Sustainable Development to Combat Poverty

A fair trade: putting farmers first in the fight for climate justice

The 22 February marked the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, the annual celebration of all things Fairtrade. It’s a time when individuals, companies and groups across the UK come together to share the stories of the people behind our food and products, and explore how trade justice can be part of the solution to the many challenges they face.

Agriculture, Climate & Environment, Climate Justice

March 15, 2021

Seminar Video: What can companies do to include and support women farmers?

In this seminar video Esther Ngumbi, Assistant Professor of Entomology and African American Studies at the University of Illinois, discusses the critical challenges that women smallholder farmers face to establish and develop their business

Agriculture, Gender

March 11, 2021

A new dawn for women smallholders in India

The work of a female farmer begins well before dawn, and continues well after dusk, and yet in terms of empowerment, agency, and ownership, many women farmers are still in the dark. Harmanpreet Singh, Lead – Smallholder Farming for India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka talks about the evolution of Better Life Farming in India and its positive impact for women smallholder farmers and women agri-entrepreneurs.

Agriculture, Gender

March 8, 2021

Gender is a significant factor in private sector and disaster management

The Connecting Business initiative (CBi) new publication presents the importance of gender in private sector and disaster management, as well as the interconnections between these fields. It includes an introduction to the topic, the results of the research, a special chapter on COVID-19, three case studies and a mapping of close to 200 resources.

Gender, Health, Technology, Water and Sanitation

March 8, 2021

Putting Women in the Driver’s Seat

Longstanding traditions and practices relating to gender stereotypes and cultural acquiescence have a particular impact on the livelihoods and career opportunities for women in the communities where farming is often the biggest employer. What’s clear from this Olam survey is that women driving tractors can be meaningful agents for change.

Agriculture, Gender

March 8, 2021

CARE and Cargill’s cocoa collaboration: Transforming lives together

Cargill and CARE understand the complexity of the interrelated challenges of community development, nutrition, improved livelihoods and women’s empowerment. Here they share the central lesson that they have both absorbed during their decade-long partnership to provide greater opportunity and improve the wellbeing of people in cocoa-growing communities.

Agriculture, Gender

February 24, 2021

Two Unusual Low-Cost Chicken Feed Options for Some of the World’s Poorest Entrepreneurs

Heifer International and Cargill have partnered to improve nutrition and livelihoods for 100 million people worldwide by 2030 through Hatching Hope, a program supporting sustainable smallholder poultry farming that is currently operating in India, Mexico, Kenya, Colombia and Cambodia.

Agriculture, Food and Nutrition, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

February 21, 2021

A Love Story Turned Passion Project

A love story turned passion project, this is an article about relationships. We see how a young couple have strived to build an ethical business founded on love. Chocolate and Love is a growing family business that supports equitable trade relationships for the purpose of driving social change from crop to consumer in the world of chocolate.

Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

February 10, 2021

A just transition is undermined by a disconnect between human rights and climate issues

In this crossover between WBA’s Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) and the Automotive Benchmark’s Performance Update for 2020, the research raised a startling outcome: almost no correlation could be found between a company’s relative performance on either benchmark, suggesting an alarming disconnect between actions on climate and human rights issues.

Climate & Environment, Climate Justice

February 10, 2021

Faced with the COVID-19 Pandemic, Farmers in Ecuador Innovate a Whole New Food System

There was no way for small-scale farmers in Ecuador to anticipate the COVID-19 pandemic more than a year ago when they started diversifying the products they grew and mapping efficient paths to get them to hungry urban markets. But when the coronavirus hit the South American nation hard, these farmers found themselves well-prepared to keep homebound customers fed.

Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

February 10, 2021

Developing your social impact strategy with Lisa Manley

How to develop a social impact strategy for business? Lisa Manley, Global Vice President of Sustainability from Mars shares all.

Agriculture, Climate & Environment, Climate Justice

February 7, 2021

What are Green Skills?

Simply put, green skills are the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society.

Climate & Environment, Climate Justice

February 7, 2021

Unlocking the power of data for sustainability systems

With data being described as ‘the currency of the future’, it’s vital that sustainability systems make the most of their data assets to support the environmental and social transformations our world needs. Read more on unlocking the power of data for sustainability systems from ISEAL’s Robert Lefebure.

Climate & Environment, Climate Justice

January 25, 2021

We can’t ignore mindsets if we want to reset capitalism

Does the disruption created by Covid-19 create opportunities to reset capitalism in the long term, or will inertia prevail? That is the key New Year question as we look beyond the Covid crisis to possible future pathways. Sally Uren and Caroline Ashley of Forum for the Future, argue that what happens next in capitalism could be down to hearts and minds, not the market

Climate & Environment

January 13, 2021

Inclusive businesses’ insights to staying resilient in times of crisis

Inspiring inclusive businesses have invested in their relationships with stakeholders, shared experiences and strengthened public-private partnerships to stay resilient during the Covid-19 pandemic and tackle the needs of low-income communities around the globe in times of crisis.

Agriculture, Innovative Business Models, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

January 12, 2021

Diversifying livelihoods for Maasai people: The value of business

Small-scale enterprises are key in helping Maasai communities rise out of poverty. One example of these is beekeeping which brings not only financial benefits but also greater independence and influence for women in a traditionally patriarchal society. With Covid-19 having decimated tourism incomes in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, diversified livelihoods have never been more important.

Agriculture, Gender

January 11, 2021

Kicking our addiction to plastics

The pandemic has seen plastic waste skyrocket, while corporates continue to pump out single-use plastic packaging that’s found dumped all around the world. But a new inter-disciplinary research network at the University of Birmingham is looking to tackle the problem with infinitely recyclable polymers and collaborative projects with business.

Climate & Environment, Climate Justice

January 8, 2021

Clearing the Air in Darfur

In Darfur, shared knowledge and improved technology is making cooking at home safer and cheaper. Practical Action teamed up with the Women’s Development Association to educate communities and introduce new Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) stoves in El Fasher. Reducing carbon emissions and giving thousands of families clean homes, clean lungs and more money to spend on essentials.

Climate & Environment, Climate Justice, Gender, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

January 7, 2021

Impact enterprises collaborate with the public sector to provide sanitation services

Solutions to the global sanitation crisis can be generated by a multilateral approach, blending the expertise, research and support of the private sector with the focus and structure of the public sector to enable innovative local enterprises to deliver long-term, desirable solutions. This approach is increasingly being implemented, with a number of examples of businesses, enterprises and public sector stakeholders working together to deliver lasting responses to the sanitation crisis.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Water and Sanitation

January 6, 2021

Sustainable Development

Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals