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Teach a (Wo)Man to Fish … But What if it’s Against the Law?: The Women Thrive Conference explores how training women and improving their livelihoods can address gender inequality
When we pull women out of poverty, many positive things tend to happen. So why isn’t more being done to bring about economic empowerment for women, who represent six of every 10 people living in extreme poverty? What needs to change to make more happen? These were among the questions raised at the summit, which was held by Women Thrive earlier this month.
- Categories
- Education
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Learning from What Works: IFC’s new report on inclusive business includes lessons for each phase of the value chain
In its latest report, Shared Prosperity through Inclusive Business: How Successful Companies Reach the Base of the Pyramid, the IFC summarizes practical lessons from clients that successfully reach low-income people as suppliers or customers. There are lessons for each phase of the value chain that can be adapted to the context of a particular sector or region.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
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Rational Exuberance: The momentum in impact investing is real – but so is the need for clarity about the changes (and challenges) underway
In spite of considerable progress in impact investing— and the staggering exuberance that’s been associated with it since it burst onto the stage— closer inspection reveals cause for serious concern in the sector. Bill Burckart details these challenges in the first post in a three-part series on the current state of impact investing, as it struggles to take the next step.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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In Pakistan, Going Beyond ‘Potential’: Despite progress, Pakistan’s current environment criminalizes good actors rather than enabling them
Kalsoom Lakhani first wrote about Pakistan’s entrepreneurial potential for NextBillion back in January 2012, when the ecosystem there was still relatively nascent. Nearly three years later, the founder and CEO of accelerator Invest2Innovate says today’s entrepreneurship competitions, co-working spaces, university incubators and organizations are not just a rare occurrence, but are becoming the norm.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- incubators, research
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Outgrower Schemes: A pathway to sustainable agriculture
Outgrower schemes, which link networks of unorganized smallholder farmers with domestic and international buyers, have demonstrated win-win potential – but don’t always live up to it. TechnoServe, in Part 1 of a two-part series, details its investigation into the features of effective and sustainable outgrower models.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education
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NexThought Monday – The Affordable Housing Puzzle: Three pilot projects in India aim to assemble the pieces –customers, financing and scale
Can the low-cost or affordable housing segment business in fact be profitable, and more importantly, scalable? asks housing developer and researcher Dhaval Monani. He points to new pilot projects that show promise in delivering safe, very low-cost homes that come with a profit for developers.
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It’s About Time, It’s Also About Culture: How do varying cultural perspectives about time and productivity impact social enterprises?
Andrea Trice is researching how “soft” factors such as mutual understanding and trust influence the success of a social enterprise. While it’s too early to draw conclusions, Trice notes that it’s difficult to overestimate the role of culture in shaping how each of us thinks and acts, and therefore how businesses succeed or fail.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- research
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Innovations in Education: What CEI has learned in its first year, and what’s ahead
In its first year, the Center for Education Innovations has documented close to 500 programs serving the poor in more than 135 countries. Next up: Understanding more about what works, why and how.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
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