NextBillion - A WDI Publication

How to Help the World’s Poor Get a Foot Inside the Bank Door

On November 29-30, 2007 the Center for Global Development (CGD) and the Spanish Ministry of External Relations and Cooperation convened a high-level workshop titled, Policies and Innovations for Improving Access to Financial Services: A Global Challenge. The workshop drew a crowd of over 50 distinguished participants, including officials from indu...

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CGD (link opens in a new window)

CNN Heroes: Duvall shines spotlight on cause

Robert Duvall’s heroes are Carmen Velasco and Lynne Patterson -- two women who are changing the lives of other women throughout Latin America one loan at a time. Their foundation, Pro Mujer , has created a growing network of microfinance institutions that help the most impoverished women and their families. These two ladies are true heroes to everybody that comes in contact with them, the Oscar- and Emmy...

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CNN Heroes (link opens in a new window)

Acumen Fund Honored with Social Capitalist Award by Fast Company & Monitor Group

Acumen Fund , a leading catalyst for sustainable, scalable solutions addressing poverty in South Asia and East Africa, announced today that it has been honored with the 2008 Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award . The award recognizes outstanding organizations whose social impact and organizational effectiveness make them unrivaled leaders of social entrepreneu...

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PRWeb (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

New Ventures M?xico Launches Las P?ginas Verdes (“The Green Pages”)

On November 28, New Ventures M?xico celebrated the launch of its sponsorship phase of Las P?ginas Verdes , or The Green Pages, Mexico?s first directory of environmentally and socially sustainable products and services. Las P?ginas Verdes has quickly become recognized as Mexico?s most valuable green marketing tool because it brings together all sustainable alternatives ava...

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New Ventures (link opens in a new window)

Goodwill corp.s

Aravind Eye Hospital , founded by Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy and Thulasiraj D. Ravilla in 1976, has treated over 2.3 million outpatients and performed over 2.7 lakh surgeries in 2006-07, almost two-thirds of them for free. Bunker Roy?s Barefoot College , which began in 1972, has turned thousands of school dropouts in rural areas into barefo...

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The Hindu Business Line (link opens in a new window)

GOOD Q&A: Bill Drayton

What does a $20 donation do for Ashoka ? A $20 donation represents much more to us than just the money. It means that the investor, begins to explore the field of social entrepreneurship. It means one more person becomes aware of the powerful work of social entrepreneurs around the world and it means one more person will hopefully be inspired to create social change. And of course, it also helps provide support to...

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Good Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Low-Tech Laboratory

To view this article with product design diagrams and graphics, click here . MIT?s D-Lab can turn a plastic baby bottle into lab equipment and refashion a toilet as a chlorination system. Here?s how its low-cost, low-tech solutions are saving lives around the world. MI...

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Good Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Social development v2.0?

Bill Gates? address at Harvard?s commencement ceremony this year brought much-needed attention to the idea of ?creative capitalism?. Talking about the world?s sharpest inequities, Gates convinced his audience that the answer to them lies in making markets work better for the poor. In his words, creative capitalism is about stretching the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, o...

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Economic Times (link opens in a new window)