Global Envision | The Confluence of Global Markets and Poverty Alleviation

Kenyan dairy farmers using iCow saw an increase in profits and milk production. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/6775839248/">Gates Foundation (flickr)</a>

share

In Kenya, a mobile dairy app drives profits skyward

A relatively new mobile app has helped dairy farmers in Kenya increase their profits by 42 percent.

Thanks to co-ops like COOPCAB, the coffee business is back and brewing in Haiti. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27632962@N04/3395940600/">Vilseskogen (flickr)</a>

share

Social Enterprise

As aid to Haiti slows, a private co-op scores loans and turns heads

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor.

Renewable energy could increase by up to 50 times current production with the right support in Yemen. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034363486@N01/1462086624/">Mike Weston (Flickr)</a>

share

Social Enterprise

Social startup hits barriers of capital and stability in Yemen

An exciting all-women startup in Yemen has great ideas to solve an energy crisis but needs more than a good business plan to be commercially successful.

Like everyone else, potential savers are drawn to games of chance. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/94272988@N00/14794343/">MarkyBon</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a>

share

Financial Inclusion

Can cash prizes get people to save money?

Here's an interesting way to get people to save money: instead of paying interest, enter everyone who deposited money in the bank last month in a drawing for a big cash prize.

In Kenya, young people open small businesses to improve their communities such as this tea nursery and mushroom farm. Photo: <a href="http://www.mercycorps.org/photoessay/2012accomplishments#photo-10">Salma Bahramy/Mercy Corps</a>

share

Youth Skills

Youth-led programs: A fresh perspective to solve youth unemployment

A new set of youth employment programs is built on the proposition that the best people to design such programs are young people themselves.

It's hard to get anything to remote parts of Bangladesh--even information. But one nonprofit is using upsells to get there. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/39049548@N05/4162422293/">jankie</a> via <a href="http://compfight.com">Compfight</a>.

share

Value Chains

Can 'freemium' services pay for small-business training in Bangladesh?

A new business model pioneered by the IT industry is helping pay to spread information in more old-fashioned ways through rural Bangladesh.

Indonesian farmers can benefit greatly from information on how to make their products thrive. Photo <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theworldfishcenter/8199313364/">WorldFish (Flickr)</a>

share

Good show! How an NGO convinced commercial TV to serve the poor

Information is power, but only if people have access to it. In 2006, a Swiss NGO teamed with Indonesian media to bring that power to small businesses.

Selling mini packets of health care products is one strategy multinationals use to better meet the pricing needs of small distributors and poorer customers. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49258007@N03/6169154637/">IFPRI IMAGES (flickr)</a>

share

Putting numbers on multinationals' impact is even harder than it looks

Multinational companies like to describe their presence as a boon to developing countries. In a remarkable joint study, Oxfam International and Unilever Indonesia found such claims are valid—sometimes.

Kids teach themselves the alphabet using tablets. Photo: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/olpc/2884605787/in/set-72157608680464156”> One Laptop per Child (Flickr)</a>

share

Youth Skills

The power of play: Touchscreen apps teach kids their letters

Give a kid a tablet and they’ll teach themselves to read.

A 2012 panel discusses Net Impact's goals and achievements over the last 20 years. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27385549@N06/8144906739/">Net Impact (flickr) </a>

share

2013 CSR conferences, summits and symposiums

2013 presents many opportunities to meet and discuss the latest trends in corporate social responsibility, conscious capitalism and the latest "green business" solutions.

Click the link above to scroll around the full infographic.

share

Youth Skills

Infographic: 3 ways post-secondary schooling fails young workers

Global education has left many youth without the skills they need to secure jobs.

Malawian boys are proud of their family's dairy cows. Photo: Jennifer Hyman/Land O'Lakes International Development

share

Value Chains

Land O'Lakes finds success with dairy micro co-ops in Malawi

The top US dairy cooperative has brought decades of expertise to Malawi, creating micro co-ops that pool their milk for purchase by one of the country's largest processors.

share

Sustainable Energy

Sun queens: Barefoot College women turn on the lights in off-grid villages

Solar Sister entrepreneurs earn commissions for the sale of solar energy products to people who need them. Photo: <a href="http://www.solarsister.org/">Solar Sister</a>

share

Sustainable Energy

Solar Sister: Lighting up livelihoods from one sister to another

A recent CNN article explains how one group in east Africa aims to help women create economic opportunities and eradicate energy poverty at the same time through commission-based sales of solar products