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Guest Post: What Aid Agencies Can do to Boost Social Enterprise
Aid agencies have the capacity to nurture this growing field into a powerful set of new partners in their efforts to rid the world of poverty. But if not handled with care, the growing interest in social enterprise may overwhelm a fragile, nascent network still finding its voice. Five ways aid agencies can constructively engage social enterprise.
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- Social Enterprise
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Africa Election Watch 2011: Niger
One of the biggest determinants of living standards for those at the base of the pyramid too often receives scant attention in the Western press: a presidential election. In 2011, 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa will hold presidential elections. The next presidential election in Africa will take place in Niger, on March 12.
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- Uncategorized
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NextThought Monday: Friending Egypt, the True Value of Social Media
Blotted out in Egypt as an organizing tool by demonstrators and singled out at Davos for its social innovation prowess, Facebook was at the apex of two worlds last week. The uprising shows how quickly social media can fuel protests while exposing income inequality. But social media’s ability to build new enterprises is just finding its footing.
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- Technology
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Participative Innovation: The Transition to a New Model of Social Capitalism
Today, we have a much more complex inter-sector reality. It isn’t unusual to find businesses that act as NGOs, private banks that give donations, development banks that set interest rates above market prices and NGOs implementing profitable projects. One wonders if the sectors are overlapping one another or if they have simply become obsolete.
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- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Practical Progress Via the ’Opportunity Collaboration’
In October, the Opportunity Collaboration convened a group of 300 social investors and entrepreneurs to generate a strong cross-pollination of ideas and action for poverty reduction. In a recent interview, Founder and CEO Jonathan C. Lewis provided an update on the OC’s impact and shared some unvarnished views on the state of microfinance.
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- Impact Assessment
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Targeting the Ultra Poor: The Sustainable Agriculture Puzzle in India?s Most-Destitute State
Continuing our series showcasing the challenges faced by the "ultra poor," and new approaches that differ from traditional poverty alleviation interventions - this post examines the Network for Enterprise Enhancement and Development Support, a nonprofit that works in one of India’s poorest and most natural resource-rich states, Jharkhand.
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- Agriculture
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Break No Promises
With $500 million and marching orders from the Gates Foundation, banks, microfinance institutions, mobile phone operators, regulators, retailers, and telecom companies, will now venture into a world filled with informal financial mechanisms, often deeply embedded in culture and history. Will these informal mechanisms be brought along or trampled?
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- Uncategorized
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Forum Looks at BoP in Brazil
Tomorrow in S?o Paulo, Brazil, NextBillion along with several other stakeholders, will participate an event on "Modelos De Negocios Que Reduzem a Pobreza" or for the non-Portuguese speaker, Business Models that Reduce Poverty. I briefly spoke with Rob Parkison, Coordinator for ANDE’s Brazil Regional Hub and organizer of the event.
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- Uncategorized
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