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This aid agency is using chatbots to beat world hunger
WFP first began to assess food needs using text messages and interactive voice response systems in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2014, with help from global information and audience measurement company Nielsen. This year, they expanded to using chatbots on the Facebook messenger platform. Approximately 170 million Africans use Facebook, mostly on their phones.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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New act in Thailand to give social enterprises a big boost
Social Enterprises Act will propose that the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) set a target for the rest of this year and through 2018 to boost the number of social enterprises in the country.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Press release: American Portfolios Addresses SRI through the Launch of its Nine Points Investment Management Impact Portfolios
American Portfolios (AP) has added to its long-standing commitment to corporate social responsibility by launching the Nine Points Investment Management (NPIM) Impact Portfolios. Through Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), these portfolios select investments using Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria to provide advisors with a total portfolio solution. "SRI is more than a fad; it’s where the future of investment is moving," Director of Investment Research Jessica Skolnick, CFA states.
- Categories
- Investing
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Are impact investors missing a trick by overlooking local communities?
For Durreen Shahnaz, an investment banker turned social entrepreneur from Bangladesh, impact investing seeks to "connect the Wall Streets of the world with the backstreets of underserved communities". But how realistic is this?
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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The Trump White House Gave These Mutual Funds a Big Boost
“This field is global in nature and has a tremendous amount of momentum,” says Jon Hale, director of sustainable investing research at Chicago-based Morningstar. “In some ways, the election has actually galvanized ESG investors.”
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Nestlé, Telenor Microfinance Bank partner to launch digital lending for farmers in Pakistan
Under this program, Telenor Bank has been disbursing loans to dairy farmers digitally. The bank has pioneered one of the country’s first data driven digital method in deciding the loan limits with near instant loans. Hence, the loans are disbursed directly to the farmers via Telenor Bank’s mobile banking platform, Easypaisa mobile wallets.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Perspective: What the World Can Learn From India’s Cash Experiment
A report last month showed that 99 percent of invalidated bills have now made their way back to banks, suggesting the government's plan to extinguish illicit cash has foundered. At the same time, though, currency in circulation is down by about 25 percent from where it would otherwise have been, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, while electronic transactions are up.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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Why More CEOs Want to Make a Social Impact
Whether it’s the post-Charlottesville dialogue on racial equity, changes to immigration law that will impact Dreamers, or the Paris Climate Change Accord, we see business leaders advocating in a newly public, vigorous and informed way for solutions that align social progress with their core business interests.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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