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Engaging Diasporas in Development Through Investment – Part 1: Calvert explores ways to facilitate migrant investment flows
There is increasing interest among development organizations and aid agencies in harnessing the financial resources of global migrants to fund development needs in their countries of origin or heritage. Calvert Foundation shares lessons learned and key issues to consider when creating a strategy to engage diasporas in investment and international development.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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From Financial Education to Capability – A Paradigm Shift: Financial education on its own is not enough to improve consumers’ financial health
Classroom-based educational programs for improving financial health have mixed results. Improved methods that support behavior change as well as knowledge gains are needed. Sarah Gordon, Vice President, Innovation Labs at CFSI spoke with the Citi Foundation’s COO, Brandee McHale, about the importance of these new approaches, and the organizations that are pioneering them.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
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Weekly Roundup – 5/10/14: Every investment is an “impact investment”
Every investment has a social/environmental impact on some level - a fact that more and more investors are taking into account. We discuss Stanford University’s decision to divest its $18.7 billion endowment of stock in coal-mining companies, and a recent J.P. Morgan/GIIN survey of top impact investors, in this roundup.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
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A Small Drop in a Large Bucket: The World Economic Forum’s Abigail Noble, on why impact investing needs to go mainstream
In 2012, less than $40 billion of capital had been committed to impact investments - out of tens of trillions in global capital. The World Economic Forum’s Mainstreaming Impact Investing initiative wants to help change that. In part 1 of our Impact Investing Insights series, we spoke with the initiative’s leader, Abigail Noble, about how to bring “$40 billion” a bit closer to “tens of trillions.”
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Weekly Roundup – 5/3/14: An Arab Spring for global health?
Amartya Sen once said that famines don’t occur in democracies. His statement still largely holds true. Unfortunately, democracy is under siege in many parts of the world.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Technology
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More Questions than Answers: Impact investors struggle to present their sector to the general public
What qualifies as “impact” investing – and how exactly should non-financial impacts be measured? Those may seem like pretty basic questions. Yet at the recent Sustainatopia Impact Conference, clear answers were in short supply, as a young sector works toward a consensus on the best way to present itself to mainstream investors.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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‘Maybe It’s Time We Start Behaving Like a Business’: The struggle of one microfinance institution to balance its social impact with its bottom line
La Ceiba designed its microfinance programs and policies around the needs and capabilities of its clients - even when this conflicted with the best interest of the institution. But now, its interest income isn’t covering its loan loss, putting its survival in doubt. La Ceiba’s loan program leader offers a frank assessment of its struggle to balance social impact with business needs.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment
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(With Video) Beyond the Prototype: Wello’s CEO on product design, understanding customers and advice for social entrepreneurs
Cynthia Koenig, CEO of Wello, whose flagship product is a rolling water tank, advises against getting too reliant on a series of check boxes when it comes to measuring impact. In a video interview with NB, she talks about prototyping the next generation of the device, designed for BoP customers.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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