-
A Global Effort to Unleash Local Data: How Open Mapping is Shaping Grassroots Climate Resilience Worldwide
As climate change intensifies, heatwaves, storms, wildfires and flash floods are increasing in scale and frequency worldwide. Yet as Atiya Anis at Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team explains, many of the areas that are most vulnerable to climate impacts lack representation on existing maps, leaving communities and decision-makers without reliable data to address these crises. She explores how open mapping offers a solution to this issue by leveraging community-generated data to create accessible and reliable maps of vulnerable areas to support climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.
- Categories
- Environment, Technology
- Tags
- climate change, data, NGOs
-
Redefining Fairness: How Second-Degree Price Discrimination Can Bring Greater Access to Essential Goods and Services in Emerging Markets
Second-degree price discrimination is a pricing model in which customers are offered a lower price point in exchange for a lower level of quality or convenience, or a lower price per unit in exchange for purchasing a larger amount of the product. According to Wasiu Akintunde at Texas Tech University, this approach can benefit not only businesses, but also governments, NGOs and the communities they serve. He explores how this pricing model can be designed ethically and effectively to bring necessary products and services to multiple income segments in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
-
Transforming How Financial Service Providers and Fintechs Leverage Data: A New Free Tool Aims to Separate the Signal from the Noise
In today’s digital finance landscape, data is one of the most valuable assets. Yet as Sarah Corley at AllianceDFA and Mallory Sheff at DataKind explain, data remains siloed, fragmented and underutilized across the sector — and this challenge is particularly acute in emerging markets. They argue that this isn’t just a missed opportunity, but a structural barrier to inclusion and innovation, and share a free, open-access learning platform designed to help fintechs and other financial service providers turn data into action to fuel customer growth and retention.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
-
The Rise of the Creator Economy in Emerging Markets: Empowering Youth and Marginalized Communities Through Web Monetization
The creator economy — a thriving ecosystem of online content creators ranging from influencers to bloggers — is a growing source of employment and income in developing economies, especially for younger generations. And as Matšeliso Thabane at the Interledger Foundation explains, alternative earning routes are emerging that can allow these creators to monetize their content in new ways. She explores how Web Monetization — a “pay-as-you-use” approach that enables small, real-time payments to content creators — can help this work become a viable career for creators in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
-
Connected Power: Ensuring Africa is Not Left in the Dark — or Offline
Sub-Saharan Africa has both the highest energy access and digital connectivity gaps in the world. As Ravi Suchak at Helios Towers explains, this is due not to a lack of demand, but to fundamental infrastructure barriers: Telecom towers and mobile networks require a reliable power supply, which is often absent or prohibitively expensive in rural areas, and electricity providers need consistent demand to de-risk rural energy investments. He explores a solution that addresses both of these needs: "connected power," a development approach that aligns energy and telecom infrastructure by positioning telecom towers as anchor customers for electrification projects.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology, Telecommunications
-
Bringing Digital Transformation to the Water Sector: How New Technologies Can Boost Water Access in LMICs
Digital technologies have the potential to revolutionize the management and distribution of clean water in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). But according to Ellie Gabel, an environmental science writer at Revolutionized, many countries don't have access to these technologies, or lack the capacity to implement them. She explores this challenge in the context of Kenya, and discusses five essential factors that may aid or hamper digital transformation in the water sector across LMICs.
- Categories
- Technology, WASH
-
It’s Time to Rethink Universal Health Coverage in Africa: Introducing ‘Access-as-a-Service’
As global health funding contracts, traditional brick-and-mortar healthcare delivery models are becoming financially and operationally unsustainable, in Africa and across low- and middle-income countries. Joanne Peter at Jhpiego and Rob Beyer at Villgro Africa argue that this raises the need for innovative new pathways toward universal health coverage. They propose one such approach, developed through their work at the HealthTech Hub Africa: "Access-as-a-Service," a model that combines in-person care options with first-line healthcare provided through digital channels.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
-
Africa Must Not Be a Spectator in its Own Economic Development: The Need for Pension-Backed Private Capital
Ghana’s startup ecosystem — like that of many African countries — is growing rapidly. But Amma Gyampo at Ghana Venture Capital and Private Equity Association points out that this growth is almost entirely funded by foreign capital. She argues that recent cuts in global development budgets have proven that over-reliance on foreign funding is not sustainable, and explains how tapping pension funds as a source of venture capital can provide a massive infusion of local funding into the continent's highest-growth businesses.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology