Published in the New York Times on Thursday, January 26, 2012. Read the original article here. Every Sunday evening, seven million Kenyans sit in front of their television sets to watch “Makutano Junction,” a soap opera set in a fictional village. In one episode, audiences watch as a woman, Mama Mboga, holds her crying infant. [...]
Posts Tagged ‘International development’
Soap operas with a social message
Posted in Film, Published articles, tagged Education entertainment, International development, Mass media, New York Times, Radio, Soap opera, Television on January 31, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
How private distribution companies can help reduce diarrheal disease
Posted in Public health, Published articles, tagged Diarrheal disease, International development, Public health on October 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Published in Forbes on September 22, 2011. Read the post here or below. Everyone reading this article has suffered from diarrhea at some point, but did you know that it kills nearly 4,000 children a day? The World Health Organization estimates that diarrhea – simple, annoying diarrhea – is the second leading cause of death in children under [...]
Private sector has potential to aid development, but beware the pitfalls
Posted in Published articles, tagged International development, The Guardian on July 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Published in The Guardian on July 11, 2011. In 2003, the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) awarded Nick Hughes of Vodafone nearly £1m to develop an innovative mobile banking solution for Kenya’s “unbanked” population. Within four years, Vodafone and Safaricom, the country’s largest mobile operator, jointly launched a programme called M-PESA. The concept was simple: instead [...]
India’s poor need help to help themselves
Posted in Microfinance, Published articles, tagged India, International development, Microfinance on March 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Published in The Guardian on March 7, 2011. Read the full article here or read below. Until recently, microfinance has been the golden child of international development. Microfinance companies would lend small amounts of money to poor women who would, in the ideal scenario, use them to start small businesses. Their interest rates were typically [...]
Drawing the line at poverty
Posted in Published articles, tagged International development, Poverty, Poverty line, The Guardian on May 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Published in The Guardian on May 19, 2010. Click here or read below: There are many ways to define poverty, but we shouldn’t allow the debate to distract us from helping the poor I recently had the pleasure of meeting a construction worker named Lakshmi while taking a walk in Mumbai. She was on a [...]
Lay off my blue suede mojaris: A tale of Rajasthani shoemakers
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Artisan, India, International development, Producer collective on April 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
In Udaipuria, a village in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, sits a shoe cobbler. His hands, much like his products, are brown and leathery. He has been making shoes—in his case, ethnic mojaris—for almost 50 years. Over this time, he has sculpted innumerable shoes, taught innumerable apprentices, and observed innumerable changes in the business. [...]
Pee for free mobile minutes!
Posted in Public health, tagged Economist, Innovation, International development, MIT, Public health, Tuberculosis, XoutTB on April 15, 2009 | 4 Comments »
I love free stuff. Who doesn’t? Even if I know I’m never gonna wear that XXL fluorescent green t-shirt, I’ll still take it. And if it’s something I actually can use (free iPod, anyone?)… well, all the better. I may even do something slightly uncharacteristic — say, sing in public — if the reward is [...]
