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How Do You Know If Aid Really Works? Turns Out … We Often Don’t
It seems like a no-brainer. Before you spend big bucks on a massive effort to improve life for the world's poorest — say, distributing millions of free bed nets against malarial mosquitoes, or offering thousands of women microloans as small as $200 to start small businesses — you should run a smaller scale test to make sure the idea actually works. After all, just because a project sounds good in theory doesn't mean it's going to pan out in practice.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
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The $12 Trillion Opportunity Ripe for Investing Dollars: Advancing Gender Equality
On Saturday, more than three million people around the country — that’s one out of every 100 Americans — and upwards of another 250,000 people around the world marched in the name of gender equality. On Sunday, many of those same people woke up and asked, “What’s next?” Supporters have posted lists and guides for for the weeks and months ahead, but for those who might want to literally put their money where their mouths are, a new report from BNY Mellon and the United Nations Foundation serves as an alternative template. Its key suggestion: simultaneously accelerate progress and tap into a multi-trillion dollar opportunity by investing in companies that are gender-diverse, led by women, or providing services that help advance gender equality.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- North America
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Paytm Is Accelerating Its Banking Push in India
Indian mobile wallet firm Paytm plans to launch its banking operations within two months, according to Bloomberg.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- fintech
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Australian project to improve water delivery in urban slums gets $27m funding
Prof Rebekah Brown, the director of the Sustainable Development Institute at Melbourne’s Monash University, has been awarded a $14m research grant by the Wellcome Trust’s Our Planet Our Health awards in the UK. A further $13m from the Asian Development Bank would cover infrastructure and construction costs.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care
- Tags
- public health, research
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Doctors Without Borders Objects to Sanofi Receiving an Exclusive License for a Zika Vaccine
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Monday objected to the US government’s granting of an exclusive patent license to Sanofi Pasteur for a developing Zika vaccine, though Sanofi fired back on Tuesday explaining the risks of developing such a vaccine.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Only 1% of R&D Funds Spent for HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria: WHO
Investments in health research and development (R&D) are poorly aligned with global public health needs, the World Health Organisation said, highlighting that merely 1% of the total funding on health R&D was allocated towards neglected diseases like HIV , tuberculosis and malaria which account for more than 12.5% of the global disease burden.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Mark Zuckerberg’s Philanthropy Organization Acquired a Startup to Help Cure the World’s Diseases
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan's philanthropic organization has bought Meta, a search engine that uses artificial intelligence to find scientific research papers.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Tags
- philanthropy
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Startup Investment Is Making a Comeback in North Africa
African startups raised more than $129 million last year, according to a report from Disrupt Africa, a blog on technology and entrepreneurship on the continent. South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya were the most popular destinations, with north African countries catching up.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- impact investing
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