Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Incubating Aquaculture Businesses at the Base of the Pyramid | SOCAP

Incubating Aquaculture Businesses at the Base of the Pyramid | SOCAP: "Successful projects, dwindling funds. What’s an innovative NGO to do?

One answer: Build a deal pipeline for impact investors looking for investable ventures.

WorldFish, a Malaysia-based spinoff of the the “green revolution” pioneer CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research), reached this crossroads in 2010. International aid had run out for aquaculture initiatives that had helped coastal communities in Aceh, Indonesia rebuild their livelihoods after the 2004 tsunami."



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International Development News | Balancing development goals to fix Southeast Asia's 'haze'

International Development News | Balancing development goals to fix Southeast Asia's 'haze': "Peter Holmgren, head of the Jakarta-based Center for International Forestry Research, believes that addressing the forest fires and haze issue should not be a tug of war between different development goals, particularly economic and environmental.

It should rather be moving toward a balance between the two in order to achieve sustainability."



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'Too many' aid agencies in the Pacific development organisation says - Australia Network News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

'Too many' aid agencies in the Pacific development organisation says - Australia Network News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): ""My sense of it is that many of the small islands are struggling to cope with the number of missions and number of agencies."



Dr Tukuitonga said he wants to see aid money better directed and has proposed SPC, which is governed by 26 member states, take a lead role in coordinating development activities, instead of agencies working directly with countries in isolation."



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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Donors urged to freeze aid to govt

Donors urged to freeze aid to govt: "“The nation has and is continuing to suffer so much from corruption in government yet ‘success stories’ keep coming out of bilateral mission reports.

“Whose success are we talking about? Yours or ours – the common people? Quite obviously it’s not ours don’t you think?”

“Taking ‘no-action’ against official corruption on the bilateral front would be failing the people of Solomon Islands to address an underlying cause of great human suffering, and instability.

“In effect, foreign aid in general would be helping to fuel another social unrest.”"



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International Corporate Volunteering: Profitable for Multinational Corporations | Alice Korngold

International Corporate Volunteering: Profitable for Multinational Corporations | Alice Korngold: "People from multinational corporations head off and volunteer for weeks or months in another country, leaving their work behind for others to do. Referred to as Global Pro Bono or International Corporate Volunteering, is this a feel-good thing, or is it really business-related? If you listen to executives at companies that sponsor international corporate volunteering (ICV), these are powerful initiatives for developing employees as leaders to solve global challenges, gaining expertise in emerging markets where the companies want to enter, and building capacity in regions where companies want to expand their businesses and sales. If you listen to Deirdre White, CEO of PYXERA Global, the NGO that facilitates ICV programs for dozens of multinational corporations, she has a vision for ICV 2.0 which will bring even greater benefits to companies and the world."



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Trafficking of Burma's Rohingya Muslims shifts to Malaysia | Global development | theguardian.com

Trafficking of Burma's Rohingya Muslims shifts to Malaysia | Global development | theguardian.com: "Malaysia, a labour-short country with an estimated 2 million undocumented workers, has long struggled with a reputation as a haven for human trafficking. Like Thailand, it risks being downgraded in the US state department's annual Trafficking in Persons report from the tier two watchlist to the lowest rank of three."



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'One Asia' Momentum | Dae-Whan Chang

'One Asia' Momentum | Dae-Whan Chang: "I have previously discussed with Prof. Jean-Claude Larreche from INSEAD about the "Momentum Effect" which is the secret weapon for an efficient and sustainable growth of corporations. We shared the view that the momentum strategy is to have an efficient self-sustaining growth by making waves which are sustainable. Now I think that the people of Asia are making new waves on which they can ride and go further. I personally believe that Asia shouldn't miss the opportunity to find and create a momentum effect and put it to work not only on the corporate and national level but throughout all of Asia as well."



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From Poverty to Power » How to bridge the Valley of Death that separates complexity/systems thinkers from decision makers?

From Poverty to Power » How to bridge the Valley of Death that separates complexity/systems thinkers from decision makers?:



First was the sheer difficulty of bridging the gap between complexity thinkers in academia and busy aid activists, whether in government or NGOs. One contributor talked of a ‘valley of death’ that separates pure science from ‘operationalisation’ – using the new ideas to actually do stuff.
That gulf is further deepened by an academic system that works in disciplinary siloes that seem remarkably resistant to attempts to get them to cross fertilize – even waving research funding chequebooks often fails to get economists, ecologists, sociologists etc to really work together.
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