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Power Can Challenge Poverty ? And That Makes Universal Energy Access a Must
Earlier this week, decision makers came together in Oslo to launch Energy +, the international energy and climate initiative. It promises to be a landmark contribution towards securing sustainable energy for all by 2030. The need for such progress is clear, given that half the world’s population live without modern energy, the majority of people cook on an open fire, and two out of t...
- Categories
- Education
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Aakash May Not Help Bridge the Digital Divide
Developments in the information technology world have been catching the headlines in the last few days. We lost "magician" Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., none of whose innovations I see being used by poor people. The Indian government launched the $35 (Rs. 1,700) tablet called Aakash, which Union minister Kapil Sibal called a "tablet for the poor." Also, the government released a telecom policy that, perhaps belatedly, proposes to give infrastructure sector status to th...
- Region
- South Asia
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Inefficient Developing World Stoves Contribute to 2 Million Deaths a Year
An international effort to replace smoky, inefficient household stoves that people commonly use in lower and middle income countries with clean, affordable, fuel efficient stoves could save nearly 2 million lives each year, according to experts from the National Institutes of Health. In a commentary in Science , the NIH scientists noted that indoor air pollution from such inefficient stoves affects about 3 billion people -- nearly half the world’s population. In addition to ...
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The Millennium Villages Project is Working Well
The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is a systematic approach to achieving the millennium development goals in rural Africa. The model is community-led development with simultaneous, integrated, science-based interventions in five main areas: agriculture, education, health, infrastructure (roads, ...
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Elumelu Sees Impact Through Large-Scale Entrepreneurship
Tony Elumelu, who made a meteoric rise as a banking executive before retiring last year, knows what he’d like to accomplish with his new initiatives. "One of my greatest joys would be to look back and say I’ve helped to create ten or a hundred very successful African entrepreneurs," the 48-year-old Nigerian said during an interview in late August at the end of an event-packed visit to East Africa. ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Seattle Microfinance Nonprofit Looks Beyond Loans to Education
Global Partnerships , a Seattle-based nonprofit that provides microfinance to the developing world, has shifted its strategy in recent years to expand its focus beyond the traditional microloans that it started with 17 years ago. ...
- Region
- Latin America
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Afghanistan’s Vast Mineral Deposits Could Lift it Out of Poverty
For all the column inches and hours of negotiations spent discussing Afghanistan ’s recent past, present and future, one of the most pressing parts of the puzzle remains largely overlooked and poorly understood. The country sits on top of vast mineral deposits, which, if properly managed, offer the best chance of lifting a generation out of poverty and weaning the country off internati...
- Region
- Europe & Eurasia
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Peru Has Best Environment for Microfinance in Global Ranking
Lima, Oct. 11 (ANDINA). Peru has finished atop the Global Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment 2011 for a third straight year, buoyed by an excellent legal framework, sophisticated regulators and a government commitment to use microfinance to expand financial access to the poor. This annual study, prepared by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), ranks the business environment for microfinance in 55 countries and provides a perspective on both country-sp...
- Region
- Latin America