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The Power of Texting: How a Simple Text Message Can Make the Difference Between Success and Failure for Social Initiatives
Mobile phones are increasingly prevalent throughout the world, and researchers have found that sending text message reminders can help people follow through with their intentions, significantly increasing the success of development interventions. Roxanne Bauer explores the impact of text reminders on malaria treatment and savings initiatives, and discusses the science behind the approach.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment, Technology, Telecommunications
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Weekly Roundup: Small victories in the garbage war, but e-waste looms ominously
One man’s trash is another man’s ticket to a healthier planet. Or to an early grave. Yet we’re seeing more innovations at the nexus of waste and commerce.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- waste
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Innovation to Impact: At Skoll, exploring why so many global health interventions have failed to expand beyond the pilot level
Participants in a discussion at the Skoll World Forum agreed that when it comes to strengthening health systems, alternative financing models which support long-term, systems-level approaches, could have large payoffs.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment
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Striving for Consistency: A new guide aims to standardize impact assessments of the growing microinsurance market
Estimates suggest there are close to 270 million microinsurance clients in the developing world, with a potential market estimated at 3 to 4 billion policies. But while assessing the social impact of this growing sector is vital to improving product design, there is a dearth of consistency amongst the impact assessments being conducted. Microinsurance Network created “A Practical Guide to Impact Assessments” to address this challenge.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Impact Assessment
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Disease-fighting Data: In Sierra Leone, tracking Ebola’s economic impact
Bad information has been problematic during the Ebola outbreak. As a result, IPA has been collecting data on the economic impacts of the crisis and is working on piloting and evaluating an electronic contact-tracing system that could substantially improve efficiency and reduce Ebola transmission rates.
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- Health Care, Impact Assessment
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Too Many Cooks: How lack of effective leadership almost killed my social enterprise
Fernando Noroña co-founded Deltarec to advance Mexico’s plastic recycling efforts. The company was initially run by two funders and four entrepreneurs, with decisions made by a 10-strong management board dominated by its funding partners. But this leadership structure soon became a prime factor in the company’s struggles, as Noroña describes in the latest post in our series on social enterprise failure.
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- Health Care, Social Enterprise
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Corporations are the Missing Link: Private sector is uniquely positioned to improve newborn survival in India
India accounts for 27 percent of global newborn deaths, the highest in the world. Dasra, a Mumbai-based strategic philanthropy foundation, has been conducting research which highlights a critical “missing link” that can help India address newborn survival at scale: corporates.
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- Education, Health Care
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Should Corporations Promote Development?: When sugary snacks and alcohol are involved, debates of health vs. paternalism abound
A business strategy that is solely focused on profits is not always unethical or bad. But there are many examples of companies entering BoP markets that leave communities worse off or, at best, do not benefit consumers.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- corporations, nutrition
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