Women

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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>

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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

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.

Women with small businesses who lost inventories can make up the loss with the Kore W loan product offered by MiCRO and Fonkoze. Photo: Jeremy Barnicle for Mercy Corps.

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Financial Inclusion

Hurricane Sandy triggers largest Haiti microinsurance payout to date

The reinsurance company Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organisation (MiCRO) will make a significant payout to the Haitian microfinance institution Fonkoze following Hurricane Sandy.

The women in TYO's WISE program participate in a wide array of trainings, including Business English classes like this one. Photo: Lila Wakili (<a href="www.tomorrowsyouth.org">Tomorrow's Youth Organization</a>)

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Financial Inclusion

Incubating women's businesses in Palestine

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor.

Deep in the foothills of Darjeeling. Photo: Mercy Corps

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Teatime chat with Tazo and Starbucks

Kenyan flower farmers are making more money thanks to a new middleman. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/2629345354/">Photo: World Bank (flickr)</a>

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Value Chains

Your Walmart bouquet may have been grown by these Kenyan farmers

Flower growers in Kenya have plenty to sell, but no buyers. Meanwhile big-box retailers in the U.S. and UK want more flowers. New research reveals that a middleman connecting them could be profitable for both.

As an insurance holder, she knows the next big storm won't wipe out all her assets. Photo: Fabiola Coupet/Mercy Corps

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Inside microinsurance, a view from Haiti

As Tropical Storm Isaac hit Haiti in late August, all eyes were watching to see whether the country would be overwhelmed by the latest storm.

Many of the women who will receive insurance payouts earn less than $2 a day selling small wares and staple foods. Photo: Jeremy Barnicle/Mercy Corps

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Tropical Storm Isaac triggers microinsurance payout for small business owners in Haiti

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor.

With just a few simple materials, a community can map boundaries and see how they fit within the larger city. Photo courtesy "Design With the Other 90%: CITIES"

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Portland hosts the West Coast Premier of "Design With the Other 90%: CITIES"

Of the world’s 7 billion people, 1 billion now live in urban slums.

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Afghanistan's superhero: mobile phones fight crime, liberate women and enrich the poor

As Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications provider, Roshan’s mobile phone service is transforming security, information sharing and entrepreneurship in the world’s second most corrupt country.

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Quotable: Graca Machel wants women to play a leading role in Africa's growth story

In her keynote address at the second African Women Economic Summit in Lagos last week, Dr.

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Q&A with Mercy Corps' Global Gender Advisor

Mercy Corps’ Global Gender Advisor, Sahar Alnouri, speaks to Global Envision about the difference between women's programs and gender programs, how a tsunami can unexpectedly transform sexual politics and how to pursue your organization's mission without ignoring local norms.

How aid programs affect women and girls depends on men and boy, too. Photo: Cassandra Nelson, Mercy Corps

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Why gender matters to every aid effort (Q&A)

For some aid organizations, gender isn’t just a women’s issue anymore. Sahar Alnouri, Mercy Corps’ Global Gender Advisor, is targeting gender dynamics—the roles men, women, boys and girls play within their communities—throughout Mercy Corps programs around the world.