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Group mitigates poverty with alternative building technology
JSE-listed energy and chemicals group Sasol’s enterprise development vehicle, ChemCity, believes alternative building technology (ABT) has the potential to curtail unemployment and poverty – two of South Africa’s most pressing issues.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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In Brazil, a Break Through Investment Model in Affordable Housing: Harnessing a public-private solution to sustainable housing
At Bamboo Finance, we view housing as a critical component to driving economic growth, and our investment of R$7 million (US$3.6 million) in Bille, a Special Purpose Enterprise (SPE) created by Crinale, a Brazilian housing developer, for building and selling 1,200 houses in the interior of Sao Paulo State, represents a scalable solution to a massive social and economic problem.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- housing, infrastructure
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How the Arab World Can Build a Tech Sector of its Own
Unemployment in MENA is 10.3 percent, according to the International Labor Organization, the highest anywhere in the world. That rate grows to 23.8 percent for those between the ages of 15 and 25. But where should youth turn to look for meaningful jobs? Maybe the same place they turned to stage protests against their governments: online.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
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Disruptive Sanitation: Can 3-Wheeled Carts and Better Septic Tanks Add Value to the Supply Chain AND Clean Up Jakarta?
A Mercy Corps project titled PUSH (Program of Urban Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion) undertook a market analysis of Jakarta’s sanitation industry. Funded by the Suez Environment Foundation, the project found a massive untapped market of potential customers in urban Indonesia. Around 94 million Indonesians live without access to sanitation services and 22 million people—more than two and a half times the population of New York City.
- Categories
- Health Care, Impact Assessment
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At Rio+20: Will the Realities and the Possibilities for BoP Housing Truly Be Addressed?
There is a vital need to embrace concepts that incorporate the needs of all stakeholders (particularly harnessing the voices of the BoP themselves) via housing models that can handle market immaturities whilst building both at the necessary scale and to globally recognized quality standards. Let´s discard with the concepts that only focus on the short- to medium-term and examine how it is genuinely possible to tackle the complexities of the sector.
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- Uncategorized
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Is Brazil Truly a Latin American Social Housing Leader?
Extreme poverty levels have decreased by over 50 percent since 2003 as a result of several initiatives across Brazil. In the housing sector, the most notable effort was the 2009 launch of Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) – aimed at constructing new homes while simultaneously creating objectives to cease the presence of insalubrious living conditions that have long characterized the country. The program has subsequently become a template for progress in global BoP housing sector, but a closer look at the facts reveals another story…
- Categories
- Finance, Uncategorized
- Tags
- housing, infrastructure
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The Energy Access Crunch: Exploring Public-Private Solutions for Getting Power to the People
The lack of energy access is a drag on human development around the world, and it will take an increase in funding as well as the public and private sectors working together to solve this problem. That was one of the conclusions at the workshop, “Fairness and Transparency in Climate Funding: Taking into account the Needs of the Poorest Populations” on May 11 in Bangkok.
- Categories
- Energy
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As Contamination Grows, Private Water Shops Spring Up in Pakistani Slums
In Pakistan, waterborne diseases cause 40 percent of illnesses. Outdated and mismanaged city infrastructure poses serious health threats and challenges. Among the colorful storefronts of Lahore’s densely packed slum areas, new water shops have opened up that provide WHO-standard water to the neighborhoods at affordable rates.
- Categories
- Agriculture