accessing markets

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Global Ideas News Brief: Should business solve society's biggest problems?

Why business can be good at solving the world's problems, escaping the cycle of scarcity, and the data revolution reaching further. Staff picks: What we're reading this week

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Value Chains

T-shirts, technology and trade: Planet Money host says experimentation, not theory, key to cutting poverty

Making t-shirts can help lift a country out of poverty, but t-shirts alone no longer cut it, according to economic journalist Adam Davidson.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Tech hubs in Libya and Egypt + Western Union goes mobile

Turmoil doesn't stop entrepreneurs in Egypt and Libya, Western Union gets further in to mobile money and land grabs may not the the most profitable option. Staff picks: What we're reading this week

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Sustainable Energy

Nom, Nom, Nom: The Earth Will Eat Itself

We're plundering the earth’s natural resources at an incredibly fast rate--so fast that the planet cannot keep pace. But innovations and investments in renewable energy offer a glimmer of hope.

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Sustainable Energy

Poverty and climate change: An interview with Eliot Levine, Mercy Corps senior climate change advisor

When Cyclone Nargis ravaged Myanmar in 2008, inundating its lowlands and killing some 138,000 people, experts blamed the severe weather conditions on climate change.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Big data for climate resilience + Costs of sanitation

Big data creates a new underclass, poor sanitation drains resources, and how cell phones are transforming healthcare in Africa. Staff picks: What we're reading this week.

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Financial Inclusion

Day 1 at Mobile Money: Technology to Transform Transactions

What’s the best way to deliver on the promise of mobile money to bring financial inclusion to the BoP? The Center for Effective Global Action hosted dozens of telecommunications, banking, research and mobile money experts to explore that question.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Grapes in Afghanistan + Rodman in North Korea

Staff Picks: What we're reading this week. Afghan farmers face future uncertainty, Dennis Rodman talks about his N. Korea trip and the global elite's favorite strongman.

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Global Ideas News Brief: The 5 stages of innovation at scale

Staff Picks: What we're reading this week. Lessons on scaling social innovation, the business of beer meets the ugliness of war, and Google Translate adds African languages.

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Value Chains

How to survive on less than five acres in India: Three ways farmers can go mobile

Smallholder farmers are overwhelmingly poor and have little control over the ups and downs of the marketplace. Three organizations are helping smallholder farmers turn the tables through mobile technology.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Starbucks in Colombia + Afghans' views on Western influence

Staff picks: What we're reading this week. Wiring the world, Starbucks opens in Bogota, and Afghans share their view on the West's influence.

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Value Chains

Is charity: water the Expedia of philanthropy?

Aid agencies and their donors debate: Is it more effective for a charity to build and maintain wells or help people get loans to buy materials for wells and their upkeep? The decision might be made by the charity with the biggest coffers.

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Value Chains

How to make markets work for the poor--and measure the results

Despite local demand for hay, Kenyan dairy farmers face milk shortages due to lack of quality supply. But instead of handing over the hay, why not bring the hay market to the farmers?

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Global Ideas News Brief: Measuring shared value + Cash transfers

Staff picks! What we're reading this week: Corporate leaders struggle to implement shared value, two views on cash transfers to the poor, and how to donate.