Innovations in Global Health
Venkatesh Mannar, 2010 Tech Award winner in Health, discusses the large-scale social impact double fortified salt has brought to improving health and nutrition.
Podcast
Poverty
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Welfare Works Better than Bootstraps
In Britain, the social safety net allows people who fall into poverty to pull themselves out. Americans who become poor are more likely to stay that way.
In India, Banking of Self-Service
New micro-deposit ATMs are being deployed to reach India's unbanked.
Building Bridges
Ending poverty is beyond the reach of any single sector or actor
If the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, They Have a Head Start in Cambodia
A Cambodian restaurant trains former street youth for jobs in the hospitality industry.
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Design Thinking for Social Innovation
By working closely with the clients and consumers, design thinking allows high-impact solutions to social problems to bubble up from below rather than being imposed from the top.
The Problem With Fair Trade Coffee
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.
Microfinance Misses Its Mark
Despite the hoopla over microfinance, it doesn't cure poverty. But stable jobs do. If societies are serious about helping the poorest of the poor, they should stop investing in microfinance and start supporting large, labor-intensive industries.
In Microfinance, Clients Must Come First
Few microfinance institutions articulate what, exactly, their ultimate goals are and how to achieve them. If the goal of microfinance is to alleviate poverty, the authors say, then MFIs should focus on helping their clients build successful enterprises, rather than on making more and bigger loans.
Romanticizing the Poor
Market solutions to poverty, which include services and products targeting consumers at the “bottom of the pyramid,” portray poor people as creative entrepreneurs and discerning consumers. Yet this rosy view of poverty-stricken people is not only wrong, but also harmful.