unitus Seed Fund Launches with Three Social Enterprise Investments in India

Source: Press Release

New Unitus Labs Initiative Seeks to Accelerate Development of Innovative Startups Which Have the Potential to Significantly Benefit Families Living on Less Than $2 Per Day
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 — South Asia

Coca-Cola India Rejigs Ops to Push Growth

Source: The Times of India

MUMBAI: In a bid to accelerate growth in key categories, Coca-Cola India has introduced changes to its management structure. While on the one hand, the world's largest non-alcoholic drinks maker has created a new vertical to push growth in rural markets by catering to the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) consumers, on the other it has introduced a ...
Friday, August 26, 2011 — South Asia

India Taps Communication Tools to Transform Villages

Source: ZDNet

Several Indian companies are relying on a host of communication technologies to bridge the digital divide by offering sustainable solutions for rural India. Some 70 percent of India's population, or nearly 750 million people, live in villages but contribute just 30 percent of country's GDP. This is likely why rural consumers have long been ignored by marketers. However, this is gradually changing, especially since the rural share of consumer goods today is...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 — Latin America

Root Capital Makes Money By Investing Where Wall Street Won't: Poor, Rural Farmers

Source: Fast Company

Small money, big change. That, in essence, is what William Foote was banking on when he ditched Harvard Business School to start what is now Root Capital , a "nonprofit social investment fund" that lends to small and medium rural businesses in developing countries. Root Capital's business model is to go where other banks will not --the agricultural sector of poor countries --and loan rural businesses as much as $500,000 to expand or improve t...
Thursday, June 16, 2011 — No Region Specified

Embrace Warms Up Premature Babies At the Bottom of the Pyramid

Source: Forbes

A mother living in a rural village outside of Bangalore, India gives birth to a baby two months prematurely. Her family cannot afford to go to the city hospital in Bangalore, so her husband, who raises silkworms that he warms under lamps, decides to care for the baby in the same way. A few day later, their baby dies. Stopping this tragedy - there are 20 million low birth weight and premature babies born each year - is the primary mission of Embrac...
Friday, April 22, 2011 — No Region Specified

Untying the Knot

Source: The Economist

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. By Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. PublicAffairs; 336 pages; $26.99. To be published in Britain in June by PublicAffairs; £15.99. Buy from Amazon.com , ...
Friday, April 08, 2011 — South Asia

Serving the Bottom of the Pyramid

Source: livemint.com

Business is brisk for Dheeraj Singh, a small kirana shop owner in Delhi's Govindpuri area. He stocks a host of brands offered by the Indian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in categories such as hair oil, shampoo, biscuit, fairness cream and tea, among many others. But he offers most of these products in their smallest pack sizes costing between Rs1 and Rs10. This just works fine for Savitri, a regular customer at the store employed as domestic staff in a flat nearby. She...
Thursday, March 24, 2011 — South Asia

Consumer Goods to Consumer Centricity: Not Easy to Navigate for HUL

Source: The Economic Times

It's lunchtime at the sprawling campus - the walk through inside the corporate nerve centre of India's largest FMCG Company - the Rs17700 crore turnover (March ended 2010) HUL. The campus is crowded with employees taking their post prandial walk, some using WiFi to work out of their work stations and some milling around the branded food court from the company stable. So there's Swirl Parlour, Bru Cafes and the latest addition Knorr Food Kiosk. It's at the Knorr Fo...
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