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IDB Offers $25 Million Loan to Raise Farmer?s Productivity in Peru
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recently offered a $25 million loan to increase productivity and exports of farmers in Peru. The program will directly benefit about 14,000 producers participating in the Program of Compensation for Competitiveness, over the next four years, of which an estimated 42 percent are women. The program aims to raise farmers’ productivity by 10 percent and increase the value of their products in domestic and foreign markets by 20 percent by the end...
- Region
- Latin America
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The WaterWheel Makes Clean Water Cheaper, Easier to Carry
Not everyone can just turn on the tap to access clean water; in the developing world, women regularly carry five-gallon, 42-pound buckets of water on their heads. The Hippo Water Roller, a device that allows users to easily roll 24 gallons of water along the ground, has made life easier for over 30,000 people in the past 15 years--while becoming something of a ...
- Region
- South Asia
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Orb Energy, Acumen Fund Announce Partnership to Address Energy Needs for Millions in India
Mumbai, India, June 20, 2011 - Orb Energy Pte Ltd. (Orb) , one of India’s leading providers of solar energy systems, and Acumen Fund , a nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty in South Asia and East Africa, today announced a partnership to address energy needs for millions of Indians without reliable electricity. Acumen Fund is making a significant e...
- Region
- South Asia
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NextWealth: Creating a Next Wave in India’s IT and BPO Industry
During the early days of the Indian information technology outsourcing industry, Sridhar Mitta’s biggest challenge was convincing American companies that India was a viable destination to send their work. Mitta was with Wipro, at the time a fledging IT division of a vegetable oil company. He was, in fact, the very first employee of the company’s IT business and later went on to become its chief technology officer and president of the global research and development business. During Mi...
- Region
- South Asia
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Does Microfinance for Profit Hurt Women?
The commercialization of microfinance has been blamed for a lot of troubling trends, from prompting the clampdown in Andhra Pradesh to muddying the industry’s benign image as a development tool to help the poor. But one impact that has been largely overlooked is its impact on women. One of the hallowed truths about microlending has been that it works best when loans are made to women, a...
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Slideshow: Inzozi Nziza, a Social Enterprise, Creates a Market for Ice Cream in Rwanda
It’s an unlikely place for an ice cream shop, and an even more unlikely batch of people to be running it. Inzozi Nziza, or "Sweet Dreams" in Kinyarwanda, is Rwanda’s first and only local ice cream shop. Located in the small university town of Butare, it celebrated its one year anniversary this week. While its struggles have been great, from importing a soft-serve ice cream machine into this tiny landlocked country where only one person knows (kind-of) how to fix it,&...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Embrace Warms Up Premature Babies At the Bottom of the Pyramid
A mother living in a rural village outside of Bangalore, India gives birth to a baby two months prematurely. Her family cannot afford to go to the city hospital in Bangalore, so her husband, who raises silkworms that he warms under lamps, decides to care for the baby in the same way. A few day later, their baby dies. Stopping this tragedy - there are 20 million low birth weight and premature babies born each year - is the primary mission of Embrac...
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Energy is Central to Development
Energy , it seems, is the Cinderella of development policy. Listen to governments, aid agencies and the big foundations, and the priorities have been malaria, maternal mortality, vaccinations, HIV - health has hoovered up attention and aid dollars in the last decade. Education has come a close second. Now attention is slowly moving to include agriculture and food security, but the rhetoric is ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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