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Out of the Shadows: Providing Employment and Empowerment to India’s Transgender Community
India’s transgender women community, or Hijra, has a recorded history of over 4,000 years, and once held a respected position in the country's political and spiritual life. But today, violence, hate crimes and discrimination against the Hijra are common, and dignified employment is scarce. Manish Jain co-founded Kineer Services to address these issues - he discusses the ways Kineer creates job opportunities and supports the mental and physical health of the Hijra, and other sexual minorities and neglected communities.
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Inclusive Fintech in Practice: Chipper Cash Illustrates Three Keys to Tackling Cross-Border Payments in Africa
Though the mobile money revolution has reshaped East Africa, only around 8% of the region's residents actively send or receive payments across borders. Akansha Kasera at BFA’s Catalyst Fund discusses how Chipper Cash is addressing the need for cross-border transactions through a simple, affordable payments platform. She breaks down what's driving the platform's rapid growth – and what other providers can learn from it.
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These 10 emerging markets will dominate the global economy in the next decade
Most of the top 10 fastest growing emerging market economies are in Asia, in line with expectations that the region is the future of the global economy.
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Press release: Alipay Teams with NUS Enterprise to Launch Social Innovation Challenge
The Alipay-NUS Enterprise Social Innovation Challenge aims to identify and support the growth of start-ups in Southeast Asia that are using digital technology to build a more inclusive society.
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Moving Past Microfinance: How India’s Small Finance Banks Aim to Take Financial Inclusion to the Next Level
The proliferation of microfinance in India has been a double-edged sword: On the one hand, MFIs have reached customers that most mainstream banks have overlooked. On the other, a lack of clear regulation and oversight has had devastating consequences for some borrowers. But regulators have responded with a new category of financial institution, the “small finance bank.” Andreas Nilsson and Nina Freudenberg of Sonanz explore the evolution of these institutions and whether a wider range of products could also mean deeper social impact.
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Press release: Wall Street Journal Financial Inclusion Challenge Returns for Fourth Year
The Challenge seeks entries from for-profit and nonprofit enterprises whose product or service is helping to improve the financial health of Americans, including their spending, borrowing, saving, investing and financial planning capabilities. These solutions must be innovative, scalable, sustainable and designed to have a positive social impact.
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- North America
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Microloans: Boon or bane for Cambodia’s rural poor?
Microfinance evokes both wariness and optimism here in the Cambodian countryside, where low incomes and savings mean farmers often borrow small sums at high interest rates to fertilize their plots.
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- Asia Pacific
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Development aid in Africa is flowing to the rich in urban areas and not the poor
In his paper published this month, Ryan C. Briggs, an assistant professor at the department of political science, shows that there are spatial differences in the degree to which aid reaches the poor in Africa. Briggs examined the data by dividing the African continent’s map—including North Africa and the islands—into 10,572 cells after which he aggregated aid projects, population, and poverty levels into each cell.
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- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
COVID-19:
Resources for the
Social Impact Sector
Resources for the
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