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Peaks Unclimbed: Former Malawi President Joyce Banda discusses how the Millennium Development Goals have failed to deliver for girls and women
According the United Nations’ official MDG Progress Chart, two of the goals lagging furthest behind are MDG 3 – which aims to promote gender equality and empower women – and MDG 5 – which aims to improve maternal health. "How can we tell (the women of the world) that their health and equality simply wasn’t a priority?” asks former Malawi President Joyce Banda in this rare interview.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care
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Making Change on a Mobile Handset: Four IPA studies explore how to make digital financial services more effective and affordable
There are 203 million registered mobile money accounts worldwide and 256 mobile money services in operation. But only 30 percent of registered accounts are used regularly. More rigorous research is needed to maximize the sector’s impact on the poor. To this end, Innovations for Poverty Action is implementing several studies on digital financial services, four of which are discussed in this post.
- Categories
- Education
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NexThought Monday – When it Comes to Social Enterprise, It’s Time to Take Ourselves Seriously
It is entirely possible that all of the ideas that we need to end global poverty are in place; however, we have so enthusiastically embraced the financial market metaphor that even the initiatives that must cooperate to succeed can’t do so fully because they are required to compete. There is an old and tired story to be inserted here about the balkanizing influence of competing for funding but instead of focusing on that, I would like to suggest a solution.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Tags
- impact investing
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Twitter Top Ten – 1-25-15
It was an eventful week in global development - it almost always is. But this week featured a number of particularly important developments, ranging from Bill and Melinda Gates’ trend-shaping annual letter, to some significant new research on microcredit’s impact on poverty. These developments are featured - along with cute rats and an inspiring student - in our weekly top 10 list.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment
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Weekly Roundup – Is Microcredit Lost in ‘Transformation’?
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and Innovations for Poverty Action have published six randomized evaluations of microcredit across six different countries. They conclude that “short-term loans generally do not lead to increased income, investments in children’s schooling, or substantial gains in women’s empowerment for poor borrowers.” We discuss what this might mean for microcredit going forward.
- Categories
- Education
- Tags
- research
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Eight Tech and Policy Trends That Will Impact Financial Inclusion This Year
The use of digital financial services will continue to be one of the main drivers for financial inclusion in 2015, says John Owens of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). He discusses eight interesting trends AFI has noted - both on the technology and policy sides - that should have a direct impact on advancing financial inclusion through digital means this year.
- Categories
- Technology
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‘We Can’t Be the Only Ones’ (Part 2): Jaundice-fighting D-Rev gives its views on markets and success
Before introducing its phototherapy units in a market, D-Rev looks beyond need to barriers to entry. Krista Donaldson, CEO, says that includes factors such as: How present is the aid industry and how does that skew the market? Are products being donated throughout the market? What are the registration costs? Regulatory requirements?
- Categories
- Health Care
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2015 – The Breakout Year for Agriculture Digital Payments?
For digital finance to really expand throughout the developing world this year, it needs greater uptake among the rural poor, says Lee Babcock. To achieve that, the sector must think about how best to strategically insert digital finance into the agriculture value chain. He explores a number of ongoing initiatives that are focused on doing just that.
- Categories
- Agriculture
