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From Our Partners: TechnoServe – the Year Ahead
This is one in a series of articles featuring NextBillion’s 2012 Content Partners in which leaders offer their views on important trends impacting their work and new initiatives to alleviate poverty through market-based solutions. Today we hear from Simon Winter, TechnoServe’s senior vice president for development, who answers questions about TechnoServe’s direction in 2012.
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- Agriculture, Education
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BRAC puts Entrepreneurs to Work Providing Clean Toilets for Millions
In Bangladesh, the development organization's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program gives millions of the rural poor a fresh start with latrines at prices fair to buyers and sellers alike.
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- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Decentralized, Distributed and Disruptive: The New Diseconomies of Scale
Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, economies of scale have ruled the day, with massive investments in power plants, pipelines, factories, and transmission lines to name a few. But increasingly, the technologies of tomorrow will be decentralized, distributed in character and disruptive to incumbent firms and institutions.
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- Environment, Technology
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Best Ideas of 2011: Understanding Three Affordable Housing X-Factors
I spent most of 2011 in Pakistan working at Ansaar Management Company on affordable housing projects in the flood-affected areas. Reflecting on the year, there are three distinct lessons that stand out. I call them X-Factors; lessons that, if understood broadly, could make a significant difference in the way in which housing is provided for all.
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- Uncategorized
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Best Ideas of 2011: Invest in Africa
In Africa today, years of small changes are adding up to potentially big payoffs for the savvy investor. This past year alone saw important gains in good governance and economic growth on the continent, while economic woes continued apace overseas. One of the best ideas of 2011 to gain serious currency can be summarized simply: invest in Africa.
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- Uncategorized
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1,300 Schools is a Good Start, but the True Learning Curve is Sustainable Livelihoods
The recent announcement of Aziz Premji Foundation (APF) to launch 1,300 schools across various districts in India is expected to improve the education scenario in many rural districts. Impressive as it is, focusing on access to education for children, instead of building sustainable incomes for their parents, may not be the bridge out of poverty.
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- Uncategorized
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SELCO: A Business, Ongoing Case Study in Solar-Powered Social Impact
SELCO, a social enterprise traditionally focused on providing solar energy to the rural underserved, has launched a new urban model in India that has helped electrify a set of slum-dwelling households in Bangalore. The early success has been less about the feat of solar power in slums, and more about creating a ripple effect for social impact.
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- Energy, Impact Assessment
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Housing Series: Sustainable Communities Generating Sustainable Habitats
We began Echale a Tu Casa over 25 years ago as a nonprofit to help low-income Mexican families improve home safety, health and hygiene conditions. Realizing that philanthropy would not permit us to have much of an impact on these living conditions, we created a social enterprise built on an integrated system of savings, credit and subsidies.
- Categories
- Environment, Health Care, WASH