innovation

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Value Chains

5 ways to support farming irrigation in sub-saharan Africa: Beyond technology

Big government-funded irrigation projects in Sub-Saharan Africa are often expensive and inaccessible, so farmers are taking matters into their own hands.

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Social Enterprise

Shopping for all: Mobile technology as social enterprise

Many social enterprises are incorporating mobile technology into their businesses, making products more accessible to consumers around the world.

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Mobile Technology

The Technology of Nonviolence: How cellphones and crowdsourcing are saving lives and livelihoods

Simple technology is quelling violent conflict in poor countries, and helping people make money as a result.

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Twitter and international development: Who to follow and why

Here's a list of three interesting users to follow for each of Global Envision’s six beats.

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Value Chains

Partnering with the poor: 4 powerful programs fighting poverty

Over the past decade, aid organizations have moved from handouts and giveaways to making markets work for, and by, the poor. Here's four groups leading the charge.

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Financial Inclusion

Quotable: Universal financial access by 2020 is possible

The World Bank president believes that innovations in approach and technology will boost progress on financial inclusion.

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Mobile Technology

Mobile health targets women, yet many don’t have mobile phones

Health care organizations say they can save lives by providing maternal health services via mobile phones, but they have to close the gender gap on mobile technology first.

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Financial Inclusion

When rural clients can't get to the bank, mobile banking vans bring the bank to them

Mobile banking vans in Uganda, Rwanda and the Philippines now offer bank accounts, financial education and microinsurance to rural customers who previously had little access to financial services.

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Mobile Technology

Infographic: Which countries have more mobile money accounts than bank accounts?

Africa is showing the world how mobile money can help build economies.

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Global Ideas News Brief: Managing disaster risks + the globalization conversation

Innovations to change sustainable industries, how natural disasters keep people poor and the new globalization. Staff Picks: What we're reading this week.

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Social Enterprise

New initiative announced at Clinton Global helps small businesses in Indonesia grow online

Choky fears his small handbag store will soon be eclipsed by others he sees online. Soon he'll access web-based business services to grow his business and compete through a for-profit social enterprise created by Mercy Corps, eBay Foundation and ThoughtWorks.

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Sustainable Energy

Free trials and payment plans: Innovative ways to market clean energy products in rural Uganda

Families in rural northern Uganda who cook over open fires and use kerosene as their primary light source face numerous health and safety issues - they should be rushing to buy fuel efficient cookstoves and solar units. Why aren't they?

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Mobile Technology

Tools for tweets: How to stop harassment with online mapping

A nonprofit startup is trying to stop the pervasive harassment of women in Egypt using a revolutionary tool--the Internet.

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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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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.