“I'm going to give you the one thing you'll remember in a years' time, which is about buttons ...”
Paul Collier
Three-quarters of the world’s poorest live in rural areas.
The majority rely on agriculture as their primary income and food source. Secure access to capital, land, technologies and other assets can lead to sustained food security and income generation – as well as contributing to long-term rural livelihoods.
The aim is to move beyond subsistence farming and enable greater financial stability, but not at the expense of the environment. We advance innovations that address these issues not beneficiary by beneficiary but system wide.
May 6 - 12, 2013
Editor's Pick
Innovative microinsurance programme launched to help Rwandan farmers protect their crops
Swiss Re
Some 20,000 farmers in Rwanda stand to benefit from a microinsurance plan designed to aid in protecting their crop investments. Kilimo Salama, "safe farming" in Kiswahili, is a project that offers low-cost microinsurance to maize and bean farmers in southern and western Rwanda, protecting them from financial loss if their crops are damaged by weather.
Some 20,000 farmers in Rwanda stand to benefit from a microinsurance plan designed to aid in protecting their crop investments. Kilimo Salama, "safe farming" in Kiswahili, is a project that offers low-cost microinsurance to maize and bean farmers in southern and western Rwanda, protecting them from financial loss if their crops are damaged by weather.
Editor's Pick
The Rockefeller Foundation Announces Fellows for Inaugural Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation
Rockefeller Foundation
Fellows will have the opportunity to build strategic relationships with a likeminded community of change-makers from across sectors, across issue areas, and across the globe. The program was designed by a collaborative team from the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience at the University of Waterloo in Canada and the Stockholm Resilience Centre atStockholm University in Sweden.
Fellows will have the opportunity to build strategic relationships with a likeminded community of change-makers from across sectors, across issue areas, and across the globe. The program was designed by a collaborative team from the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience at the University of Waterloo in Canada and the Stockholm Resilience Centre atStockholm University in Sweden.
Apr 29 - May 5, 2013
Editor's Pick
Food Aid Reform
New York Times
Food aid is one of the most important tools of American foreign policy. Since the mid-1950s, the United States has spent nearly $2 billion annually to feed the world’s poor, saving millions of lives. But the process is so rigid and outdated that many more people who could be helped still go hungry. Reforms proposed by President Obama will go a long way toward fixing that problem and should be promptly enacted by Congress.
Food aid is one of the most important tools of American foreign policy. Since the mid-1950s, the United States has spent nearly $2 billion annually to feed the world’s poor, saving millions of lives. But the process is so rigid and outdated that many more people who could be helped still go hungry. Reforms proposed by President Obama will go a long way toward fixing that problem and should be promptly enacted by Congress.
Apr 22 - 28, 2013
Debate
Forum 2013
Skoll Original
A Cure for Hidden Hunger
We have reached two related conclusions at Royal DSM, a life-sciences and materials-sciences company with annual revenues of about €10 billion (approximately $13 billion). First, we want to help end hidden hunger, an entirely solvable problem. Second, we understand that no single organization can achieve this goal by itself.
Debate
Forum 2013
Skoll Original
How to Create a Food Revolution
It’s 2013, and we live in a world where the majority of us have a broken relationship with food. There are around two billion undernourished people but also more than one billion who are dangerously overweight or obese, and that number is going up. If you’re reading this in the United States or the United Kingdom, then congratulations: you live in one of the unhealthiest nations in the world.
Apr 8 - 14, 2013
Article
Forum 2013
Forum 2013
People Centered Sustainability
We dream of the day when Fair Trade has become the norm, rather than the exception. In a world where well intentioned top-down approaches to poverty alleviation are proving ineffective, we believe that market based solutions are critical.
Debate
Forum 2013
Skoll Original
Ending Hunger in Africa
Across Africa, there is no shortage of opportunities for entrepreneurs as the continent continues along its explosive development path. In agriculture alone, we need thousands more businesses active in everything from agricultural-input manufacturing and distribution to business and consumer finance, weather and crop insurance, farmer training, market-price information, and crop storage.
Debate
Forum 2013
Skoll Original
Soda pop and Vaccines: Leveraging Consumer Supply Chains to Promote Public Health and Economic Uplift
Every week, Coca-Cola delivers to more than 20 million retail outlets in more than 200 countries. These deliveries don’t just drive our business. They also provide opportunities to enhance the well-being of the individuals and communities we serve. Working to make a difference in our world is our responsibility and our privilege.
Debate
Forum 2013
Skoll Original
How Social Entrepreneurs Deliver New Solutions to Global Problems
Socially entrepreneurial organizations are often lean but always high touch. They build networks of trust that inspire and support local leaders, first to transform their local communities and then to build broader social movements.
Debate
Forum 2013
Skoll Original
Taming Tropical Forest Frontiers
The last nine years of experience in trying to slow deforestation and support sustainable agriculture have demonstrated that single-mechanism strategies are, alone, insufficient. Instead, powerful synergies can be unleashed by linking together approaches that focus on policy innovation, market transformation, and direct support to farm sectors.
