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NexThought Monday – Lean Research: Introducing a Movement for Change
When used as a guiding framework, the principles of lean research have the potential to improve the quality and accuracy of the data gathered by social enterprises and other organizations, increase the usefulness of the data and enable the research process to generate benefits for communities, including improved relationships with local stakeholders and greater access to data for decision-making.
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- Impact Assessment
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Weekly Roundup: The World’s Cheapest Smartphone – Game Changer or Marketing Stunt?
This week we noticed the eye-grabbing headline: A $7 smartphone is launching in India tomorrow. But soon, the scrutiny began. But by far the biggest question about the phone involves its main selling point: its price. Experts estimate that its components alone would cost over eight times its selling price - not counting production, distribution and marketing expenses. Is the Freedom 251 a marketing stunt or legit game changer?
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- Technology
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Young Women Social Entrepreneurs Inspire Optimism in Sierra Leone
The Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship's Global Social Benefit Institute works with passionate social entrepreneurs, whose work ranges from using drones to do last-mile distribution of medicines, to working with high school kids to help them solve problems they see in their communities. Pamela Roussos, senior director at the Miller Center, shares two women-led enterprises from their Sierra Leone workshop that stood out as especially inspiring.
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- Social Enterprise
- Tags
- academia
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Moving Beyond Charity: How CURE is changing how low-income patients perceive health care
CURE, the charity-based group of hospitals perhaps best known for its innovative treatment of hydrocephalus, might soon also be recognized for its seamless shift to a more sustainable model. That’s the goal of Derek Johnson, who has served since June as CURE’s director for development and sustainability, after many years as the executive director of CURE Uganda. He discussed the organization's innovations and its efforts to move beyond a strictly charity-based model in a recent interview with NextBillion.
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- Health Care
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Want to Change the World? Support Poor Farmers
Achieving food security and improved nutrition worldwide is one of the biggest of the Sustainable Development Goals. But to achieve these goals, according to BRAC International, two things are crucial: women must have decision-making roles in both the public and private sector, and organizations working on providing anti-poverty solutions must have business-like models.
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- Agriculture, Education
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Rapid Growth = Equitable Access? Is Ivory Coast’s financial sector expanding enough to reach full inclusion?
Ivory Coast’s financial sector is expanding, but is that enough to reach full financial inclusion? How is the microfinance sector faring in the clean-up process that the government started a few years ago? And how is the rapid expansion of mobile money impacting the overall financial access picture? MIX is launching an updated version of their Ivory Coast workbook release, which explores these key questions.
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- Uncategorized
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NexThought Monday: Remittances Disrupted – Three ways to make the international remittance revolution stick
Every year, workers around the world send nearly half a trillion dollars to their families back home in developing countries. These international remittances are economic lifelines for millions, though the market has long been known primarily for its high fees, and we are still waiting for a true disruption to benefit the lives of the poor. Andria Thomas at Dalberg discusses three notable gaps that are ready for greater investment and action from the private, public and social sectors.
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- Technology
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Weekly Roundup: India Unfriends Facebook, Zika Shouldn’t be a Games Changer, and #IOT4D
Mark Zuckerberg finally found out “who could possibly be against” Facebook’s plan to offer free internet to the poor, why canceling the Olympic Games in Rio would punish Brazil and our new favorite hashtag #IoT4D.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
