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UPDATED Weekly Roundup: Haiti’s Peanut Pushback, Moms Vs. Markets and Should Google’s Payday Ban Apply to Microfinance?
This week in the roundup we consider the pushback of Haitian farmers and NGOs against the U.S. government's mass peanut donation, how marketers might be undermining mothers who breastfeed, and whether Google's ban on ads from payday lenders could justifiably be applied to microfinance.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
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The Secret Sauce in Shared Value, Lean Startup, Behavioral Economics and Social Enterprise
As an enthusiast for new solutions to old problems I wonder: Are you as excited as I am by relatively recent developments of social enterprises, shared value, behavioral economics and/or lean startups for social change? Or do you skeptically forecast which of these business approaches might just be fads?
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- Social Enterprise
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An Ecosystem Approach for Building Affordable, Climate Resilient Housing
Indonesia has seen some of the worst natural calamities in recent times, and its demand for houses exceeds an estimated 1 million, with a supply between 300,000 - 400,000 annually. This highlights a business opportunity for private firms in the country’s affordable housing sector. As a part of the Rockefeller Foundation Technical Assistance Facility, Intellecap worked with Lafarge in Medan and Aceh, Indonesia to create a climate-resilient housing product model that is sustainable and caters to the urban poor.
- Categories
- Environment
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Weekly Roundup: Burning the Ivory to Save It
Late last week Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta helped set 105 tons of poached elephant ivory and rhino horns ablaze. It was a drastic step to help kill a black market where the horns and tusks would have fetched $100 million. This week we were reminded of other market building forces in Africa and Ecuador.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Investing
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What STEM Skillsets, Mindsets Bring to Sustainable Development
Many people still believe that all scientists and engineers work in science and engineering. Do all scientists pipette solutions in a clean white lab while all engineers take measurements on a construction site and programmers write apps in a cubicle? While many STEM professionals do fit these traditional roles, many more use their analytical skills to solve problems in other fields. According to the National Science Board, fewer than half the undergraduate STEM majors in the U.S. end up in STEM occupations. Part two in a series on STEM careers and directions for sustainable development.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Technology
- Tags
- research
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Roundup: Chicago’s $100M Impact Test, World Bank Relevance Check – And Defending ‘White Savior Barbie’
Something big happened in Chicago this week, as the Chicago Community Trust, MacArthur Foundation and Calvert Foundation announced their plans to funnel $100 million in impact investments to nonprofits and social enterprises in the Windy City through the Benefit Chicago project. Our editors discuss that development, wonder about the evolving role of the World Bank, and defend "White Savior Barbie" in this roundup.
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- impact investing
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Global Mobile Money Adoption in 2015: What the Data is Telling Us
In markets where mobile money is available, 10 percent of mobile connections are now linked to a mobile money account, compared to 8 percent in December 2014, according to the GSMA. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, the growth is even starker: one in three mobile connections were linked to a mobile money account in December 2015, up from 22 percent in December 2014. A closer look at the numbers.
- Categories
- Technology
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NexThought Monday: The Role of STEM Professionals in Global Sustainable Development
The science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) community is changing. Many passionate, hardworking students are not as excited about taking up well-paying, but arguably monotonous, jobs in large corporations. Their big question is: what do we do next? To answer this question, Khanjan Mehta of Penn State spent over three years interacting with hundreds of innovators to find new pathways toward careers in social innovation and global sustainable development.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Tags
- employment, innovation
