Case Studies Archives

Understanding Local Markets Can Create Green Jobs and Improved Livelihoods in African Cities

The transition to a green economy offers the prospect of an improved environment and better livelihoods. But unlocking that opportunity requires understanding local markets and economic incentives.

Agriculture, Business, Climate & Environment, Climate Action, Climate Justice, Gender, Livelihoods and Jobs, Youth

May 3, 2023

Tackling Digital and Financial Exclusion: Women Vendors Raising Themselves Out of Poverty with Social Media Marketing

Women micro-entrepreneurs in Nairobi’s informal settlements struggle to get online and access the credit they need. Hand in Hand and Visa Inc.’s groundbreaking ‘acceleration’ programme tackled digital and financial exclusion, boosting participants’ profits by an average of 95%. Lucy Kerei, Programme Manager at Hand in Hand, Eastern Africa, shares how.

Finance and Investment, Gender, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Technology

April 28, 2023

From Zero to Hero: Establishing the Commercial Mung Bean Sector in Indonesia

Commercialising high yielding mung bean seeds in Indonesia required a collaboration between government and the private sector. PRISMA CEO, Nina FitzSimons, explains how it happened and the role of the market systems development program in facilitating the collaboration.

Agriculture

April 18, 2023

Gender Empowerment: How Carbon Finance & Investing in Climate Solutions Drives Positive Impact

With climate change having an outsize impact on women and girls, particularly those in developing countries, there must be a focus on the link between gender equity and climate as we consider climate solutions. This article highlights the role of carbon finance in channelling investment to projects impacting both, and the need to raise organisations’ climate ambitions.

Climate & Environment, Climate Action, Gender

April 3, 2023

New Research Reveals Women Entrepreneurs are Facing Enormous Challenges: The Private Sector Must Take Action to Close the Gender Gap

The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s latest research reveals the key challenges, motivations, and opportunities for women entrepreneurs. Here, the Foundation’s CEO, Helen McEachern, shares their key findings and calls on the private sector to take urgent action to support women entrepreneurs and help close the global gender gap in entrepreneurship.

Gender

March 28, 2023

How to Build a Robust Human Rights System

Rainforest Alliance and ofi piloted the Assess-and-Address (A&A) system to tackle child labor in Ghana cocoa farming. The A&A system incentivizes farmers to form committees to identify and mitigate child labor risks and put in place a remediation plan. The system complements ofi’s Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System and includes a grievance mechanism and human rights awareness raising. Robust systems, farmer training, and community engagement are key to success.

Uncategorized

March 16, 2023

Gender and Climate Change: Sustainability Systems Supporting Adaptation and Resilience

This article discusses how sustainability systems can contribute to enhancing gender equality and women’s empowerment to promote adaptation and resilience to climate change. The study conducted by ISEAL in partnership with CGIAR shows how sustainability systems can integrate gender criteria in their standards and approaches to make positive contributions, enabling equality in wages and representation.

Climate & Environment, Gender

March 9, 2023

Refugee Employment Through Remote Work: How Na’amal is Creating Change

Na’amal offers refugees and underrepresented communities access to remote work and soft skills training. Their Work Readiness Programme develops non-technical skills like collaboration, innovation, and time management. Since 2020, Na’amal has collaborated with partners for digital training, including MIT ReACT and Techfugees. It’s now starting a refugee training program in Ethiopia. Their Voices of Resilience podcast shares refugee stories to shift societal narratives.

Refugees and Migration

March 2, 2023

Women Smallholders Will Drive Africa’s Transition to Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative agriculture improves the soil, traps carbon emissions and lifts farmers out of poverty. 80% of Kenya’s smallholder farmers are women, which is why Hand in Hand’s regenerative agriculture curriculum places women at its core. The organisation aims to reach one in 20 Kenyan farmers in the next five years.

Agriculture, Gender, Livelihoods and Jobs

February 22, 2023

Time to Act on Mental Health: UNICEF’s Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being

The Global Coalition for Youth Mental Well-being, hosted by UNICEF, was born out of the belief that the mental well-being of youth cannot be addressed by one entity alone but needs collective action. It is time for joint action on mental health

Global Goals, Health, Youth

February 14, 2023

Effective Partnerships: Key to Supporting Climate Vulnerable Communities

Practical Action’s purpose for almost 60 years has been to work with people living in poverty so that they can transform their lives and influence wider systems change so that the changes can be sustained and scaled. This now means that almost everything we do with communities, business or government includes dealing with the impacts of the climate crisis.

Climate & Environment, Climate Justice, Partnerships

January 23, 2023

Women Cotton Farmers and Climate Solutions

CottonConnect believe that climate adaptation and mitigation are more effective when women are involved. Given the right training, skills and tools, women tend to make more sustainable decisions. They bring holistic change to communities and drive progress. When elevated to a decision-making position, women encourage better climate governance and more climate innovation.

Agriculture, Climate & Environment, Climate Justice, Gender

January 12, 2023

Impact Places: Shaping Sustainable, Inclusive Urban (Re)development

How can we strategically improve cities? Shaping them to be more liveable, sustainable and inclusive, with existing local resources? We see “Impact Places” as a solution: real estate development and urban regeneration/re-development integrating holistic impact and (economic) sustainability. Here, we’ve shared our experiences and key learnings from delivering Impact Places in France.

Uncategorized

January 10, 2023

International Migrants Day: Why Access to Remedy is Crucial

Access to remedy is crucial to reduce vulnerability of migrant workers to modern slavery. To honour International Migrant’s Day, Anti-Slavery International’s explains the importance of access to remedy and what businesses can do for a migrant workforce, informed by our successful project aimed at migrant workers in Mauritius.

Human Rights, Refugees and Migration

December 18, 2022

Africa’s Farmers Need Climate Finance. The Private Sector Must Step Up.

COP27 will once again spur discussions about financing climate change mitigation and adaptation. As those conversations happen, we must not lose sight of the vital need to identify financing solutions that empower smallholders on the frontlines of climate change to make their farms more resilient, regenerative, and profitable.

Agriculture, Climate Justice

November 2, 2022

Rethinking Shelter: Bangladesh’s New Approach to Protecting Lives and Livelihoods

BRAC and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) are working together to model and scale up efforts to build climate migrant-friendly cities in Bangladesh, where catastrophic weather events have pushed migrants into overcrowded urban centers. In this article, BRAC expert Dr Md Liakath Ali, explores how a locally led adaptation solution – the mini cyclone shelter – is revolutionizing disaster management in Bangladesh, and setting an example for the world.

Climate & Environment, Climate Justice

October 24, 2022

Access to Menstrual Health & Hygiene Products in Rural Ethiopia

Menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) is a term used to encapsulate the broader systemic factors that link menstruation with health, well-being, equity, empowerment, and individual rights. Leveraging their expertise in market sanitation in Ethiopian communities, a team of iDE-ers sought to expand the organization’s approach through an exploratory study of MHH.

Gender, Health, Water and Sanitation

October 16, 2022

Network of Small-Scale farmers in India Tackle Climate Change

This article shares the story of a network of small-scale farmers in India tackling climate change. It forms part of ANDE’s Stories of Climate Resilience: Small Businesses, Big Impact campaign, that showcases adaptation solutions to climate change driven by entrepreneurs.

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

September 22, 2022

Effective Support for Women Entrepreneurs Goes Beyond Skills Training

When women’s businesses succeed, the benefits to their families and communities are substantial. However, obstacles like those faced by Bernadette are pervasive for women entrepreneurs, often preventing them from reaching their full economic and personal potential. Many women entrepreneurs lack access to the training and resources they need to help them develop their business skills.

Gender, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

September 22, 2022

Steps for improving incomes in banana supply chains

When it comes to boosting earnings for banana growers, only an approach that works for both smallholder farmers and plantation workers can deliver the results the industry really needs, says Naomi Somerville-Large, Senior Technical Lead at the Fairtrade Foundation

Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

September 6, 2022