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Three Messages from BRAC’s Frugal Innovation Forum to the Skoll World Forum
Small is beautiful, but big is necessary. In Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, many development practitioners live by this creed. But at last month’s Frugal Innovation Forum: Scaling Simple Solutions, everyone agreed that they don’t get nearly enough opportunities to talk shop and compare notes within the region. Taking place in Dhaka from March 30-31, the forum was the first ever gathering of South Asian development practitioners, hosted in South Asia, specifically to talk about scaling frugal innovations.
- Categories
- Technology
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mHealth ‘could save a million African lives by 2017
Mobile health (mHealth) applications such as text messages could save more than a million lives in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years, according to a report.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa’s Microinsurance Maze: Early trial-and-error efforts could lead to coverage for 1 billion in 2013
Insurers, mobile-phone companies and behind-the-scenes administrators also involved have learned that mobile networks and microinsurance are potentially a great fit. The challenge for the future is getting people to pay.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
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New apps transforming remote parts of Africa
For generations, breeding cows in the rural highlands of Kenya has hinged on knowledge and experience passed down from parents to children. But Mercy Wanjiku is unlike most farmers. Her most powerful tool is her cell phone, and a text messaging service called iCow.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Curious Landscape: Visualizing data on the India Map of Financial Inclusion
Which districts have the highest concentration of financial inclusion actors? How does the coverage of these services correlate with the basic demography and infrastructure across a given country? The MIX’s India Map of Financial Inclusion has answers, but also presents more questions for financial inclusion researchers and enterprises.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment, Technology
- Tags
- microfinance, research
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New plan to ensure universal health care in Somalia
Every Somali citizen will have access to basic healthcare by 2016 if a new, government-led strategic plan achieves its aims.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Plan to Chart Heart Risk in 1 Million Adults in Real Time
Researchers are launching a major study that will marshal the power of smartphones and other personal technologies in an effort to develop new strategies for preventing and managing heart disease.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- public health
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Deepa Gangwani: Fomenting Change for Indian Trash Collectors
A shocking incident involving her maid and a trash collector helped set Deepa Gangwani on her quest to help the poor communities near where she lived in India.
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- Technology
- Region
- South Asia