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Business coalition re-established in run-up to Rio+20
The temporary coalition of the Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD) has been re-established to coordinate the participation of the private sector to Rio+20 and enhance its contribution to sustainable and inclusive markets. Business is willing to step up its efforts to raise more awareness about its existing commitments and achievements already made. At the same time, industry will continue to broaden and deepen its thinking towards Rio+20 on key themes of the conference.
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A winning model of health insurance for the poor
Access to healthcare in India has certainly improved over the past few decades. All indices point in this direction. However, India still languishes amongst the worst providers of healthcare. Out-of-pocket expenses are the primary cause of indebtedness for the poor. The key issue is how to reach out to the population at the bottom of the pyramid. Is there a model that is socially desirable, politically acceptable, technologically feasible and financially sustainable?
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BRAC puts Entrepreneurs to Work Providing Clean Toilets for Millions
In Bangladesh, the development organization's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program gives millions of the rural poor a fresh start with latrines at prices fair to buyers and sellers alike.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Is the Social Enterprise Bubble About to Burst?
Over the past two months, GOOD has profiled organizations in Africa using market solutions to solve water and sanitation challenges, improve agriculture, and promote public health. Social enterprises like these are transforming development work, and social entrepreneurs are being hailed as rock stars.But social enterprise isn’t the first trend to hit the development sector. From women’s empowerment to “sustainability” to microfinance, the aid community has moved through its stash of silver bullets. What makes social enterprise any different?
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Real Architects of Social Change: Live from Davos
Everybody seemed to agree that the world is now facing some serious problems: Climate change, persistent poverty and inequality, the failure of financial systems, environmental degradation, the impeding exhaustion of cheap minerals and oil and so on. And everybody seemed determine to provide solutions to these problems.Prominent among these proposed solutions: Social entrepreneurship.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- Base of the Pyramid, scale
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GSK’s Andrew Witty on the Future of Pharma Collaboration to Help Poor Countries
Just before the all-singing, all-dancing launch of the big initiative to control or eliminate 10 neglected diseases – starring 13 CEOs from Big Pharma, the WHO's director general, Margaret Chan, and Bill Gates – I grabbed a few words with Sir Andrew Witty, head of GlaxoSmithKline, who co-chaired the negotiations over the past year with Gates.
- Categories
- Health Care
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The Trouble With Impact Investing – Part 1
On its face, impact investing seems like a great deal—organizations get cheap money (er, “patient capital”) and investors get real impact. It’s great when it works that way, but the case for impact is often dubious, and there is a lot of confusion about when impact investing works and when it doesn’t.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- impact investing
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The New Rules of BoP Marketing
About three years ago, PepsiCo drew up a new blueprint for long-term growth in India. It spoke of the need for significantly widening reach, aiming for the new consuming class across urban and rural India — and more importantly, creating a whole new set of locally developed products for the masses.
- Region
- South Asia
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