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Technology a pathway out of poverty
It will take a century for a poor household to tweet its way out of poverty. That’s a very long time for anyone wondering where their next meal is coming from. But it’s a significant new finding because it proves once and for all that social media and access to information and communication technology (ICT) is a pathway out of poverty.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Handheld Poverty Fighters: Building the Killer Apps of Global Prosperity
Among many in the development space, connective technologies are either the cheat code to global prosperity or a false prophet obscuring the real challenges effecting the world’s poor. Officials as high-ranking as Secretary Hillary Clinton have called the spread of cheap cell phones and laptops a driving force against poverty even as many of their most promising applications are failing to deliver on scale.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The World We Want: Business development will play a much larger role in the future Millennium Development Goals
As we near 2015, the world needs to remain focused on securing as much progress as possible on the current set of Millennium Development Goals. UNDP joined forces with Business Fights Poverty, the Business Call to Action, the Overseas Development Institute and the UN Global Compact to explore, from a business perspective, what a future development framework might look like.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
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From Pavement Begging to Stable Housing, Stable Incomes : The Equitas Bird’s Nest program is moving pavement dwellers in Chennai toward secure housing
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to interview John about Equitas’s ultra poor pilot in Chennai. In this interview, he talks about the challenges his team faced while working with the pavement dwellers, the importance of sustainability and the road ahead for Equitas Bird’s Nest program.
- Categories
- Finance
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World Hunger: The Problem Left Behind
THE drought-induced run-up in corn prices is a reminder that we’re nowhere near solving the problem of feeding the world. The price surge, the third major international food price spike in the last five years, casts more doubt on the assumption that widespread economic development leads to corresponding gains in agriculture.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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In Uganda, Villages Reap Benefits of “Machine” Energy
Immaculate Kongai said she was quick to spot the potential of the Multifunction Energy Platform (MFP) as soon as it arrived in Usuk, her village in northeastern Uganda. Kongai grows and sells sorghum to local beer brewers, and has earned a reputation as a shrewd local entrepreneur. When the MFP—or, as she calls it, "the machine"—first showed up three years ago, she said she saw a chance to "make a lot more money" for her family.
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Haiti insurance firm receives $2 million in equity to expand services to the poor
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A non-profit set up by former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush after the 2010 earthquake has given $1 million in equity to an insurance firm based in Haiti.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Latin America
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Sure, We Can Build a Better Toilet. But Will People Use It?
The Gates Foundation’s plan to build a better toilet has inspired optimism for the future of sanitation in the developing world.
- Categories
- Environment
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