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Want to Know How to Properly Measure Financial Inclusion? Copy the Retailers.
To better understand and measure how people use financial services, i2i looked outside the industry to the retail sector, which is at the forefront of how to collect and analyze data on how consumers engage with their services. In particular, retailers understand key usage indicators fundamental to their business; namely recency, frequency, monetary value and duration. That led i2i to apply these indicators while studying how to improve financial services.
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- Uncategorized
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The Future of the Graduation Approach: Taking a Proven Anti-Poverty Measure to Scale
How can the "graduation" approach to fighting extreme poverty achieve a scale commensurate with extreme poverty itself? Increasingly, the answer is to embed graduation within government-run social protection programs that already operate at massive scale. MetLife Foundation's Krishna Thacker explores why the approach works, and how innovative organizations are taking it to the next level.
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- Education
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Subscribe to NextBillion Notes in July, Get Free Chapter of Jonathan Lewis’ New Book, ‘The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur’
If you're into social business, you're probably familiar with Jonathan Lewis. He has founded multiple social enterprises – and now he's sharing his insights in a new book, "The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur." It's a great read, and all the book's profits will be donated to social justice causes. To celebrate our Entrepreneurship Month, we're giving away a free chapter to all subscribers of NextBillion Notes, our e-newsletter. Sign up in July to take advantage of this free offer.
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- Social Enterprise
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Field of View: How a Chilli Cash Crop Helps Subsistence Farmers Shape Their Future
During a three-year process designed to assess the impact of growing a chilli cash crop on small farmers living in southern Africa, it was discovered that when a family earned just $500 more of net income per year, the money materially impacted at least two categories of their basic human needs. But the most profound impact, writes Tanner Methvin, was that of self-determination.
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- Agriculture
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Through Social Investing, Asia’s ‘On a Journey to Help it Help Itself’
AVPN's recent annual conference, known as “Asia’s top social investment event,” attracted representatives from 32 countries, including 18 Asian ones, reflecting the reality that activity is taking off across the region, says John-Paul Hamilton of Dasra. And it seemed fitting that the conference centered on collaboration, which is more essential than ever to ensure a progressive and suitable continuum of funding.
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- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Three Ways Entrepreneurs Can Tackle Climate Change (Hint: It’s Not Just About Scale)
There are ways entrepreneurs can make sizeable impacts on climate change without Facebook-like growth curves. Jean-Louis Racine says investors should follow the lead of the venture capital sector and support startups that won't grow or be profitable. Traditional impact metrics such as goods sold, customers served, revenues generated or jobs created no longer apply. The best way to catalyze a climate technology market is to help ensure that innovative high-risk, low-growth ventures don't fall through the cracks.
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- Energy, Environment, Technology
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The Dirty Secret of Social Enterprise: Scale is Overrated
Author Jonathan C. Lewis writes that for some staggering societal problems – like deaths from child poverty and modern-day slavery – scaling solutions is an urgent necessity. However, for social entrepreneurs, he says the important thing is not organizational size, geographic coverage or budget, but progress toward social justice. He urges leaders to focus less on size and more on striving to maintain balance.
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- Health Care, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Happy July Fourth
America's celebrating Independence Day today, so NextBillion's editors are taking a little time off to celebrate and maybe even see a few fireworks.
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