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The Private Sector’s Perspective on Sustainable Development Goals
With the one-year anniversary of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development approaching in January, a new report reminds us that the UN can and should play a more active role in educating and informing companies on the “universal” dimensions of the SDGs, and of the importance of continuing to translate the new agenda into language and simplified reporting metrics that are palatable for businesses of all sizes.
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- Investing
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Digital Technology is Key to Solving ‘Wicked Problems’ in Agriculture
There's a great need for partnerships between the private sector and government – as well as broader, cross-sectoral partnerships inclusive of civil society, NGOs, farmer organizations, research institutes and academia – in order to collaboratively solve "wicked" problems with information and communication technologies for agriculture.
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- Agriculture
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Thinking Outside the Bag: Bringing Together Private Packaging Firms, Public Procurement to Feed More Hungry People
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) conservatively estimates that 1 percent of all food aid shipped every year is lost to factors like spoilage or physical damage. That’s enough to feed about 200,000 families for a month — $15 million lost each year. This summer, USAID, USDA and American packaging companies are running an experiment with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to understand which kinds of food aid packaging may better prevent spoilage.
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- Agriculture, Technology
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Weekly Roundup: A $350 Million Boost for New Antibiotics, a ‘Brain Drain’ Dilemma and an Impact Investing ‘Ghetto’
With the global health threat posed by antibiotic resistance, it was kind of a big deal this week when a public-private partnership came up with $350 million to encourage pharmaceutical companies to make new antibiotics. We cover that story – along with the challenges of doctor migration, a landmark legal case against fossil fuel companies, and a provocative discussion on women's role in impact investing – in this roundup.
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- Environment, Health Care, Investing
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Equipping a New Era of Global Development
Sometimes it can feel like NGOs, social businesses and big development aid institutions are in competition with one another to improve the world. But in an increasingly complex world, we should view violent extremist organizations, such as ISIS, as development competitors. This perspective was a running theme – but one of several facing social entrepreneurs and global development leaders at all levels – discussed at Devex World.
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- Health Care, Impact Assessment
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How Leveraging Collaborative Expertise Helps Scale Social Impact
Organisations, networks and government should foster a culture of ongoing interactions with people from other sectors and collaborate to develop new structures and business models that can be replicated. The commitment demands time and extended effort. But for those with an appetite to buy into the risk, there is a tremendous potential for social ventures to scale and create a massive impact.
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- Social Enterprise
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Identity is Everything: Creating a Digital ID Future
In the developing world, over 2 billion people lack an official ID, preventing them from accessing services vital to robust economic and political lives, such as bank accounts. Digital identity offers an unprecedented opportunity to level the playing field for each unique person on this planet, helping them raise themselves, and their countries, out of poverty.
- Categories
- Technology
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‘Clubfoot Can Be Solved on a Global Scale’
miraclefeet believes clubfoot can be solved on a global scale and envisions a world where every child can receive treatment. The five-year-old organization partners with local health care providers in public hospitals to support the Ponseti treatment and to ultimately create sustainable clubfoot programs in low-resource countries.
- Categories
- Health Care