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Wednesday, May 15, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

SARS-Like Virus Vaccine Unlikely, Experts Say

Source: ABC News
A virus similar to SARS has spread through hospitals in Europe and the Middle East, prompting fears of human-to-human transmission.
TAGS:health care, public health
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

New global surveillance tool detects, monitors public concerns about vaccines in real time

Source: Medical XPress
Scientists have developed a global media surveillance system that enables them to look for, and systematically monitor, up-to-the-minute public concerns and rumors about vaccines originating from 144 countries.
TAGS:health care, public health
Monday, April 22, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

10 Things I Learned At Skoll World Forum 2013

Source: Forbes
The 10th annual Skoll World Forum, which brought together several hundred of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs to Oxford, wrapped up last week.
TAGS:microcredit, social enterprise
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

Building A Cell Phone That Doesn’t Kill People

Source: Co.Exist
Bas van Abel leads an innovative electronics company. But, unlike Apple or Samsung, he’s not particularly interested in the latest voice activation or finger-swiping technology.
TAGS:mobile phones, social enterprise
Tuesday, March 05, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

In Turkey, Economic Opportunities for Women Coincide With More Domestic Abuse

Source: PBS Newshour
In Turkey, a fast-changing society has brought new opportunities for women, but also increased domestic abuse.
TAGS:social enterprise
Wednesday, February 27, 2013 — Europe & Eurasia

What the NHS can learn from innovative healthcare practices abroad

Source: The Guardian
From clinical services to specialised care, there are many models of affordable healthcare.
TAGS:health care, public health
Thursday, November 29, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Three Things Governments Should Do For Social Entrepreneurship

Source: Forbes
Today, Europe’s leaders are discussing a $1,000 bn budget framework for the EU, and for the first time, there are budget lines for social entrepreneurship – although you may have to find them with a very large magnifying glass.
TAGS:governance, social entrepreneur
Monday, November 19, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Unilever's Hygiene Brand Domestos To Break Taboo Of The Loo

Source: CSR Wire
LONDON And ROTTERDAM, Nov. 19 /CSRwire/ - Unilever, through its leading hygiene brand Domestos, today – World Toilet Day - announced new initiatives to raise awareness for the global sanitation crisis. ‘Toilets for Health’, a white paper by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Domestos, gives new insights in the sanitation crisis.
TAGS:Base of the Pyramid, sanitation, sustainability
Thursday, October 11, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

GlaxoSmithKline opens door on data in bid to aid discovery of medicines

Source: The Guardian
British drugs company releases findings of clinical trials and announces new effort to find tropical disease cures
TAGS:health care, pharmaceutical industry, research, social impact
Friday, October 05, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Kyrgyzstan's Leading Microfinance Institution, Bai Tushum, Becomes A Bank

Source: The Herald Online
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Oct. 5, 2012 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On September 26 microfinance company Bai Tushum and Partners received preliminary permission from the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic to operate as a bank.
TAGS:financial inclusion, Microfinance
Friday, September 28, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Deutsche Bank Announces Essential Capital Fund at 2012 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting

Source: Daily Finance
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Deutsche Bank announced its Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting. The commitment was to the structuring of the Essential Capital Fund (the "Fund") which defines an innovative approach to providing early stage high risk money to support the impact investing sector.
TAGS:conferences, impact investing, investment fund, startup
Friday, September 21, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Apply for the Siemens Stiftung Foundation: Empowering People Award

Source:

With the “empowering people. Award”, the Siemens Stiftung would like to identify efficient technical solutions which empower people in developing and emerging countries to independently combat existential problems in basic supply.
TAGS:corporate engagement, events and competitions
Thursday, September 20, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Microfinance Leaders Launch Global Appeal For Responsible Industry Practices

Source: MarketWatch Press Release
WASHINGTON and PARIS, Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Microfinance leaders today unveiled the "Global Appeal for Responsible Microfinance," a landmark document urging all microfinance stakeholders to take concerted action to ensure a strong and principled microfinance industry. The Appeal was announced at the Convergences 2015 World Forum in Paris.
TAGS:conferences, governance, Microfinance
Wednesday, August 29, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Reverse innovation brings social solutions to developed countries

Source: The Guardian
Social entrepreneurship often focuses on finding solutions to problems in the developing world. But, as the European Union battles with the ongoing recession and the US experiences rising levels of poverty, social enterprise solutions are increasingly appropriate in advanced industrial countries as well.
TAGS:consumer products, poverty alleviation, social entrepreneur
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Unilever sees 'return to poverty' in Europe

Source: The Telegraph
Unilever will adopt marketing strategies used in developing countries in order to drive future growth in Europe, as the head of its European business warned that poverty will rise in the region as a result of the debt crisis.
TAGS:consumer products, poverty alleviation, pricing, retail
Tuesday, May 29, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

What Exactly Is Social Entrepreneurship?

Source: Forbes
We’re talking about success and social value. Today many people lump this in a special category: social entrepreneurship. We’re not sure exactly what that is, so we’re interested in learning more. As it turns out, so were two Tuck class of 2013 students, Christopher Halstedt and Brad Callow. This past spring they did an independent study Senior Associate Dean Bob Hansen and Gregg on exactly this topic. They set out to see if they could understand what exactly is social entrepreneurship and how it creates social value. Here are some excerpts from what they found:
TAGS:social entrepreneur, social impact
Thursday, May 17, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Social Edge to Merge with Skoll World Forum

Source: Skoll Foundation/Press Release
The Skoll Foundation today announced the merging of Social Edge and Skoll World Forum into a new year-round platform, Skoll World Forum Online:
TAGS:social entrepreneur
Tuesday, March 27, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

The Argidius Foundation and ANDE Announce Finance Challenge to Stimulate Small Businesses in Emerging Markets

Source: Press Release
Competition aimed at providing entrepreneurial finance will award up to two million euros
TAGS:ANDE, financial inclusion
Friday, March 16, 2012 — Europe & Eurasia

Finding the Line Between Technical and Political Solutions to Water Challenges

Source: The Guardian
Technology can increase access to water and sanitation; other solutions seem to hinge on policy. But are the two areas distinct?
TAGS:sustainability, technology, water
Friday, December 09, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Global Microcredit Summit 2011 Report

Source: Microfinance Focus
Monday, November 14th 2011 saw the culmination of several years of delicate preparation in a packed conference centre in Valladolid, Spain. The fifth Global Microcredit Summit (held every few years - with regional conferences in between) kicked off in the magnificent Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, with an opening ceremony full of music, pomp, and a great deal of gratitude - in the particular direction of Sam Daley-Harris, the outgoing Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign. Queen ...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, December 06, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Endeavor Takes Center Stage at Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Istanbul

Source: Business Wire
ISTANBUL--( BUSINESS WIRE )--This week, more than 120 Endeavor network members have gathered in Istanbul to participate in the 2 nd ...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

HSBC Invests ?4m in Big Issue Invest Social Enterprise Fund

Source: Civil Society
Big Issue Invest has edged closer to its £10m target for its Social Enterprise Investment Fund, with HSBC Bank investing £4m, bringing the total committed capital to £8m. Big Issue Invest (BII) is now seeking to raise a further £2m to complete its £10m target by the March 2012. The Social Enterprise Investment fund aims to provide creatively structured, medium-term growth capital to social enterprises that have the potential to have a significant social imp...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

A Decade of Microfinance and Improved Child Well-being in Kosovo

Source: AlertNet
Ten years after microfinance institution (MFI) KosInvest began work in Kosovo, its clients, staff and partners are celebrating improved child well-being thanks to loans for poor rural families and the peacebuilding work of World Vision in Kosovo. Since its inception, KosInvest has impacted the lives of 40,000 children through 12,000 loans totaling US$24 million and 16,000 jobs, which have been created or sustained through microfinance. KosInvest was established in 20...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, November 22, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Microfinance Works - For the Rich

Source: International.to
VALLADOLID, Spain, Nov 18 (IPS) - Jesús Guerra, a volunteer at this week's Fifth Global Microcredit Summit in this Spanish town, was nonplussed by the expensive gold watch sported by a banker from a developing country. "When I volunteered to help at the Summit I thought this was different," Guerra told IPS. "I believed that everybody who worked in microfinance wanted to end social injustices, but here I am listening to a lot of people saying that the goal i...
TAGS:No Tags
Wednesday, November 16, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

?Challenges and Solutions? on Day Two of the Global Microcredit Summit

Source: Microfinance Focus
"What's the one thing you know for sure about clients of microfinance?" This was the question with which the lead author of a new paper, Anton Simanowitz, began the plenary session on day two of the Global Microcredit Summit 2011. "The answer", he said, "is that at some point, they will suffer a shock beyond what they can cope with; and which is greater than their incomes". How MFIs understanding this fact, face up to it, plan for it, determines whether microfinance has ...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Proposed Seal of Excellence Dominates Day One of Global Microcredit Summit

Source: Microfinance Focus
There are summits virtually every week nowadays. Networks, funds, and commercial banks - everyone seems to be inviting everyone along to come and discuss the future of the industry. For the most part, these conferences can be little more than distractions at best. At worst, they can be junkets: opportunities for a trip to a new place while the poor MFI, which is struggling anyway, foots the bill. The Global Microcredit Summit, one must admit, is different. For one thing, it happens ever...
TAGS:No Tags
Friday, November 11, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Social Business is About Future of Humanity

Source: The Daily Star
The third Global Social Business Summit began in Vienna yesterday to discuss the progress of global movement of the new business concept to find ways to tackle the most pressing needs of the world. Chancellor of Austria Werner Faymann inaugurated the summit at the Congress Centre of the Austrian capital. Dr Michael Haupl, mayor of Vienna, greeted more than 500 delegates from 56 countries. With the motto of "Pioneering for Results," the 2011 summit has brought together indivi...
TAGS:No Tags
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Why We Prefer Social Enterprises and Co-ops as Business Partners

Source: Guardian.co.uk
At HCT Group, we believe that social enterprises and co-ops make natural business partners. When the time comes to find a new supplier, we will always ask if a social enterprise or a co-op can fit the bill. The recent publication from Social Enterprise UK, Fightback Britain showed that 29% of all social enterprises receive some work from other social enterprises. We would have hoped that that number...
TAGS:No Tags
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Afghanistan's Vast Mineral Deposits Could Lift it Out of Poverty

Source: Guardian.co.uk
For all the column inches and hours of negotiations spent discussing Afghanistan 's recent past, present and future, one of the most pressing parts of the puzzle remains largely overlooked and poorly understood. The country sits on top of vast mineral deposits, which, if properly managed, offer the best chance of lifting a generation out of poverty and weaning the country off internati...
TAGS:No Tags
Monday, September 26, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Social Enterprise: Summit Says that the Geography of the World's Poverty Has Changed

Source: Justmeans
It is clear that our changing world needs new approaches, flexible thinking and more social enterprise. Recent global factors such as the financial collapse, the food and fuel price crisis, and the increasingly rapid burn of climate change has been a challenge for the current model of international development. To find innovative solutions, the largest gathering of its kind with over 800 specialists organised by the Development Studies Assoc...
TAGS:No Tags
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

The Robin Hood Tax: A Small Step for Capitalism, a Big Stride for Development

Source: Guardian.co.uk
What connects hunger in Africa, people dying for want of medicines or health care and fast-paced global capitalism? A small tax on financial transactions. A new report about computer-driven high frequency trading (HFT), compiled by supporters of the Robin Hood tax campaign, reveals a niche world of millions of transactions each day. The report highlights how HFT threate...
TAGS:No Tags
Monday, August 01, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Impact Capital is the New Venture Capital (Part II)

Source: Reuters
The first part of this essay laid out the rationale for impact investing, whereby investors can simultaneously create social impact and achieve financial returns. How can we bring it about? First, we need an enabling environment. In the 1970s and 1980s, the venture capital community argued successfully for changes in taxation and the regulation of financial institutions ...
TAGS:No Tags
Wednesday, June 08, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Bill Drayton receives Prince of Asturias Award in International Cooperation

Source: Ashoka.org
Oviedo, Spain - June 8, 2011. Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in International Cooperation today, Spain's highest honor and Nobel equivalent. An international jury deliberated over the 25 finalists from 18 different countries who were under consideration for this award, before making the announcement live via satellite. Recipients are awarded 50,000 euros, a specially commissioned Joan Miró sculpture, a di...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Social Performance Start-up Fund for Networks to be Launched Soon

Source: Microfinance Focus
The Social Performance Start-up Fund to support national microfinance networks in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, is scheduled to be launched in May, 2011. The project is funded by the Ford Foundation and will be implemented by the Microfinance Center (MFC). The SP Start-up Fund committee is the strategic advisory body for the Fund Management and will provide an opinion on the strategic decisions taken, on service providers, and ensure the accomplishment of objectives. The Social...
TAGS:No Tags
Thursday, April 07, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Germany Gives Extra ?14 Million to Fund Child Immunizations; Gates Foundation to Match It

Source: The Canadian Press
BERLIN - The German government says it is providing an extra €14 million ($19.9 million) in funding for child immunization in the developing world as part of an agreement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Development Aid Ministry says the Gates foundation will match the €14 million funding of projects overseen by the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization. It also will match any further pledges Germany makes over the next two years. Billionaire ph...
TAGS:No Tags
Wednesday, April 06, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Bill Gates: International Community to Miss MDG's 2015 Deadline

Source: Devex
The U.N. Millennium Development Goals can be reached if donor countries keep their commitments to increase aid spending to 0.7 percent of their incomes, but the 2015 deadline will be likely missed by up to six years, U.S. billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has predicted . The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation trustee made the remarks in front of the European Parliament's Development Committee on Tuesday (April 5).
TAGS:No Tags
Monday, April 04, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Turkish Mother of 12 Looking to Expand with Microcredit Success

Source: Daily News & Economic Review
Ay?e Gams?z, a 72-year-old widow and mother of 12, has been struggling to make ends meet by growing vegetables for the past 35 years. Despite the years of hardships, Gams?z, from the northwestern province of Düzce, has succeeded in saving enough money to send four children to university. Now, however, Gams?z has another reason to be proud after taking home an award in the Personal Struggle Category at the recent Citibank Fourth Microcredit Awards. "After my husband passed awa...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Give Keynote Address at Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship

Source: Sys-Con Media
OXFORD, England, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Skoll World Forum is the leading international platform for accelerating entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions to the world's most pressing social issues. The theme for the 2011 Forum is 'Large Scale Change - ecosystems, networks and collaborative action.' The programme covers a wide variety of complex global issues such as water, energy, food security, climate change, peace and security, social equity and eme...
TAGS:business case, consumer products
Thursday, March 10, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

American Expat Helps Hong Kong Startups Find Footing

Source: Fast Company
The Hong Kong social enterprise scene is just getting going --and so is the startup movement. A cofounder of StartupsHK and BootHK , Jonathan Buford, tells Fast Company that it all comes down to one word: community . With the lure of the safety and comforts that come with a hi...
TAGS:consumer products
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Bridges Fund Tops ?11.75m with JP Morgan Investment

Source: Socialenterpriselive.com
A fund for social entrepreneurs run by Bridges Venture has topped £11.75m following a £2.75m investment from JP Morgan. The sustainable growth investor's Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund opened in 2009 to address the funding gap faced by fast-growing social enterprises. Its first £9m was funded by the Office for Civil Society, Nesta, R&S Cohen Foundation, Deutsche Bank, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and others. The Bridges Ventures team has also alloca...
TAGS:No Tags
Thursday, January 27, 2011 — Europe & Eurasia

Local ?Bridge-Maker? Turns Up at Davos

Source: thestar.com
Shawn Ahmed is tweeting gleefully about the white all-access badge he's been handed at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where politicians and CEOs are meeting this week to try to solve some of the world's biggest problems. The 29-year-old Canadian landed a coveted seat representing the YouTube community after winning an international online competition called the Davos Debates. It's a coup for a guy from Richmond Hill who ditched a graduat...
TAGS:consumer products, impact investing
Monday, January 04, 2010 — Europe & Eurasia

Better Vision for the World, on a Budget

Source: New York Times
EGHEL, the Netherlands — With AIDS , ...
TAGS:No Tags
Thursday, May 14, 2009 — Europe & Eurasia

Re-emerging Poor a Target for Some Retailers

Source: Reuters
BELGRADE (Reuters) - As recession squeezes the fledgling middle classes of emerging economies, special shops for the poor are seizing the opportunities. Slovenia and Serbia are among countries opening "SOS" shops that allow custom only from those officially registered as poor, who need special cards to access them. "We see this effort as a new retail concept," Trade Minister Slobodan Milosavljevic said at a ceremony in March to open the first SOS shop, a whitewashed old house with...
TAGS:No Tags
Thursday, July 24, 2008 — Europe & Eurasia

Travel-Blogue Day 6: Muhammad Yunus? Next Big Thing

Source: Business Week Blog
The way Noble Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus sees it, the micro-credit revolution is running its course in his home country of Bangladesh. Between his Grameen Bank and other NGOs, which together make Bangladesh the most heavily micro-credit-enabled place on earth, he estimates that about 80% of the poor families that might want to participate are being served already. His goal is for Grameen to help finish the job by 2012. What's next? Health care. This is the biggest ...
TAGS:No Tags
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 — Europe & Eurasia

Source: BBC
Migrant workers sending money home has become the biggest source of foreign income in some poor European countries, the World Bank has said. In a report on European and Central Asian (ECA) nations, the bank said that remittances sometimes beat foreign investment aid and exports in size. Officially recorded payments in the region - which includes former Soviet states - were over $19bn (?9.67bn). The largest amount of remittances, as a share of GDP, were sent to...
TAGS:No Tags
Thursday, September 14, 2006 — Europe & Eurasia

EBRD signs first Mongolia project, microfinance loan

Source: Yahoo! Asia News
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed its first project in Mongolia on Wednesday, a $5 million loan to XacBank, which specialises in microfinance. The funds will be lent on to small and micro-businesses throughout the country. XacBank, licensed four and a half years ago, offers loans ranging in size from $27 to $150,000, according to its Web site (www.xacbank.org). Continue reading ...
TAGS:No Tags
Friday, January 27, 2006 — Europe & Eurasia

IFC to Help Kyrgyz Not-for-Profit Group Reach More Microentrepreneurs

Source: ifc.org
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, today signed an agreement to provide a $2.2 million financing package to Micro Credit Agency Bai Tushum Financial Foundation, one of Kyrgyzstan?s leading micro lending institutions. Through the package, IFC will support the transformation of Bai Tushum from its present not-for-profit status to a more sustainable, commercially-oriented, deposit-taking financial institution that can serve as a...
TAGS:No Tags

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