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Research: A Plan to Maneuver Female Leadership in Ghana’s Renewable Energy Sector
The country is experience a profound paper-to-practice divide with agencies operating in silos and treating gender as a tangential social issue rather than core economic requirement.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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South African AI Startup Yazi Secures First Institutional Funding at $1.6 Million Valuation
Founded in 2022 by CEO Timothy Treagus and CTO Mzwandile Sotsaka, Yazi is attempting to disrupt the $153 billion global market research industry by moving away from traditional email-based surveys and towards the world’s most used messaging platform: WhatsApp.
- Categories
- Investing, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Hidden Role of ‘E-Boiling’ in Clean Cooking: How Nairobi’s Informal Settlements are Quietly Powering an Electric Transition
As policymakers and funders look for ways to bring clean cooking to Africa’s urban poor, one key reality often goes unnoticed: Electric cooking is already happening in the continent’s informal settlements, just not in the way most people think. June Lukuyu, Nathan Williams, Vongaishe Mutatu, Austine Owuor Otieno, Paul Kyoma Asiimwe and Vijay Modi share findings from their research in Nairobi, which reveal a growing use of electricity for boiling water to cook, make tea, bathe, and sterilize food and drinking water. They argue that this adoption of “e-boiling” offers an entry point for expanding electricity usage in these communities, and explore the implications for clean cooking programs.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Tackling Air Pollution Could Deliver $220 Billion Economic Boost for India, Study Finds
The shift to cleaner technologies and practices could support around 1.4 million job transitions and new employment opportunities, pointing to significant changes in India’s labour market and industrial systems.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care
- Region
- Global
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Big Tech ‘Leave Poor Farmers Sidelined’ In AI Revolution
The report published Wednesday by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) highlights how tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Alibaba are shaping the future of farming through cloud platforms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, attracting substantial public and private investment.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Global
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What Drives Corporate Philanthropy in Asia: Exploring the Region’s Unique Approach to Giving
As Asian wealth has surged in recent decades, so has the region’s corporate philanthropy. According to Gwendolyn Lim and Denise Chew at the Bridgespan Group, the 20 top Asian corporate funders alone commit an average of $3.7 billion annually to social and environmental causes. They explore the factors that are driving this trend — from Asian business culture to government CSR policies — and discuss three widely used approaches to corporate giving in Asia, as highlighted in a recent Bridgespan report.
- Categories
- Investing
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Tech Firms and AI Farming Tools ‘Playing With the Food System’, Warns Thinktank
Google, Microsoft and Amazon among companies using algorithms and AI to influence what crops are grown and how, say critics.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Global
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The Impact Sector is Confusing Satisfaction with Impact: Rethinking the Growing Reliance on Perception Surveys
Measurement standards in the impact sector have shifted toward perception surveys — i.e., forms that ask individuals to rate their personal experience with a program or organization — to quantify success. But as Juan Taborda Burgos, Jorge Bouchot and Miranda Hansen at Root Capital argue, perception-based metrics can mask a program’s ineffectiveness, potentially leading organizations to scale interventions that do not work. They share insights from a recent Root Capital report that reveal the downsides of relying solely on perception data, and offer four actionable principles that can help leaders navigate the pressure to demonstrate impact — while avoiding costly mistakes.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Social Enterprise
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