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Weekly Roundup – The Indispensable Platform: The growing importance of mobile access to businesses that serve the poor
With over 50 percent of people in the developing world having access to a cell phone, mobile access has become an indispensable platform for businesses and services focused on the BoP. We discuss its impact and potential in this week’s Roundup.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Energy, Impact Assessment, Technology, Telecommunications
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Cashless Education: How mobile money helps Bridge International Academies deliver quality for-profit education for $6 a month – Part 5 in our Digital Finance Plus series
Bridge International Academies has integrated mobile money fully into its business. All of the school’s 300+ branches accept no cash, using mobile money for school fees, student lunch purchases, payments to staff and vendors, and expense reimbursements. In part 5 of our Digital Finance Plus series, Marie Leznicki explains how going cashless helps Bridge maintain its customer focus.
- Categories
- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Leveraging Loyalty: How m.Paani is mobilizing BoP consumer behavior for social good – Part 4 of our Digital Finance Plus series
Whether they’re frequent flyer miles or credit card rewards points, loyalty programs are a mutually beneficial way for companies to build relationships with customers. m.Paani is using digital finance tools to take that model in a new direction, by connecting BoP households’ commercial and social behaviors to points that can be redeemed for socially beneficial rewards.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment, Technology
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The Social Network for Smallholder Farmers : From fertilizer tips to the best seeds, connecting farmers to accurate info
LISA is a mobile social network platform for registered farmers to ask agriculture experts and other farmers questions through SMS (text) messages. It was created by Mercy Corps’ partner 8Villages as part of the aid agency’s Agri-Fin Mobile program.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Predicting Disease Outbreaks in a Changing Climate in Africa
The IPCC report focuses on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Medtronic and partners are using mobile tech to screen thousands in India for ear infections
In collaboration with a mobile health startup, a design firm and local health clinics, Medtronic is orchestrating a program aimed at improving diagnosis and treatment of ear infections and hearing loss in India, meanwhile supporting its ENT business there.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, Technology
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USAID, Hillary Clinton Launch Global Development Lab for Game-Changing Innovations
The event will take place in New York, with Hillary Clinton delivering the keynote address, following an internal launch and a USAID town hall discussion earlier this week in Washington, D.C.
- Categories
- Education, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- governance, nutrition
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New climate innovation centre launched in Ethiopia
A new climate innovation centre which aims to help jumpstart clean technology and climate-smart ventures has been launched in Ethiopia. Called the Ethiopia Climate Innovation Center (ECIC), it is expected to help more than 3.1 million people increase resilience to climate change and create more than 12,000 jobs in the next 10 years.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
