-
Africa Election Watch: Poverty and Power in Senegal
The implications for Senegal’s significant impoverished population are substantial. While incumbent President Wade had promised to cut down on corruption and enhance economic opportunity in Senegal, ordinary citizens have seen little improvement in living standards, even as foreign investment flows into the country’s profitable mining, telecommunications, and service industries.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- governance
-
NexThought Monday: Poverty, Identity and Design
I have been, in a short stretch of time, to Buffalo, Nairobi, Mexico City; and Detroit. Each of these cities has its own colorful, distinct identity, and shares in common (but not exclusivity) a struggle with deeply-rooted poverty. While it’s difficult not to compare the causes and commonalities of poverty in these vastly different places, it’s more useful, perhaps, to explore the role that identity might play in solving it.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
Weekly Roundup: A Doctor, Anthropologist (and Rapper) at the World Bank
“It’s time for a development professional to lead the world’s largest development agency.”
That was President Barack Obama introducing Dr. Jim Yong Kim as the (likely) next president of the World Bank on Friday. As president of Dartmouth University, co-founder of Partners in Health (PIH) with Paul Farmer and a former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization, Kim - not an economist or banker but an anthropologist and doctor - does break the mold as next the World Bank leader.- Categories
- Education, Health Care
-
Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development
Last year, USAID, the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and DFID jointly launched Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development to find tools and approaches for mothers and newborns in their most vulnerable hours. In the second round of the challenge, for which entries are due April 2, donor partners expect to award up to $13 million in as many as 30 grants.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- public health
-
On World Water Day: Mapping the Water and Sanitation Sector
When considering the entrepreneurial landscape in the water and sanitation sector overall, there is an enormous opportunity for social investment to make an impact; however, in order to be successful, social enterprises will require innovative approaches to tackle the serious challenges that remain.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
-
Separating Social from Eco: Why It’s Time to Think Differently About Impact Investing
The term impact investing is a convenient catch-all for harnessing profit-seeking investments to generate positive impact. But of course, there is no single tool to measure that impact – regardless of whether it’s societal or environmental. While both social and environmental outcomes must be understood to assess the full impact of a business, there are fundamental differences between the two.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
- Tags
- impact investing
-
Featured Event: Sankalp, Stitching Together the Social Enterprise Mosaic in India
The Sankalp Forum was created with the belief that social entrepreneurs have a role to play in development and inclusive growth. As one CEO put it the Sankalp Forum is not only "bringing together all the pieces of the social enterprise ecosystem, it forms the mosaic and gives the background in which the entire picture would shine.” At our annual summit on April 12-13, this is exactly what we will attempt to do.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
-
From ‘A-Ha’ to Impact: Making it to Market
But like many “breakthrough” innovations such as digital cameras, tablets, and Apple’s pinch-and-zoom screen function (born in 1983), social impact technologies often languish before really reaching the market.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, Technology
