NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Backpack Farms: Targeted Solutions to Help African Farmers Become More Resistant to Drought

This is part of a series highlighting innovations and possibilities for action for the famine in Somalia. Most news frames the famine and political conflict as near unsolvable; we’re examining the on-the-ground measures that can help - from the large scale and political to the local and preventative. Looking at graphic photos of starving Somalis or reading about the perils of drought in East Afr...

Source

Dowser (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Senegalese Village Wipes Out Malaria With Mosquito Nets And Fines For Not Using Them

We tend to think of innovation as something that happens at startups and dotcoms. But sometimes, the most powerful innovations happen at the end of a bumpy dirt road in rural Africa--in this case, a Senegalese village that has figured out how to virtually eradicate malaria. As the father of a 7-year-old daughter, I was touched and inspired by the story of another dad I met during my recent trip to Senegal. I visited El Hadj Diop in his hometown of Thienaba, Senegal, where he told me the...

Source

Fast Company (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Social Enterprise Spotlight: Just Markets For Ghana?s Women

Three years ago Danielle Grace Warren had gone fishing. She was part of a mission to build fish farms in Ghana. These farms, it was hoped, would help generate badly needed income and jobs. The literally graceful and ballerina-like Warren, a creative writer, knew from her experience in Haiti where she had worked on economic development projects that income and jobs were the key to lifting the Ghanaians out of poverty. But they needed to be lots of income and jobs. That simply wasn’t possib...

Source

Forbes (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Agriculture, Health Care

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Miniature Lab Can Diagnose Disease in the Field

People who live in the poorest and remotest parts of the developing world often have their lives cut short by disease -- preventable or curable disease. The first essential step to fighting these diseases is correctly identifying them. But in the developing world, disease detection is often prohibitively expensive. In a brilliant cross-pollination of engineering, physics and ...

Source

Guardian.co.uk (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Innovations in the Fight Against Famine

The famine in Somalia has shed new light on world hunger and the efforts individuals and organizations are undertaking to combat it. Aside from airlifting food and providing IVs, there is a larger problem in need of solving. Organizations such as ...

Source

The Washington Post (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Smartphone Means Social Enterprise in Africa

What if I told you that Africa’s mobile revolution is at the centre of the continent’s social enterprise? That they are using their mobiles to do things that we in the West are only starting to think about. As apart from the usual of phones being used to text, talk and make mobile money transactions; the mobile networks are also being used to spread key information about farming and healthcare to isolated rural areas exposed to the costs of disease and drought. In Africa,...

Source

Justmeans (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

’Africa Can Feed the World’

Africa can feed not just itself but the world is a bold assertion to make at a time when famine stalks part of the continent. But this is precisely the claim made by Kanayo Nwanze, the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (...

Source

Guardian.co.uk (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa

Avon’s Door-to-Door Model Adopted in Uganda

Steve Chiotakis: Cosmetic-maker Avon releases earnings today. Analysts expect it to at least match profits from a year ago. In Uganda, a U.S. organization is using Avon’s door-to-door model to help consumers get the products they need, but often are unavailable to the -- and this month that service is expanding. The BBC’s Anna Cavell reports from Kampala, Uganda. Anna Cavell: With a $75 loan, women in Uganda are being turned into en...

Source

American Public Media (link opens in a new window)

Region

Sub-Saharan Africa