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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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U.S. Government’s Development Finance Institution, OPIC, Announces $50 Million Investment in Impact Investing Pioneer Root Capital
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, announced today a renewed commitment to agricultural impact investor Root Capital. OPIC’s commitment, an increase to a $50 million financing facility, is Root Capital’s largest source of funding, and will significantly support Root Capital’s established on-lending program to rural, underserved businesses in Latin America and Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity Announces Winners of 2015 Scaling Competition and Launches 2016 Competition
The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity today awarded five companies more than US$10.6 million to bolster their innovative work to alleviate poverty by increasing access to financial services for poor people in rural Africa. The five companies introduced imaginative thinking in their approach to scaling up financial inclusion – the increase in access to services such as mobile banking, savings accounts, insurance and credit – for the benefit of nearly eight million people in remote parts of Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Making it Rain: The Forecast on Weather Index Insurance
A host of risks, including too much or too little rain, keeps farmers from adopting inputs and practices that may yield more profitable crops. But weather index insurance could be the hedge many farmers need. The Agricultural Technology Adoption Initiative reviewed several randomized control trials about how to make insurance a more attractive option for farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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An inflection point in the era of “farmer finance” for the world’s smallholders
A new study, “Inflection Point: Unlocking growth in the era of farmer finance,” suggests that while current efforts to expand financial inclusion are not sufficient to meet smallholder demand, concerted efforts around customer centricity, progressive partnerships, and smart subsidy have the potential to change the sector’s growth trajectory to best serve the world’s smallholder farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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Mobile Drought Insurance to Protect Africa’s Farmers
A mobile insurance scheme to help small-scale farmers in Kenya ensure their agricultural produce against drought and other natural disasters is spreading to other parts of Africa, as Neil Ford explains.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Helping Smallholders Grow a Pharmacy on their Farms
Eliminating hidden hunger is not easy, but with resources in the right place, with governments, donors and civil society working together and with the right policies developed, BRAC believes it can introduce poor children in developing countries to a nutritious vegetable – the orange-fleshed sweet potato – they will come to favor.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Tags
- nutrition
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The Digital Cloud that Hangs Over Every African Farm
The African continent is at the forefront of the mobile revolution, with nearly 700 million mobile phone accounts — more than in the U.S. and Europe combined. Africa has also become the world leader in mobile banking. But mobile phones and even mobile money accounts do not amount to digital financial inclusion.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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