Is This the Silver Bullet?
Why narrowing the gap between the rich and poor could alleviate many social problems.
Why narrowing the gap between the rich and poor could alleviate many social problems.
Fazle Abed explains in this audio lecture how the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) is leading grassroots efforts to achieve the eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh. He describes a multipronged strategy aimed at education, gender equality, health, environmental, economic, and political progress.
Solving the world's big problems takes large-scale solutions, says Fazle H. Abed, founder of Building Resources Across Communities in Bangladesh. In this audio lecture, Abed outlines the development and market perspectives that have enabled his organization to expand and meet his country's needs in key areas, including microfinance, agriculture, and education.
Microfinance, the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans, has proved to be an effective strategy for raising millions of families from poverty worldwide. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the microloan revolution in Bangladesh, explains in this audio lecture how he saw rural poor and women struggle against deeply institutionalized economic systems, and realized the massive change that small loans could provide.
Muhammad Yunus started a movement that has lifted millions out of poverty. When he formed the Grameen Bank in 1983 and started giving out microloans, Yunus bridged the divide between business and social needs. In this audio lecture, he describes how he created microcredit, collateral-free lending, and began offering other business services to the poor. Yunus lays out the path to his extraordinary vision and success, which is driving global social change.
Fair Trade-certified coffee is growing in sales, but strict certification requirements are resulting in uneven economic advantages for coffee growers and lower quality coffee for consumers.
Six pathways to making housing more affordable and available from the Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability.
Why Kiva chose to be a 501(c)(3), what this tax status buys the organization, and how being a nonprofit poses challenges.
A new approach to measuring poverty is needed, one that accounts for multiple factors such as housing, and regional economic differences.
To cure the social sector’s metric monomania, we must get comfortable with complexity.