COVID Archives

Weathering COVID-19: Small and Micro Businesses in Pakistan

Amid the pandemic, women entrepreneurs suffered due to school closures and business shutdowns, highlighting gender inequalities and SDG challenges. Seizing hope from stories like Seema, who embraced digital tools, calls for collaborative efforts. Southern Voice’s article enriches SDG discussions with diverse Global South perspectives, advocating for inclusive policies and knowledge-sharing to empower women entrepreneurs

Corporate Impact, Gender, Global Goals, Health, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

August 24, 2023

Eco-Green Teens Project: Empowering Nigerian Youth for Sustainable Agriculture

The Eco-Green Teens Project, initiated by a team in Nigeria, addresses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on food insecurity and rising prices. Through financial literacy and sustainable agriculture education, rural teenagers learned to cultivate staple foods and embrace a bio-circular economy. Empowered by the Global Youth Mobilization, the program fosters entrepreneurship and addresses UN SDGs.

Agriculture, Climate & Environment, Climate Action, Climate Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Education, Finance and Investment, Global Goals, Health, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

August 11, 2023

How can business support vulnerable people and communities in the face of the poverty tsunami?

COVID, conflict and climate change are among a confluence of challenges driving a tsunami of poverty that is already crashing into the lives of

Climate Justice, Corporate Impact, Health

February 13, 2023

Supporting Waitrose Workers in Kenya Through the Pandemic

Working with INGO Farm Africa, Waitrose & Partners Foundation provided a financial support package to give additional support to Waitrose suppliers in Kenya affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Support has included PPE, healthcare, childcare, food packages for workers on reduced earnings and helping smallholder farmers to restart the supply of vegetables.

Agriculture, Health

July 12, 2022

How COVID-19 has accelerated financial inclusion and reinforced the need for digitalisation

Two billion people across the globe lack access to formal financial services and approximately 90% of these live in developing countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated growth but also increased the danger that those at the very margins of society, could get left behind. A new study examines crucial lessons learned over the past 12 months from organisations striving to continue to support vulnerable people access finical services throughout the pandemic, to prevent vital progress from being undone.

Finance and Investment, Health, Technology

November 17, 2021

Refocus, retool, reset: insights from a COVID-19 rapid response & recovery programme

YBI today launches a new report ‘Refocus, Retool, Reset: Insights from Youth Business International’s COVID-19 Rapid Response & Recovery Programme’, sharing our learnings and insights from YBI’s Rapid Response and Recovery Programme, supported by Google.org and delivered by a total of 34 YBI network members and delivery partners across the EMEA, APAC and MENA regions.

Health, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Youth

November 15, 2021

The role of social procurement for inclusive value chains

By definition, social procurement leverages the purchasing power of companies to achieve broader social impact objectives. It goes beyond responsible sourcing which integrates and manages ESG criteria into the procurement process. Instead, it focuses on buying goods, materials, or services from social businesses with the explicit intention to create net positive impact.

Climate & Environment, Health, Innovative Business Models

October 25, 2021

The pandemic, supply chains and gendered impacts

Rita Mendez, impacts senior coordinator at ISEAL, shares the findings of a recent paper on gender and gender risks across the supply chain.

Gender, Global Goals, Health

October 7, 2021

4 Pillars for Rebuilding Better

Over half of young people think that humanity is doomed, according to a new climate change survey. Since I was born just over 50 years ago, global surface temperatures have risen faster than in any other 50-year period over the past 2,000 years. Clearly, my generation has a lot to answer for. What is one to do in the face of such dire challenges? For business, the message from employees, customers and their other stakeholders is clear: do something.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Global Goals, Health

September 14, 2021

World Population and Gender Equality in the Post-Covid Era

The pandemic has caused international upheaval in terms of development aid and gender equality. At a time when especially girls and women in low- and middle-income countries need more support than ever before, it has been even more challenging to get the needed funding and assistance. What does the future hold? Experts from the UNFPA, The World Bank, and Bayer Pharmaceuticals came together to discuss.

Gender, Health

July 22, 2021

Community-based healthcare for COVID response: option or necessity?

A year into the onset of the pandemic, years of progress in health and nutrition are being upended. A community-driven response is key to delivering undisrupted, essential healthcare services to the most vulnerable across Bangladesh.

Health

July 22, 2021

Collaborating beyond COVID-19: How Business Can Go Beyond the Bottom Line

In our current times, the balance between profit and purpose has never been more tested than during the current global health crisis which we presently face. As much as the pandemic has affected communities, cultures and countries across the world, it has impacted people on a personal level and shifted the perspective on international cooperation, and, of course, how we collaborate.

Health, Partnerships

July 21, 2021

The National Business Compact on Coronavirus – One Year On: A Blueprint for Rapid Collaboration?

A report that identifies ten key elements that were integral to its success, and that provide insights on the way organisations could work together to tackle future crises and challenges. With the Corporate Responsibility Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School, and the UK Aid / Unilever Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition.

Health, Partnerships

July 1, 2021

How Can Self-Care Help Health Systems Rebuild Better During COVID-19?

A report on how wider uptake of ‘self-care’ approaches can reduce pressure on strained health systems, improve vulnerable people’s health outcomes and empower individuals and communities in the process. With Bayer.

Health

July 1, 2021

Rudderless COVID recovery: We need a real road map from somebody

Hope for global control of COVID-19 seems both nearer and more elusive. The U.S. and UK have vaccinated more than half of their populations and begun to re-open their economies. The rest of Europe is catching up. The East Asian economic powers are also doing well, though there has been worrisome news from Osaka. Most of the developing world still awaits a vaccine, and India spirals out of control. So, what is the WHO saying right now about vaccinating the world against COVID-19?

Health

June 1, 2021

A New Report Shows How COVID-19 Has Challenged Farmers and Entrepreneurs. Here’s How the Private Sector Can Help.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous economic challenges across Latin America, Africa, and South Asia. TechnoServe’s new report tracks the changes to the livelihoods of farmers and entrepreneurs over the past year and highlights the private sector’s role in helping them navigate the crisis.

Agriculture, Health

May 24, 2021

Examples from the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark COVID-19 study: How some companies are responding to the crisis in a meaningful way

The World Benchmarking Alliance’s COVID-19 and human rights study shows companies still have a long way to go when it comes to adequately managing the human rights risks and impacts of the global pandemic. However, there are positive examples of businesses prioritising the rights of their workers.

Global Goals, Health, Human Rights

May 4, 2021

Business and COVID-19 One Year On

Over the course of 12 months we have co-created a collaboration Blueprint, 3 Frameworks and 10 topic-specific Action Toolkits. We thank our community and supporters for their active engagement in this work. Visit the Business Fights Poverty Respond, Recover and Rebuild Better Centre to access all these resources and continue Rebuilding Better.

Health

March 31, 2021

SEMINAR VIDEO: WHY IS THE PANDEMIC DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS?

Ute Stephan, Professor of Entrepreneurship at King’s Business School, King’s College London, talks to us about the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women entrepreneurs.

Gender, Health, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

December 9, 2020