NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Social Innovation Putting Hope in the Hands of Kenya’s Starving

As the severe drought continues taking lives in Kenya and the rest of east Africa, Concern Worldwide is turning to social innovation to try to save lives. The international humanitarian organisation has created a programme that enables people to make cash transfers to buy food. It is hoped this initiative will help 20,000 people over the next five months. Earlier this year, Concern began noticing a disturbin...

Source

Justmeans (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Facing Up to the Global Water Crisis

With rising population growth and changes in the earth’s climate putting stress on the consumable 1% of the planet’s water , the global water crisis risks becoming a source of cross-border conflict. Sub-Saharan Africa is especially vulnerable given its dry climate, which is exacerbated b...

Source

Guardian.co.uk (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Esther Duflo Bribes India’s Poor to Health

Rajasthan is India’s desert state, an often inhospitable place where per capita income averages around $1.77 per day. Poverty like that--understanding it and imagining ways to fix it--is what Esther Duflo lives for. Since 2003, her Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (named for a wealthy Saudi donor), or J-PAL, has conducted 240 randomized, controlled trials of specific ways to help the poor. She tests poverty solutions the way medical researchers test new drugs, which can violate the p...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Energy

Region

South Asia

Tags

solar

USD 7.7 Mn Japanese Aid for Nepal to Fight Poverty

Kathmandu: Japan has granted USD 7.7 million to help Nepal reduce poverty and child malnutrition. The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction has granted the amount for three projects which will be administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB has teamed up with the government of Japan and government of Nepal to help reduce child malnutrition, develop new livelihood opportunity for the poor and provide greater access to clean energy for poor rural woman through ...

Source

ZeeNews.com (link opens in a new window)

Region

Asia Pacific

Mobile Money Operators Prepare to Roll Out Financial Services

Shut out by the formal banking sector for years, the un-banked and un-served communities in Nigeria will soon gains some respite as mobile money operators are preparing to roll out innovative solutions geared towards providing financial inclusion in the coming months. This is following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) recent issuance of operating licenses to 11 mobile firms. The firms include: Fortis Money, UBA/Afripay, GTBank Mobile Money, Pagatech, eTranzact, Monetise, Earthole...

Source

Business Day (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Indego Africa: Lifting Africa’s Women Out of Poverty

Promoting access and opporutnity for business-minded African women [ Video ] ...

Source

Fox News (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Impact Investing and Social Entrepreneurship: A Way Forward

Recently, I interviewed Ron D. Cordes, Co-founder of the Cordes Foundation, which he and his wife Marty created in 2006. The primary focus of the Foundation is to utilize social entrepreneurship and impact investing as tools for global poverty alleviation. Ron has enjoyed a 25+ year career in the investment industry, having co-founded and then sold AssetMark Investment Services to Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW) in 2006. He is currently Co-Chairman of Genworth Financial Wealth Management,...

Source

Forbes (link opens in a new window)

How Solar Stores Are Helping to Meet Rural Uganda?s Energy Needs

Attorney Sari Schwartz and Rachel Ishofsky, associate executive director of Jewish Heart for Africa discuss how cell phones and hair trimming in rural Uganda sparked the introduction of mobile solar kiosks. A pilot project, the aim is to see whether these solar stores can be run profitably, thus creating both an independent business and a source of safe, reliable energy. The focus of international development is shifting. Foreign assistance in its traditional form is being called into q...

Source

pv magazine (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa