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What the IMF Mandate Means for the Poor: The organization says it’s focused on narrowing the income gap – but will this affect policy?
The International Monetary Fund is known for its multi-billion dollar bailouts of struggling countries, but the organization now says narrowing the income gap between the very poor and the very rich is a key tenet of its mission. How income inequality fits into aid packages is yet to be seen, says Isaac Otto, but it is beginning to enter into the equation.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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In Coffee, Avoiding ‘Great’ Being the Enemy of ‘Good’: The fair-trade model isn’t perfect, but it provides an essential foundation for improving livelihoods
The Fair Trade, Employment, and Poverty Reduction project recently released a widely discussed study that asserts fair-trade practices do not help the poorest agricultural workers. While enthused to see new research into the effectiveness of the fair-trade system, Sustainable Harvest’s Jorge Cuevas takes issue with its conclusions, particularly when it comes to coffee.
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- Agriculture, Education
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It Takes an Ecosystem: Major GE fund could have big implications for Africa’s venture capital and SME finance growth
If it takes a village to raise a child, then it must take an ecosystem to grow and scale thriving businesses. That’s why GE’s recently announced USD $18.7 million fund for South African SMEs is a cause for optimism. It’s part of a broader pan-African engagement which will inject almost half a billion dollars into the continent, and could draw other big players into Africa.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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India’s Startup Focus Needs to Include Social Enterprises: How the 2014 budget can improve the ecosystem
The initial Indian budget, recently tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, has focused on startups and entrepreneurs by setting aside INR 10,000 Crores (USD $1.6 billion) in various initiatives. But it’s also essential that social enterprises and their specific funding requirements are considered.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise
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‘Sustainability’ Remains the Holy Grail: But the road to achieving it is paved with divergent visions
When global health leaders gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the Partners’ Forum to shape the post-2015 agenda for maternal and child health, sustainability was much discussed as a chief element in ending preventable deaths. But just below the surface lay a truth even more profound: Sustainability manifests differently for just about everyone.
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- Environment, Health Care
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NexThought Monday: Expanding the Universe of Impact Investing: How international NGOs can access investor capital to increase their impact on a large scale
Impact investments started out as mostly start-up or early-stage investments in small but promising companies that aim for a measurable social impact. But what’s next? Zurich Insurance Group and Population Services International explore how impact investing could work for a larger universe of private investors and international NGOs.
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- Impact Assessment
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Weekly Roundup 7-11-14: ‘Going Off Grid’ is going mainstream
If the U.S. Congress and the president can agree on that investment in off-grid energy technology across the developing world that must mean it has broad appeal. Indeed, public/private investing in off-grid energy has caught on in a major way. This week we hosted a five-part series, Going Off Grid, which explored new technologies, new business models, and new forms of investing and participation in the developing market of energy infrastructure.
- Categories
- Energy
- Tags
- off-grid energy, solar
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Rebuilding Haiti with Mobile Phones: How mobile data collection and management is facilitating relief efforts
Grameen Foundation originally designed TaroWorks to facilitate analysis of data gathered on mobile phones to help track poverty levels. But as Alex Counts describes it, it has evolved into a mobile-based field-force management tool used by a growing number of humanitarian groups and social enterprises - including an organization that’s using it to facilitate relief efforts in Haiti.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
