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Risky Business: How an Innovative Partnership is Addressing Growing Threats to the Coffee Supply Chain
For smallholder farmers, growing coffee has become a risky business. Plagued by low profitability and the effects of climate change, many struggle to earn a livable income. And with smallholders accounting for 80% of global coffee production, their struggles put the entire coffee industry at risk. Carolin Ehrensperger at Neumann Gruppe GmBH and Laura Harwig at Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation discuss a partnership that aims to build a sustainable coffee supply chain by providing farmers with critical opportunities and resources to grow and adapt.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
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Moving the Clean Cookstoves Sector Forward: Six Principles for Investors
Around 3 billion people rely on solid fuels for their daily cooking needs, causing adverse health, environmental and socioeconomic impacts – especially among women. Clean cookstoves promise a solution to these issues, but according to Mitzi Perez Padilla at FMO and Fabrizio Valenti at KSAR & Associates, the sector's effectiveness depends highly on how investment decisions are made. They share insights from a recent study that identifies six principles investors should follow to ensure that clean cookstove investments yield the greatest possible impact.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Debunking Myths on the Impact and Income of Women Sales Forces: New Data Reveals Ways to Maximize Their Potential
The use of female sales agents to sell health-related products is sometimes seen as a panacea that can boost both healthcare access and women’s income empowerment. But little research has been done to prove or disprove these beliefs. Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath and Louise Berthault at Hystra discuss a new report analyzing data from 21 organizations that rely principally on women direct sales forces to sell health-related products. Their analysis sheds light on the role and impact that women sales forces can have, and suggests ways to maximize their impact.
- Categories
- Health Care
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How Cross-Industry Collaboration Can Spur the Digitalisation of the Last-Mile Distribution Sector
Last-mile distributors play a critical role in bringing energy and other life-changing products and services to customers in sub-Saharan Africa, and digitalisation is key to enabling these companies to operate at scale. But as Javier Baranda Alonso at Energy 4 Impact explains, both distributors and digital service providers often struggle to understand and service each other’s needs. He shares insights from a research report that highlights ways to accelerate the digitalisation of last-mile distribution by building bridges between the two sectors.
- Categories
- Energy, Social Enterprise, Technology, Telecommunications
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The Growing Urgency of Funding Off-Grid Solar: Exploring the Multi-Billion Dollar Investment Opportunity in Achieving Climate and Energy Access Goals
The off-grid solar industry currently serves 420 million people, while enabling remote and vulnerable populations to adapt to climate change. But as Koen Peters at GOGLA points out, financial flows into the sector have stalled over the last five years, and it is not receiving anywhere near the funding it needs to fulfill its potential. He explores the momentum and impact of off-grid solar, discussing why much faster progress – and much greater funding – is needed for the sector to address the increasingly urgent challenges of climate change.
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Redefining the Corporate Value Chain: How Social Procurement Can Benefit Both Corporations and Social Businesses
The challenges of scale and the need for greater corporate involvement are perennial topics of discussion in the social business sector. But according to Lucie Durand and Daniel Nowack at Yunus Social Business, both of these challenges can be addressed through social procurement – the practice of integrating social businesses into corporate value chains. They discuss how this strategy can harness corporations' buying power to scale social enterprises, and share insights from a how-to guide for industry practitioners interested in social procurement.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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The Key Ingredients of COVID-19 Adaptation: How Non-Profits Leveraged Flexible Funding to Navigate the Pandemic
In October 2020, Instiglio, an anonymous donor and the Global Development Incubator launched the COVID-19 Adaptation Fund, which supported the efforts of nine non-profits in Kenya and Rwanda to adapt their programming to the challenges of the pandemic. These non-profits recently shared their experiences utilizing the funding, and Mateo Zárate and Sebastian Chaskel at Instiglio highlight some key takeaways that can be useful to other impact-focused organizations working to maintain services during the pandemic – and prepare for future crises.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Impact Assessment, Technology
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Leveraging Big Data to Improve Mental Health After COVID-19: An Innovative Research Method Reveals Unmet Needs and Untapped Opportunities in Nigeria
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a marked impact on the state of global mental health, particularly in emerging regions like Africa. According to Ravi Sreenath and Amy Nguyen at Ripple Research, this has generated a significant need – and a market opportunity – for digital health tools, as well as a need for better data. They assess the state of mental health in Nigeria, analyzing data from millions of conversations across news sites, blogs and social media platforms – and explore how this data reveals new opportunities for social enterprises and investors.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care, Social Enterprise, Technology
- Tags
- COVID-19, data, social enterprise