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Moving Beyond Credit: Why Savings Should Take Center Stage in Digital Financial Inclusion
As mobile money continues to overtake traditional banking in emerging markets, putting financial services within reach of the unbanked, credit remains front and center in the conversation. But Buhle Goslar at JUMO says it's time to focus on an important yet underutilized tool that could help promote a well-rounded, healthy financial life for excluded customers – savings. She details how new tech and training programs can go beyond simple access and towards a new culture of savings.
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- Finance, Technology
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Answering Rohingya Refugee Crisis in Bangladesh with Skills Development, Artisan Training
Innovation is often associated with the newest technology or the latest app. But it also can be seen in the fresh application of a tried-and-true strategy – just in a new context. In Cox’s Bazar, a small town on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh, extreme poverty, a fraught socio-cultural landscape and the Rohingya refugee humanitarian crisis have exacerbated existing vulnerabilities and placed an unprecedented burden on women in the host communities. Sadiaa Haque and Samira Syed of BRAC explain how the organization is helping them bounce back through artisanal skills training and employment opportunities.
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- Uncategorized
- Tags
- creative economy, refugees
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When Failure is Not an Option: Understanding – And Accelerating – the Success of Refugee Entrepreneurs
This World Refugee Day, the global community is experiencing the highest level of displacement on record. Though entrepreneurship can provide a route to livelihood for which resilient, community-oriented refugees are particularly suited, they often struggle to surmount barriers of language and discrimination, on top of the high failure rates that are typical of small businesses. Amy Gillett and Kristin Babbie Kelterborn at the William Davidson Institute share lessons from support programs helping refugees overcome tough odds to economically enrich their host countries.
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- Uncategorized
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Serving Refugee Communities with Tech, Energy Access, Entrepreneurship: Mastercard and USAID’s Collective Approach
Last year, USAID and Mastercard established the Smart Communities Coalition (SCC), a network of 35+ public and private organizations. The group is developing new ways companies, NGOs, governments and UN agencies can co-design and co-implement programs that empower people and enable growth in energy access, connectivity and digital tools. Katrina Pielli with USAID and Sasha Kapadia with Mastercard explain why the group chose to focus on Uganda and Kenya as pilot countries, which collectively host over 1.5 million refugees.
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- Energy, Technology
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Bringing Biogas to Billions: Why PAYGO Could be the Key to Scaling the Industry
Small scale biogas digesters (biodigesters) convert animal manure into biogas for clean cooking and high-quality organic fertilizer. The technology is hardly new – in fact, it's been around for 150 years. But for farmers to benefit on a mass scale, companies will need to lean on new technology and innovative business models, writes Ben Jeffreys, CEO of ATEC* Biodigesters International. That means learning the lessons of the off-grid solar industry and devising new pay-as-you-go models to enable the inclusion of low-income customers.
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- Agriculture, Energy
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A Landmark Impact Investment: Could This Innovative Experiment with Islamic Finance Provide a Model for Both Sectors?
Impact investing and Islamic finance are two segments of the socially responsible finance spectrum that rarely intersect – despite having much in common. But according to Umar Moghul, a transactional lawyer with experience in Islamic law, a recent impact investment by Mission Driven Finance in Somali Family Service of San Diego offers an example of how the two sides can come together to boost their mutual impact.
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The Trouble With ‘Women’s Empowerment’ Programs: Perceptions vs. Reality in India
India's government, funders and development initiatives have an increasing focus on including women in different programs. But according to Sudarshan Thakur at PRADAN, these efforts often seem more concerned about what women can do for development than what development can do for women. He argues that social change cannot come only from outside interventions or credit. Instead, global development agencies need to engage with women across different communities and contexts, as women themselves are the best judges of the types of services and programs they need.
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- Finance
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Dragons Scale Naturally; Social Enterprises Don’t: Here Are Four Tips That Make It Faster and Easier for Every Entrepreneur
If you’re a social entrepreneur, here's some bad news for you: You weren’t born to scale. According to Rob Shelton at the Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, in reviewing 100 enterprises from the past 10 years, the Center found that less than 10% were able to scale successfully. But he also offers some good news: In spite of the odds, you can learn to scale successfully – if you're willing to shift management gears, learn some new things and push beyond your existing model. Shelton shares a straightforward process that can make scaling possible for every entrepreneur.
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- Social Enterprise