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Can a UN social impact fund spark further reform at the organization?
A new fund to boost smart affordable housing options in Bangladesh is one of the first major announcements from the UNDP’s SDG Impact Finance initiative — an enterprise that took UNDP’s David Galipeau four years to convince the U.N. it needed.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Stanford launches research center focused on global poverty and development
The center’s mission is threefold: to support path-breaking research on global poverty and development within Stanford and beyond; to inspire students through hands-on research opportunities, fellowships and events; and to inform policies and practices through strategic partnerships with global policymakers and thought leaders as well as on-campus events that foster new ideas and university-wide collaborations.
- Categories
- Education
- Region
- North America
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Flirting with disaster? World Bank’s push for climate insurance questioned
The program marks one example of the Bank’s promotion of climate insurance over the past decade, as part of a wider approach focused on leveraging private insurance and investor markets to increase ‘pre-arranged’ disaster risk financing.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
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Linking renewables to economic growth: The case for climate-centered SDGs
Presenting research findings during a panel session on how we can all profit from the low carbon transition, Argyriou highlighted findings from Southeast Asia and the Pacific that demonstrate the decoupling of economic growth and emissions growth is both achievable and beneficial.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Renowned economists launch Global Poverty Research Lab
“Northwestern has become much more committed to international development in the period of my absence,” said Udry, professor of economics in the University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, who started his academic career at Northwestern in 1990 before joining the faculty at Yale University. “There’s a strong base of people working in the area here. The administration was extremely supportive of an effort to energize and build on that strength and make the University a global center.”
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- North America
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Funding struggle: Can Liberia’s controversial privately-run schools pilot continue?
Some funders are also said to be questioning the program after an independent evaluation released earlier this month showed mixed results for the public-private partnership’s first year. While researchers of the randomized control trial reported impressive learning gains among students, they also raised concerns about the program’s cost-effectiveness and its potential to negatively impact non-participating schools in the country.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: Are the Sustainable Development Goals Achievable?
The SDGs were always bound to meet strong headwinds, owing to technological disruption, geopolitical rivalry, and widening social inequality. But populist calls for nationalist policies, including trade protectionism, have intensified those headwinds considerably.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Tags
- global development, SDGs
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How 3 Rickshaws Won A Million Dollar Prize
One team pitched an enterprise to bring fast and reliable web services to refugees, and two companies sought to connect displaced people to jobs through apps and digital workplaces. The winner this year is a startup called Roshni Rides, Bill Clinton announced at the end of the competition last Saturday. The former president, who began working with the Hult Prize in 2010, continued to speak but a roar of cheers drowned out his words.
- Categories
- Transportation
- Region
- South Asia
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