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Turning Impact Intention into Impact Evidence: How to Put the GIIN’s IRIS+ Metrics into Action
Accounting for impact is notoriously difficult. And though impact investors have long turned to the GIIN's IRIS metrics as a standardized measurement tool, as SoPact co-founder Hetal Sheth points out, the IRIS metrics don't make impact strategy actionable. Now that the GIIN has reintroduced its standards with IRIS+, Sheth explores how the new metrics improve on the previous version – and how SoPact’s Impact Cloud platform can help investors use them to build a robust impact management strategy.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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How Artificial Intelligence Can Simplify International Development Research: An Intriguing Experiment (Involving NextBillion)
International development professionals must often spend a great deal of time trying to keep up with news, trends and research about their area of activity – and this requires a lot of manual labor. But much of this can now be automated and aided by artificial intelligence (AI). Jacob Rosen and Ashirul Amin at BFA explore how they used AI to sort and categorize a vast amount of development-focused content online, using NextBillion's 5,000+ article library as a test case. The results of their experiment show how AI can help people reduce time and labor and learn more efficiently.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Viewpoint: A Digital Path to Health for All
The world is just beginning to recognize the potential of digitally enhanced data to improve health. Increased use of digital technology and artificial intelligence can make countries better at predicting and preventing disease, and at providing health care to people in remote or underserved areas.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Moving Beyond Credit: Why Savings Should Take Center Stage in Digital Financial Inclusion
As mobile money continues to overtake traditional banking in emerging markets, putting financial services within reach of the unbanked, credit remains front and center in the conversation. But Buhle Goslar at JUMO says it's time to focus on an important yet underutilized tool that could help promote a well-rounded, healthy financial life for excluded customers – savings. She details how new tech and training programs can go beyond simple access and towards a new culture of savings.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Ethiopia’s Tech Startups Are Ready to Run the World, but the Internet Keeps Getting Blocked
As a heavily regulated market with low internet penetration, young techies in the Horn of Africa nation, he says, already suffer from the negative perception that they couldn’t be where Africa’s next high-tech workforce is nurtured.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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MTN Introduces Africa’s ‘First’ AI Service For Mobile Money
The AI mobile money “assistant” enables customers to engage with MTN’s MoMo services, including payments, on various social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and via SMS.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Experts Tout Benefits of AI, Machine Learning in Global Health Crisis
From helping doctors make diagnostic decisions to preventing disease outbreaks, artificial intelligence (AI) brings excitement in improving global health while posing serious privacy concerns, experts have said.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
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Speculating on the Future of Financial Inclusion: Predictions, Solutions (and Warnings) for the Next 20 Years
We live in extraordinary times: In the next 20 years, futuristic technologies like drones, driverless cars, virtual reality and robotics will transform communities and entire industries. Meanwhile, says MSC founder Graham Wright, breakthroughs in areas like artificial intelligence, big data and mobile connectivity will have a similar impact on financial inclusion. Wright makes some bold predictions, and highlights the trends and technologies that are likely to play important roles in the sector’s development.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology