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The Trouble with ‘Free’: Why Treating the Poor as Customers Works Better than Charity
Lack of access to safe water is a leading cause of illness in developing countries. Yet for years, Guatemalan entrepreneur Philip Wilson's family foundation worked to distribute free water filters across the countryside, only to see recipients repurpose them as flower pots and garbage cans. After going into the field to meet real families that were living with unsafe water, he came up with a better approach: a business model that treats the rural poor as consumers of products rather than objects of charity. He explores the reasons this model is working, and the challenges it has faced.
- Categories
- Social Enterprise, WASH
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Press release: Parsyl and Gavi announce supply chain strengthening partnership
This partnership is made possible by a combination of support from the Government of Canada, Unorthodox Philanthropy and the Gogel Family Foundation. To lead the new initiative, Parsyl appointed Souleymane Sawadogo, an expert in vaccine quality assurance and a former leader of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Africa operations where he established laboratory systems across the continent.
- Categories
- Health Care
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Small Loans Help Increase Rice Yield In Bangladesh, Study Shows
Microfinance institutions have a positive impact on farmers, allowing them to adopt high-yield rice varieties and increase their farming output, researchers say.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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From Paper to Digital: A Guide to Transitioning to Mobile Data Collection
Frontline workers play a critical role in gathering information from – and delivering services to – rural communities. For years, these workers used paper forms and guides, leading to delays, problems with accuracy, and trouble measuring program effectiveness. Mobile data collection tools can help address these challenges, but transitioning to a digital system is not as easy as simply digitizing paper forms. Sam Farnham at Dimagi shares insights and a free guide that can clarify the process.
- Categories
- Technology
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Women will be left behind by mobile education—just like everything else
Women globally aren’t afforded the same access to technology as men. Sure, there’s been progress: 830 million young people are now online, but there’s still a ways to go. Today, over half the world’s population is still offline, with global internet penetration only slated to break 50% by mid 2019.
- Categories
- Education, Technology
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Emerging Cities Could Collect $29.4 Trillion In ‘Climate Cash’
Cities can lead the way for global actions to mitigate climate change, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Energy
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Mobile Industry Reports Increasing Impact Across all SDGs
The ‘2018 Mobile Industry Impact Report: Sustainable Development Goals’ from GSMA Intelligence finds that more than two-thirds of the global population are now connected to mobile technology.
- Categories
- Technology
- Tags
- fintech, global development, SDGs
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A Roadmap to Food Security: Linking Geodata with Financial Inclusion to Support Smallholders
Smallholder farmers produce a staggering 70 percent of the world’s food, making them essential to food security. Geodata applications have been shown to improve these farmers’ yields and even boost their financial access – one of the main obstacles to increasing production. To help tap into these benefits, NpM’s Innovator’s Challenge brought together 17 tech companies with geodata-based solutions for smallholder financial inclusion. NpM director Josien Sluijs discusses the winning companies, and the broader potential of geodata-based innovation.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Social Enterprise, Technology
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