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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
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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
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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
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NexThought Monday: FXB, Intervening Holistically for Economic Empowerment
Sean Mayberry, the CEO of the donor-funded FXB, says: "Ultimately, to lift families out of poverty permanently they need the long term ability to create their own revenue streams." FXB’s approach involves three-year programs to support families immediate needs first, and help them long-term achieve economic independence.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Need Blind: Vision Spring and Warby Parker Shake Up Eyewear With Impact
Social enterprises Warby Parker and VisionSpring are finding innovative ways to bring glasses to people who can’t afford huge markups. VisionSpring, a nonprofit social enterprise, focuses on selling low-cost glasses to people earning between $1 and $4 per day. Warby Parker, a for-profit B-Corp, sells affordable eyewear in the domestic market while donating a pair of frames to VisionSpring for each pair it sells.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- public health
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Word is Bond: At Duke’s Sustainable Business Summit, Excitement Around Social Bonds and Online Impact Investing Platforms
The theme of the 2012 Sustainable Business and Social Innovation (SBSI) summit at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business was Disrupting the Status Quo. Indeed, there was much discussion about new models to change business as usual in education, health and overcoming the mismatch between the size of social enterprises and the vastness of investing funds.
- Categories
- Health Care
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In Tune With the SONG Fund: Investing in health in India
Who’s on top of the lightening-pace Indian impact investment space? One major player is the $17 million USD SONG Investment Company. Funded and owned by Google, the Omidyar Network, and the Soros Economic Development Fund, SONG was launched in 2009 to demonstrate that investing in SMEs can not only elicit shareholders returns, but also improve economic opportunities and jobs for the masses in India.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Tags
- impact investing
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Now for some good news:Two books argue that the future is brighter than we think
The lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is a small device with a huge potential. It can run dozens of diagnostic tests on human DNA in a few minutes. Give the device a gob of spit or a drop of blood and it will tell you whether or not you are sick without any need to send your DNA to a laboratory. In poor countries LOCs could offer diagnostics to millions who lack access to expensive laboratories. In the rich world they may curb rising medical costs.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment, Technology
- Tags
- public health
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