Global Envision | The Confluence of Global Markets and Poverty Alleviation

Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/abufaiqa/4434157815/sizes/z/in/photostream/">Salim Photography (Flickr)</a>

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Mobile Technology

From designer crops to social stocks: Our top five posts of 2012

It's holiday season here at Mercy Corps headquarters—time for the Global Envision team to look back on our work this year and look to what's next.

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Mobile Technology

4 surprising ways mobile phones are used in Africa (calls not included)

Africa has been called not just "mobile-first" but "mobile-only", and it's made the continent a hothouse for mobile innovations.

World Inequality Database on Education: Haiti Data <a href="http://www.education-inequalities.org/">visualized</a> helps program designers know who to target.

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Youth Skills

Who needs education most? A new data source visualizes it

In the race to be qualified for good jobs the starting line is jagged-some youth start further ahead than others. The best programs use data to smooth the line out.

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Social Enterprise

Interview: Healthy food carts for kids get a boost from a healthy global partnership in Indonesia

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor.

With these tips SIB's might be ready to do some globe trotting <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcgreer/6562841237/">Photo: dcgreer (flickr)</a>

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How to make social impact bonds work for the global South

Social impact bonds are popping up the world over, and consulting firm Instiglio has five tips for investors and governments looking to make them work in developing economies.

Rural Vietnamese hope to benefit from community latrines. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wanhoff/2684767918/sizes/z/in/photostream/"> Flickr </a>

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Value Chains

Unilever will train rural Vietnamese to build demand for toilets

Unilever is rejecting the latrine handout model in favor of a sanitation market sourced and supported wholly by local entrepreneurs.

Koblah Agbeta holds up rice seeds from his farm in Abutia Kpota, Ghana. Quality seeds are critical for a good harvest. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/48639212@N02/4775000120/">Gates Foundation (Flickr)</a>

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Value Chains

GMO wars should take back seat to other farm issues, says DuPoint Pioneer

A corporate seed manufacturer is suggesting that slowing the spread of genetically modified crops would be acceptable, if that's what it takes to keep industrializing Africa's farms.

The possibility for a strong entrepreneurial market is great in Pakistan. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zerega/4406977310/sizes/m/in/photostream/"> zerega (flickr)</a>

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Youth Skills

Pakistan has every ingredient for growth … except entrepreneurship

Pakistan is at the top of South Asian economies, but by underproducing a crucial product, young entrepreneurs, it's stymied from reaching new heights.

Like this farmer in Kenya, the challenge in Tanzania is connecting smallholder farmers to larger markets. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciat/5366702717/sizes/z/">CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture</a>

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Value Chains

How a Tanzania NGO scrapped grants to build markets that last

When it comes to solving poverty, sometimes the best way to get more done is to move out of the driver's seat.

Kenyan smallholder farmers. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38476503@N08/5367334314/">Photo: CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture (flickr)</a>

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Value Chains

Four ways to make contract farming work for the very poor

Will contract farming, done right, serve as the missing link between small farmers and markets?

Billions of dollars are zooming around the world from one wallet to another. Photo: <a href="http://worldbank.tumblr.com/post/36217284197/which-developing-countries-received-the-most?cid=EXT_TWBN_D_EXT">The World Bank</a>

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Mobile Technology

Follow the [mobile?] money

According to a new World Bank report, most remittances are flowing to India, China, the Philippines, Mexico and Nigeria, most of it in cold, hard cash.

A farmer in Manthralaya, India plows his field. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/58925091@N00/136310496/">Ananth BS (Flickr)</a>

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Value Chains

Farmers invest 50 times more in farms than their countries get in aid

SELCO Technician installing solar panels. Credit: SELCO

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Sustainable Energy

SELCO: A shining star in market-driven social enterprise

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor

In India, one iconoclastic solar company employs deep knowledge of the ways communities use energy to overthrow the traditional means of bringing power to the people.