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The Emergence of InfraTech: How AI and Other Digital Technologies are Enabling Climate-Resilient Transportation Infrastructure in LMICs
An estimated 1 billion people around the world lack access to all-weather roads. As Caylee Talpert at AnyWay Solutions explains, this means that over 12% of the global population cannot travel to school or work reliably throughout the year. She highlights the impacts of this gap, and explores how artificial intelligence, satellite and drone technology, and other advanced "InfraTech" solutions are optimizing climate-resilient transportation infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries.
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- Technology, Transportation
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SACCOs, Social Collateral and Bitcoin Communities: A Filmmaker Documents New (and Old) Ways to Extend Financial Inclusion Past the Limits of Fintech
Luke Willms worked at an African NGO, where he was tasked with creating short videos to showcase the positive impacts of its microcredit program. But as the video project progressed, his assumptions about the effectiveness of microfinance began to unravel. He would spend the next seven years filming stories from across Africa and other regions, exploring whether microlending still held relevance in a rapidly changing world. The resulting documentary, “Unbankable,” was released last year, with the goal of helping to reframe the global conversation around financial inclusion. He shares key stories from the movie, which show how Africa’s informal, trust-based financial systems offer models of resilience and adaptation that could find new applications in other emerging countries.
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- Finance, Technology
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When AI Gets It Wrong: Lessons from a Women-Centered Design Experiment Highlight the Need for Inclusive GPTs
In emerging markets, women entrepreneurs continue to face systemic barriers to financial inclusion. And as Koheun Lee at CARE explains, ChatGPT and other AI models sometimes contribute to this exclusion, reinforcing societal biases that limit women’s potential for business growth and long-term financial health. She shares insights from CARE's attempt to build a women-centered design GPT — and proposes some practical steps AI users can take to mitigate bias against women when working with mainstream GPTs.
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- Finance, Technology
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Moving Past the ‘Infrastructure of Hope’: Why Investors, Policymakers and Entrepreneurs Must Build a Modern E-Commerce Ecosystem in Southeast Asia
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for over 95% of all businesses in Southeast Asia, and millions of these entrepreneurs have migrated their hustle online. Yet according to Macy Castillo at Enstack, due to a lack of access to reliable payment options and other tools, they are attempting to build modern e-commerce businesses on a foundation of informal agreements and personal trust: an “infrastructure of hope” that leaves them exposed to payment fraud and locked out of formal finance. She argues that this is the central challenge for economic inclusion in Southeast Asia today, and explores Enstack's solution.
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- Finance, Technology
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A New Green Revolution in Indian Agriculture: How Satellite Remote Sensing is Quietly Transforming the Sector
Satellite remote sensing involves the use of satellite-based sensors to capture data about the earth’s surface. According to Sat Kumar Tomer at Satyukt Analytics, this technology is increasingly being used by Indian farmers and the businesses and organizations that serve them, generating data on vegetation health, soil moisture, irrigation patterns and other key drivers of agricultural productivity. He explores how satellite remote sensing is enabling a data-driven revolution in Indian agriculture, and how the sector can overcome barriers to wider adoption.
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- Agriculture, Environment, Finance, Technology
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A Field-Based Perspective on Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agriculture Crisis: Exploring the Four Critical Dimensions that are Driving Food Insecurity
Food insecurity is no longer just a humanitarian concern in sub-Saharan Africa: It is a business issue. According to Asamoah Oppong Zadok, a researcher and entrepreneur specializing in sustainable agriculture, it constitutes a fundamental business risk with far-reaching implications for the region's economic growth, supply chain stability and geopolitical resilience. He explores the multifaceted structural factors that are driving Africa's agriculture and food security crisis, exploring how business innovators, funders and policymakers can respond.
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- Agriculture, Environment, Technology
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The Circular Solar Opportunity in Africa: How Refurbishing Solar Systems Can Reduce E-Waste and Expand Energy Access
While working in the bustling solar energy scene in Ethiopia, Zelalem Nigatu at Inter Ethiopia Solutions noticed a disheartening trend: Mountains of solar home systems were being discarded due to minor issues that could have been fixed by trained technicians with access to spare parts and the proper tools. He explores how Inter Ethiopia Solutions is tackling this challenge through a systematic approach to refurbishing solar home systems and repurposing lithium-ion batteries, enabling it to offer affordable off-grid energy solutions while reducing e-waste.
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- Energy, Environment, Technology
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Designing Digital Health Tools for the Last Mile: Lessons for Maximizing Connectivity, Usability and Trust
Digital health has become a promising approach for improving healthcare access in under-resourced communities. But as Kaumudi Tiwari at Zonka Feedback explains, bringing healthcare to the “last mile” isn’t just about overcoming the challenges of physical distance. It’s about navigating poor network coverage, language mismatches, lack of trust in digital systems, and tools that don’t align with local workflows or realities. She shares four critical lessons from digital health deployments in Africa and Asia that underscore why some digital health tools succeed in the last mile, while others stall.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology