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Gates Foundation, Abu Dhabi Pair to Fight Forgotten Diseases
The $100 million fund will seek to eliminate river blindness, or onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis, which leads to a condition known as elephantiasis, from countries where they circulate in Africa and the Middle East. The Crown Prince will donate $20 million and the Gates Foundation 20% of the total amount raised to the new "Reaching the Last Mile Fund," with a plan to raise the remaining $60 million from others in the region and beyond.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- philanthropy
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Canada, Europe Lead List of Most Responsible Asset Allocators
The recently released Bretton Woods II Leaders list of the 25 “most responsible” asset allocators was culled from among hundreds of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and government pension funds (GPFs) representing more than $20 trillion in assets under management.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- ESG, impact investing
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Tough times spur spirit of entrepreneurialism in Middle East and North Africa
Female social entrepreneurs to have emerged in the wake of the Arab Spring.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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MetLife Foundation & Verb Launch Competition To Accelerate Financial Innovation In Egypt & Lebanon
The competition launches in Egypt & Lebanon this week and will attract participants that have an innovative idea or solution to empower the nearly 50 million Egyptians and Lebanese that manage their day-to-day financial lives without a bank account.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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U.N. glimpses into blockchain future with eye scan payments for refugees
Iris recognition devices at the checkouts of the camp's supermarket authenticate customers' identities and deduct what they spend from sums they receive as aid from the World Food Program (WFP).
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- refugees
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The world’s first solar-powered refugee camp
As part of its Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign, the IKEA Foundation began offering solar lamps to residents in Azraq, which became essential for everything from cooking and studying, to safe access to water and sanitation.
Yet the lamps, though essential, only illuminated the broader challenge of life without a consistent power grid.- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
- Tags
- refugees, renewable energy, solar
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Islamic finance is making a case for ‘impact investment’
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and the Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development of the UN Development Program launched the “Global Islamic Finance and Impact Investing Platform,” an institution which seeks to build collaborations between a multitude of stakeholders, including Islamic banks and Islamic finance institutions, that engage in developmental investments in accordance with the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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IDB-UNDP report identifies steps to leverage Islamic finance for impact investing
Given that impact investment is growing rapidly and has become an important source of funding the SDGs, a blending with Islamic finance provides a formable partnership that could play a significant role in achieving the SDGs.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Region
- North Africa & Near East
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