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In Crowdfunding, New Source of Aid After Catastrophe
After the devastating floods in Colordado, with no flood insurance, and limited access to credit and small business loans, people turned to online charitable giving — a crowdfunding platform called GoFundMe — to help raise money to regain their footing.
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- crowdfunding
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Financial innovation the next big thing in clean energy and efficiency
A new wave of innovation is sweeping the energy transition sector, promising to accelerate deployment and cut the costs of energy-efficiency measures, as well as wind and solar generation. It isn’t a technological improvement, like cutting hardware and labor costs. It isn’t a policy mechanism like feed-in tariffs. It isn’t even a new business model, like selling storage services. It’s financial innovation.
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- Energy, Environment
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Why Micro-Lending Needs A Vision Lift
For most people, the term ‘micro-lending’ connotes lending micro amounts of money to low-income people to help them build a micro-business. When entrepreneurs achieve these modest goals, everyone heaves a sigh of relief. Is this a case of being satisfied with modest goals, i.e. aim low and settle for little?
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- microfinance
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The Benefits of No-Strings-Attached Cash
What if I suggested that the best way to fight poverty is simply to give money to poor people, no strings attached? You’d probably say I was crazy. But over the past decade, lots of studies suggest that cash transfers are in fact an efficient way of actually tackling poverty.
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Wipe out malaria by wiping out worst poverty
FRIDAY is Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Malaria Day, when Sadc health ministers meet in Malawi. The theme is, "Be free of malaria in the Sadc region." This is a goal that is quite achievable, as members have made great strides in their effort to eliminate malaria. According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) World Malaria Report 2012, globally, about 3.3-billion people were at risk of malaria in 2011. Populations living in sub-Saharan Africa have the highest risk of being infected; about 80% of cases and 90% of deaths occur in Africa; and children under five years of age and pregnant women are most affected.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Healthcare on the cheap – innovations from Appropriate Healthcare Technologies event
It takes years for a manufacturer to demonstrate that a new medical device is effective and safe. But, if a less-than-perfect, cheaper innovation can save lives in the developing world, it should be made available, said speakers at the Appropriate Healthcare Technologies event in London, UK. Ledetta Asfa-Wossen reviews four design innovations.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Kenya: Scratch Cards Provide Short Term Savings for Zambian Cotton Farmers
Among problems facing farmers is access to financial services, including banking services and loans. In Bungoma County, Western Kenya, farmers shied away from small and micro financial institutions due to the high cost of loans and high expectations imposed on them. In Zambia, a donor funded pilot project brought in some form of financial inclusion to cotton farmers.
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- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Opening the Curtain on the New 2.0 Era of Impact Investing
Impact investing has not been growing as quickly as many practitioners might have hoped.
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- impact investing
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