Nexus
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Friday, Mar. 23, 2012
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Who: Abhishek Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO
What: Eko India Financial Services: eko.co.in/
Where: India
When: The Tech Awards 2011 Flextronics Economic Development Award Laureate: thetechawards.thetech.org/
How: Eko facilitates money transfer, deposit, withdrawal and bank account opening services at next-door retail shops using number dialing on basic mobile phones for low income and financially excluded people.
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Thursday, Mar. 22, 2012
Today, March 22nd is the 19th annual World Water Day. The United Nations General Assembly established World Water Day in 1993 as a way to focus attention on the importance of fresh water, and each year chooses a specific theme to emphasize. This year’s theme is water and food security.
While many are celebrating the UN announcement that we have reached the Millenium Development Goals’ drinking water target ahead of schedule (89% of the world’s population with access to “improved drinking water sources”), there is still much work to be done in giving equitable access to water for all.
One group making strides in this arena is social entrepreneurs – leaders of non-profit and for-profit organizations pursuing the social mission of alleviating poverty. In our 9 years of experience with The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBITM) at Santa Clara University, we have trained hundreds of social entrepreneurs to help them build and scale sustainable organizations that solve problems for poor people around the world. Many have set up organizations designed to tackle the challenges of access to and reliability of safe drinking water, efficiently using water for agriculture and food security, and safe and healthy access to improved sanitation. Read on to learn more about their efforts as we celebrate them on World Water Day.
Equity
Though we have met the MDG’s target goal of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water, there is still a great disparity between which people have access and which do not. The number of people in rural areas using an unimproved water source in 2010 was five times greater than in urban areas. On average, women in rural Africa and Asia have to walk 6km a day simply to obtain water.
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Gram Vikas (GSBI ’04) Gram Vikas focuses on creating change at the community level, empowering local families to take responsibility for the health, education, and livelihoods. The water and sanitation program uses a 100% participation guide, teaching everyone how to build, maintain and understand sanitation services, so that everyone in the community—including women and the poor—have access to safe, clean water. |
Reliability
The drinking water target is measured by the number of people with access to “improved” water sources, such as a piped supply, borehole, or protected well. It does not account for whether these sources are reliable, sustainable, or even functional. As long as a borehole exists, it is counted - whether or not water comes out when you turn the tap. In order for water technology to be useful, it must be reliable, and people must have the ability to have it fixed if it breaks.
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Naandi (GSBI ’08) The Naandi Foundation incorporates reverse osmosis and ultra violet technologies to create safe drinking water for India’s poor, resulting in improved health and productivity. Over 390,000 households in India have been reached by Naandi’s water purification technologies. |
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Meridian Design, Inc. (GSBI ‘07) Meridian Design makes safe drinking water available on an individual level, by designing and selling portable water purification devices which are small, hardy, and affordable. |
Agriculture
The MDG focuses on sustainable access to clean drinking water and sanitation; however, there are essential uses for water that are not part of the drinking water target. Water is imperative for every form of food provision--feeding livestock, growing rice and grains, to fish farming. In fact, irrigation accounts for close to 70% of human water usage. Having enough clean drinking water for each individual does not necessarily mean there is enough access to water for farming, industry, sanitation or health - problems which greatly affect a country’s ability to develop.
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International Development Enterprises India (GSBI ’06) IDEI connects smallholder farms in India with inexpensive irrigation devices. This generates a greater yield for the farmers, allowing them to spend their extra earnings on their children’s education, a more nutritious diet, and expanding their farm and livestock. |
Sanitation
The MDG to halve the proportion of the population without sustainable access to basic sanitation appears to be off-track. Poor water sanitation is responsible for the death of 1.8 billion people a year. Unclean water and poor sanitation is the 2nd biggest killer of children, and related illnesses often prevent children from attending school.
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PumpAid (GSBI ’08) Pump Aid is committed to providing clean accessible water sources in Sub-Saharan Africa by building pumps and toilets in communities. Their Elephant Pumps safe, protected water sources that are easily built and easily maintained by the local communities. Their Elephant Toilets are similarly designed with local materials, and they help prevent sanitation-related illnesses. |
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Friday, Mar. 16, 2012
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Who: Santosh Ostwal, CEO & Founder Director
What: Nano Ganesh: www.nanoganesh.com/
Where: India
When: The Tech Awards 2011 Flextronics Economic Development Award Laureate: thetechawards.thetech.org/
How: Nano Ganesh is a remote control system for the agriculture water pumps located in rural areas. Using Nano Ganesh along with a low cost mobile phone, a farmercan remotely switch a pump on or off, check power availability, and check the pump status.
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Friday, Mar. 9, 2012
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Who: Pradip Kumar Sarmah, Founder & Executive Director
What: Rickshaw Bank Project: www.crdev.org/rb.html
Where: India
When: The Tech Awards 2011 Flextronics Economic Development Award Laureate: www.thetechawards.thetech.org/
How: Rickshaw Bank provides a means of self=employment to the poor and the marginalized rickshaw community by offering a “rent-to-own” financing option for rickshaw pullers to purchase an innovative new rickshaw. 95% of rickshaw pullers hire their rickshaw on daily rental basis so much of their earned income is taken up with the next day’s rental fees.
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Wednesday, Mar. 7, 2012
Today, March 8 th, marks the 15 th anniversary of International Women’s Day. Focused on Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, and Progress for All, International Women’s Day is about far more than the continuing effort to shatter the glass ceiling (for more on gender inequity, read this OECD Report and this World Bank Report ).
Around the world, women make up 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty. According to the UN, Women account for a vast percentage of the world’s absolute poor, disproportionally suffering from hunger, disease, environmental degradation and impoverishment. Even more distressingly, women perform 66% of the world’s work, and produce 50% of the food, yet earn only 10% of the income and own 1% of the property ( 2009).
It is becoming clear that investing in women gives more “bang for the development buck” as investments made in women trickle down to positively impact their children and communities. In the developing world women are more and more seen as the societal change agents for lifting themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty. (For more details on the multiplier effect of investing in women and girls read this blog post and watch this GirlEffect video).
In addition, despite systemic imbalances throughout the world, women control the majority of “household” money – the daily funds used for food, cooking fuel, lighting, and children’s education. Taken together, women represent a $10 trillion market, about 1/6 of the world’s economy. In business, too, we see more and more women-led organizations tackling this problem household by household. In our 9 years of experience with The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBITM) at Santa Clara University, we have trained 50 women social entrepreneurs to help them build and scale sustainable organizations that solve problems for people living in poverty. Many have set up organizations designed to empower women and girls.
Below are a few examples of exceptional GSBI alumni tackling some of these issues. We salute them, and the millions of other enterprising leaders striving to end poverty, and the feminization of poverty, for good.
Zipporah Ogwenyi, Binti Africa Foundation, Kenya (GSBI ’08). The Binti Africa Foundation provides poor women and girls in Kenya’s rural areas with access to education and products for health, sanitation, and social empowerment. This includes producing low cost, affordable, and locally produced sanitary pads; providing information about health and rights; and creating clubs with a focus on mentoring and building young girls' confidence.
Suraiya Haque, Phulki, Bangladesh (GSBI ’05). Phulki Provides low cost day care facilities in Bangladesh to enable women to achieve economic emancipation without sacrificing the well-being of their children. Phulki has also begun a project to provide a ‘safety net’, providing counseling, skill training, education and legal services for the thousands of young women working in homes in Bangladesh.
Katherine Lucey, Solar Sister Uganda (GSBI ‘11). Solar Sister eradicates energy poverty by empowering women with economic opportunity. Using an Avon-style distribution system, Solar Sisters sell solar lighting products directly to female heads of household – providing light, hope, and opportunity. Read more on their blog.
Jabeen Jamughodawala, Sahaj, India (GSBI ’09). SAHAJ is a fair trade organization, working with tribal women artisans of eastern Gujarat, India to create home-based livelihood opportunities. SAHAJ economically empowers these women by providing product design and development, business development, marketing, micro finance, and capacity building for women’s craft industries. This helps the women to be able to stay at home, send their children to school and take care of their health and agriculture.
Photo Credit: Gifts and Graces blog
Gregorie Perez, Gifts and Graces, Phillippines (GSBI ‘09). Gifts and Graces works to improve opportunity for the poor and disadvantaged who seek to earn income by making handicrafts and other livelihood products. Those who benefit most are often female entrepreneurs who use their craft to overcome poverty and become leaders and role models in their communities. Gifts and Graces partners with other NGOs to identify marginalized groups, and then provides product development assistance and training which will help them sharpen their creativity, and improve their craft, and strengthen sales.
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Posted by Katie Buck & Carolyn Lucey |
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