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How the World’s First Social Sustainability Bond is Connecting Back Streets to Wall Street
The Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB) is the world’s first social sustainability bond with a dual focus on social and financial returns to be listed on a stock exchange. This represents "an immense achievement for impact investing," says Rakhi Sahay, head of Knowledge Management at Impact Investment Exchange. The WLB gives the Cambodian woman entrepreneur, the Filipino farmer, and the Vietnamese mother access to capital by providing loans to high-impact enterprises and microfinance institutions.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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British Council: US Social Enterprises Make Strides but Lag on Gender Equity
The report, done in cooperation with the US-based Social Enterprise Alliance, is titled “From an Activist to Entrepreneur: The role of social enterprise in supporting women’s empowerment in the US,” and is meant to be the first in a series of country studies.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North America
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Urvashi Sahni, founder of SHEF, wins social entrepreneur award
SHEF has demonstrated a business model of education for inclusion, empowerment and leadership building for India’s most disadvantaged and girls at risk.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- gender equality
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Vodafone launches financial inclusion project for women
The project would see groups of women under the Village Savings and Loans Scheme and Rural Project Support Network, introduced to financial inclusion opportunities including the use of Vodafone cash.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Empowering the Period: How Erasing the Menstruation Taboo Can Fight Extreme Poverty
Educated girls have smaller families and raise healthier and better-educated children. But a lack of supplies, toilets and privacy, compounded by fear and shame in an atmosphere that stigmatizes menstruation, prevent many impoverished girls from attending school once they reach puberty. There are some signs of positive change, however, with a growing number of organizations talking about “empowering the period.”
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, WASH
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The ‘Ivanka Fund’ drops Ivanka
Ms. Trump’s role in the creation of the World Bank-administered facility — officially known as the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, or We-Fi — has been controversial.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- gender equality
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Cycling to success: A road to empowerment for rural girls in India
India has a long way to go to ensure that every girl has the opportunity to complete secondary school. Fortunately, simple interventions, like the humble bicycle, which can promote accessibility to distant schools, and providing life skills education can increase school retention rates, improve learning outcomes, and reduce early marriages.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- South Asia
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To Fix the Gender Gap, Fix the Digital Divide
Most job growth will come from STEM fields, yet women make up only 12 percent of engineering students. That’s why MIT’s new Solve initiative launched a Women and Technology Challenge asking for technology-fueled solutions that enable women and girls’ full participation in the economy. Selected solutions will receive support from cross-sector leaders interested in investing in innovative social impact projects – the Solve challenge deadline is Aug. 1.
- Categories
- Education, Finance, Impact Assessment, Technology
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