Water partners: Teaming up to solve shortages

Across the world, one in nine people don’t have reliable access to clean, safe water. “Everything flows from having clean water,” said Mort Anoushiravani, Mercy Corps’ water engineer and infrastructure director. “It’s a source of improved health, livelihoods and conflict mitigation.” In South Sudan (below) and elsewhere, many families rely on natural springs and other water bodies. Without water storage, taps can suddenly run dry. And without purification systems, life-giving water harbors disease and parasites.Mercy Corps works with Xylem, a corporate partner, to address urgent water needs in some of the world’s toughest places.Why work with a partner? Combining Mercy Corps’ experience mobilizing communities in remote regions and working in complex, challenging situations, along with Xylem’s specialized knowledge in water technology, means …

via Global Envision:

Image:

Across the world, one in nine people don’t have reliable access to clean, safe water.

“Everything flows from having clean water,” said Mort Anoushiravani, Mercy Corps’ water engineer and infrastructure director. “It’s a source of improved health, livelihoods and conflict mitigation.”

In South Sudan (below) and elsewhere, many families rely on natural springs and other water bodies. Without water storage, taps can suddenly run dry. And without purification systems, life-giving water harbors disease and parasites.

Mercy Corps works with Xylem, a corporate partner, to address urgent water needs in some of the world's toughest places.

Why work with a partner? Combining Mercy Corps' experience mobilizing communities in remote regions and working in complex, challenging situations, along with Xylem's specialized knowledge in water technology, means the pair can reach more people in need. And, they can offer more intensive, holistic solutions through Xylem's technical expertise.

Xylem is one of world’s largest providers of equipment to treat and transport water. Focused on sustainable resource use, Xylem designs pumps, treatment plants and water quality tests for agricultural, commercial and residential use.

In 2008, Mercy Corps first partnered with Watermark, Xylem’s corporate citizenship and social investment program, to provide safe water after natural disasters in Indonesia, Kenya, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

When floods devastated Pakistan in 2010, Watermark and Mercy Corps quickly brought clean water to relief camps.

Munawar Abbas, above, a water quality manager in Sukkur, Pakistan, tests chlorine levels during a water filtration clinic in 2010 made possible through Mercy Corps' partnership with Watermark.

Although Xylem’s technology is sold in more than 150 countries, it has the greatest presence in the United States and Europe. By partnering with Mercy Corps, Xylem can fulfill its mission to improve water access globally.

But the partnership is about more than immediate, humanitarian aid.

To prevent future water emergencies, Mercy Corps and Xylem work together to improve community water systems, install better filtration and purification infrastructure, and train local communities on water safety.

“The greatest number of lives can be saved by addressing water-related risks before a disaster occurs,” said Michael Fields, Director of Corporate Citizenship at Xylem.

“We desperately need new solutions, and the challenge to private companies and nonprofits globally is to find new ways of working together to help vulnerable communities prepare before disaster strikes.”

Watermark and Mercy Corps worked together in 2009, for instance, to help a Sri Lankan community get outfitted with a new water system (above).

By working with a leader in the water industry, Mercy Corps is able to match big problems with big solutions.

For example, when the largest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history struck the country in 2011, the accompanying tsunami destroyed a salmon hatchery in Minamisanriku. The hatchery played a critical role in the region’s salmon fishing industry.

Watermark’s Emergency Response Fund supported Mercy Corps’ work to rebuild the hatchery. Together, the organizations provided holding tanks, vehicles, fishing nets and other necessary supplies. The hatchery released 5 million baby salmon just one year after the quake.

In the photo above, three-month-old salmon swim in a bucket at the rebuilt Minamisanriku hatchery.

Today, one of the world’s greatest water challenges is in Jordan. Already one of the most water scarce countries in the world, Jordan is buckling under the strain of absorbing an influx of more than half a million Syrian refugees.

Mercy Corps is working with Xylem to provide water at the Zaatari refugee camp. Together, the organizations built deep-water wells and a system to supply clean drinking water. Now refugees are supplementing these water sources with rainwater catchment systems.

Before the conflict in Syria, the Zaatari camp (above) was an open desert. Now up to 120,000 refugees live on the land, making it the fourth largest city in Jordan.

Wells and holding tanks at the Zaatari refugee camp help families get the clean water they need to drink, cook and clean.

Partnerships are powerful. Working together, Mercy Corps and Watermark have helped give more than 1.6 million people access to clean water so far, as well as improved water systems in communities across the globe.

Stay tuned for an interview with Keith Teichmann, ‎Director of Innovative Networks and Marketing and Vice President at Xylem Inc.

Photo credits:

South Sudan – Rodrigo Ordonez/Mercy Corps

Pakistan – Julie Denesha for Mercy Corps

Sri Lanka – ITT Watermark for Mercy Corps

Japan – Sylvia Ross/Mercy Corps

Jordan – Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Articles You Might Like:

Profiting from poop: How selling human waste could revolutionize sanitation

Aid goes digital: Getting electronic cash to disaster victims

West meets East: Bridging local artisans with Western markets

Resources:

More about Xylem Watermark and Mercy Corps

Tapped Out, a report on water scarcity in Jordan

For more info: Water partners: Teaming up to solve shortages

Global Envision

Water partners: Teaming up to solve shortages

The post Water partners: Teaming up to solve shortages appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1gmlx0a



Social Entrepeneurship, emergency, networks, private, republic, south, united, world, xylem, zaatari

7 Reasons Why Junior Farmer Schools Hold Promise for African Youth

“You can study and still not find a job, but if you can farm, you can go and do something for yourself.” Francisco, 15Young people in Africa face many obstacles as they enter the world of work, but a junior farming program is helping to clear their paths.If Africa is to prosper, its young and rapidly growing labor force must prosper – above all in agriculture. Farming is the continent’s biggest employer and biggest potential engine of economic growth.The generation entering the African labor force now is the most educated ever, say the authors of a new World Bank report, but employment opportunities haven’t improved. Few wage jobs exist. Most young people work for themselves or their families on small farms or in household …

via Global Envision:

Image:

“You can study and still not find a job, but if you can farm, you can go and do something for yourself.” Francisco, 15

Young people in Africa face many obstacles as they enter the world of work, but a junior farming program is helping to clear their paths.

If Africa is to prosper, its young and rapidly growing labor force must prosper – above all in agriculture. Farming is the continent’s biggest employer and biggest potential engine of economic growth.

The generation entering the African labor force now is the most educated ever, say the authors of a new World Bank report, but employment opportunities haven’t improved. Few wage jobs exist. Most young people work for themselves or their families on small farms or in household businesses. Underemployment in the informal sector is widespread, meaning that young people live in poverty or near poverty even when they work hard in fields and shops.

Started by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization in 2003, Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools have given life-enhancing skills to 20,000 12- to 18-year-olds across 20 countries. Here are seven reasons for their success in preparing youth to build better livelihoods:

1. The schools bridge the gap between supply and demand for vocational training.

Most young people in rural areas don’t get past primary school. But Africa’s few formal agricultural schools and programs require at least some secondary education. In Junior Farmer Schools, young people who have no other avenue to vocational training learn modern farming skills.

2. The schools complement formal education.

Literacy and numeracy lead to better farm incomes, in part because they provide the foundation for learning modern farming techniques. Since Junior Farmer Schools offer vocational training after school hours and admit only 12- to 18-year-olds, they don’t compete with the formal education system. In fact, some are based in primary schools, where they have helped boost enrollment, attendance and performance.

3. The schools minimize opportunity costs.

Though classes are free, they require a modest investment of time. The weekly commitment of about 10 hours over a few days allows young people to go to school or work full time on a farm or in a household business.

4. The schools build a broad range of skills that enhance productivity.

Young people learn about modern farming practices, including pest management, soil and water conservation, horticulture and livestock management. But farming skills alone won’t enable them to seize opportunities and face challenges and risks in their lives. So the curriculum also builds life skills, such as nutrition, child rights and protection, HIV/AIDS prevention and gender awareness as well as business skills like budgeting and marketing. Vocational and life skill topics are creatively integrated in the curriculum. For example, units on soil fertility are paired with units on nutrition. And participatory learning methods help build critical thinking and behavioral skills, like self-confidence.

5. The schools help bring the poorest and most vulnerable young people into the mainstream of economic and community life.

Rural youth lack access to opportunities, services and networks. This is especially true for girls, young people who are out of school, and orphans. Tragically, Africa’s HIV/AIDS epidemic is creating a growing population of orphans who don’t have parents to teach them farming and other skills. Junior Farmer Schools target young people who tend to be excluded because of their age, sex and social status. Communities select an equal number of boys and girls while giving priority to those who are orphans or out of school.

6. The schools are community-driven.

The Food and Agriculture Organization and its government and U.N. partners provide technical and financial support to schools. But local communities and volunteers run them – sourcing plots of land, recruiting facilitators, selecting young people, assessing training needs, choosing the curriculum and monitoring and evaluating their progress. Communities tailor the program to local needs, assess and improve its effectiveness, and support schools with in-kind contributions. This decentralized approach fosters relevance and accountability while helping to reduce costs.

7. The schools help graduates move on to the next stage of their journey to decent livelihoods.

In their second year, participants apply and build on business skills gained in the first. Teachers guide them through the process of becoming entrepreneurs — identifying opportunities and risks, creating business plans, and connecting with information and resources in the community. Resources may include markets, role models, microcredit, further vocational training in Farmer Field Schools (a kind of adult counterpart to Junior Farmer Schools), farmer groups, and relevant government services and programs.

Of course, young people in rural Africa need an environment of opportunity as well as skills to better their lives. Major new public and private investments are vital — in agricultural research and technology, value chains, access to credit, irrigation systems, and roads for transporting goods to markets.

These investments must come from African leaders, donors in the developed world, and multinational and African companies. To judge by the plans and activities of the African Union, the Global Food and Agricultural Security Program set up by the G-20, and the Grow Africa partnership, the investment outlook for agriculture is promising.

Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools show that investing in the skills of young farmers makes good economic sense, even to poor rural communities. Now it’s time to expand the program so that young people can create a better future for themselves and for Africa.

Articles You Might Like:

Tackling youth unemployment – whose job is it?

A new way to finance education: Pay what you earn

Infographic: Creating jobs for generations by closing the youth employment gap

For more info: 7 Reasons Why Junior Farmer Schools Hold Promise for African Youth

Global Envision

7 Reasons Why Junior Farmer Schools Hold Promise for African Youth

The post 7 Reasons Why Junior Farmer Schools Hold Promise for African Youth appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1eqivm3



Social Entrepeneurship, agriculture, economic, insurance, private, school, schools, security, world

"Nebraska Supreme Court ruling could affect 27 teen murder cases"

“Nebraska Supreme Court ruling could affect 27 teen murder cases”:This article appears today in The Omaha World-Herald. And The Lincoln Journal Star reports that “Nebraska high court vacates life sentences of 3 men.”Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Nebraska issued three decisions applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama, and you can access those decisions here, here, and here.Posted at 01:28 PM by Howard Bashman”The Supreme Court probably won’t take on net neutrality. Here’s why.” Brian Fung has this entry today at “The Switch” blog of The Washington Post. Posted at 01:14 PM by Howard BashmanNo more Justice Brennans? The Helena (Mont.) Independent Record reports today that “Brennan seeks Supreme Court seat.” Posted at 01:12 PM by Howard Bashman”‘Aid in Dying’ Movement …

via How Appealing:

“Nebraska Supreme Court ruling could affect 27 teen murder cases”: This article appears today in The Omaha World-Herald.

And The Lincoln Journal Star reports that “Nebraska high court vacates life sentences of 3 men.”

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Nebraska issued three decisions applying the U.S. Supreme Court‘s 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama, and you can access those decisions here, here, and here.

For more info: "Nebraska Supreme Court ruling could affect 27 teen murder cases"

How Appealing

"Nebraska Supreme Court ruling could affect 27 teen murder cases"

The post "Nebraska Supreme Court ruling could affect 27 teen murder cases" appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1bIwkOx



Law Around, court, diocese, howard, howard-bashman, lincoln, movement, record, supreme, supreme-court, washington, world

Pomegranates vs Poppies: Building food markets to fight the drug trade

For farmers in some weak and troubled states, growing opium poppies or coca can be the only way to earn a decent income. Aid groups and governments are trying a new approach to successfully transition them away from these illicit crops for the long haul.War-ravaged Afghanistan is the source of much of the world’s opium, and farmers there face many risks. Many have had their carefully cultivated poppy fields destroyed by intermittent government raids. If they manage to harvest, selling their crop means dealing with criminal or extremist organizations, including the Taliban. And while a successful poppy harvest can earn a farmer many times the best legal alternative, criminal processors and distributors make most of the profit from end products, like heroin and morphine.The …

via Global Envision:

Image:

For farmers in some weak and troubled states, growing opium poppies or coca can be the only way to earn a decent income. Aid groups and governments are trying a new approach to successfully transition them away from these illicit crops for the long haul.

War-ravaged Afghanistan is the source of much of the world’s opium, and farmers there face many risks. Many have had their carefully cultivated poppy fields destroyed by intermittent government raids. If they manage to harvest, selling their crop means dealing with criminal or extremist organizations, including the Taliban. And while a successful poppy harvest can earn a farmer many times the best legal alternative, criminal processors and distributors make most of the profit from end products, like heroin and morphine.

The U.S. government and its aid arm, USAID, have allocated billions of dollars toward training Afghan farmers to grow legal crops like wheat, and for free or low-cost supplies like seeds. But these efforts have mostly failed to achieve long-term results. A principle reason: Afghan farmers lack what they need to make these new crops profitable.

“We are expecting [farmers] to produce tons of fruit and vegetables, to transport them on trucks they do not have, on roads that literally do not exist, to sell in globalized markets against which they cannot compete,” said Sanho Tree, a development expert and director of the Drug Policy Project.

One of these possible alternative crops is the pomegranate, an ancient and prized fruit in Afghanistan. Afghan varietals are widely known in agricultural circles for being especially delicious.

Demand for pomegranates in first world markets has spiked in recent years, as health food enthusiasts tout the fruit’s anti-oxidant superpowers. Rising demand and prices have created an opportunity to develop a sustainable supply chain from Afghan farmers to the outside world.

London-based Plant for Peace is working to create just that: a complete Afghan pomegranate export market, from startup seeds to paying customers. In 2011, the group worked with 800 Afghan farmers to plant more than 100,000 pomegranate saplings.

While Plant for Peace provides training and start-up supplies, the group's commercial partner, Funktional Foods Ltd., works to “develop and satisfy demand” for raw Afghan crops and more finished products, like fruit bars.

Working to create change in a place like Afghanistan can be daunting. A top official recently warned a U.S. Senate committee that opium production in Afghanistan surged in 2013 to an all-time high, despite 10 years and $7 billion worth of counter-narcotics efforts by the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

James Brett, founder of Plant for Peace, has seen his share of setbacks while working in Afghanistan. His admiration of the Afghan people and belief that providing a competitive livelihood to poppy farming could help create a lasting peace keeps him motivated

“Whenever I’ve gone to Afghanistan in the last six or seven years of my life, whatever home I’ve passed, whatever door I might have knocked, every door has been open,” he told his hometown newspaper in January. “They have nothing and they give their all.”

While the majority of the world’s opium comes from Afghanistan, Columbia and Peru are the dominant sources for another ancient crop that is used to make an illicit drug.

The coca leaf has been chewed or made into tea as a modest, caffeine-like stimulant in several indigenous Latin American cultures for thousands of years. Coca is also the principal ingredient in cocaine, however, and has largely been outlawed across the globe.

Impoverished farmers in these countries face many of the same incentives–and dangers–as Afghan poppy growers.USAID has had success stories in following the supply chain model over the last 10 years by partnering with the Colombian and Peruvian governments to provide more than just seeds.

These partnerships have helped farmers form large cooperatives and connections with international businesses who are interested in their newly grown crops, like cocoa and coffee beans.

Officials acknowledge that the gains are fragile, however. Colombia’s coca cultivation has declined from a peak in the mid-2000’s, but much of it may have simply migrated to neighboring Peru.

While helping to create a complete supply chain for alternative crops is generating some promising results, reducing international demand for illegal drugs may be the only long-term way for these crops to truly compete.

Articles You Might Like:

Tinker, tailor, programmer: Entrepreneurship is subverting gender in Afghanistan

Help a Bolivian farmer: Eat quinoa

Free trials and payment plans: Innovative ways to market clean energy products in rural Uganda

Resources:

America Abandons Afghanistan to Drug Lords

Afghan Farmers: Opium Is The Only Way To Make A Living

For more info: Pomegranates vs Poppies: Building food markets to fight the drug trade

Global Envision

Pomegranates vs Poppies: Building food markets to fight the drug trade

The post Pomegranates vs Poppies: Building food markets to fight the drug trade appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1npbyIN



Social Entrepeneurship, afghan, ancient, colombia, drug, king, life, plant, project, world

Jimmy Wales’s Plan to Save the World With Mobile Phones

Jimmy Wales’s Plan to Save the World With Mobile Phones | Social ROI: A Social Entrepreneurship Blog Main menuSkip to contentJimmy Wales’s Plan to Save the World With Mobile PhonesPosted onJanuary 28, 2014by johnGreat to see more stuff like this:“The basic concept is that 10 percent of your [mobile phone] bill goes directly to a cause of your choice, straight off the top,” he said.via Recode This entry was posted in General. Bookmark the permalink. Post navigation © Social ROI: A Social Entrepreneurship Blog

via Social ROI: A Social Entrepreneurship Blog:

Tweet

Great to see more stuff like this:

“The basic concept is that 10 percent of your [mobile phone] bill goes directly to a cause of your choice, straight off the top,” he said.

via Recode

For more info: Jimmy Wales’s Plan to Save the World With Mobile Phones

Social ROI: A Social Entrepreneurship Blog

Jimmy Wales’s Plan to Save the World With Mobile Phones

The post Jimmy Wales’s Plan to Save the World With Mobile Phones appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1nij209



Social Entrepeneurship, entrepreneurship, john, menuskip, mobile, onjanuary, roi, social, social-entrepreneurship, wales, world

Apple Tanks After Whiffing On iPhone Sales – Business Insider

TechMore: Apple EarningsAPPLE TANKS AFTER WHIFFING ON IPHONE SALESJay Yarow Jan. 27, 2014, 3:25 PM98,666 Email More Share on Tumblr Reuters/Stephen Lam Apple fell over 8% in after-hours trading after earnings results disappointed investors. Though it beat expectations on revenue and EPS, Apple had a huge miss on the only thing that really matters, iPhone sales.It sold 51 million units, a 6.7% jump in sales year-over-year, which was lower than sell-side expectations of 54.7 million. The whisper number was 56-57 million.On the earnings call with analysts, Apple hinted the low growth was due to a contraction in North American iPhone sales. Apple CEO Tim Cook blamed changes in carrier policies for the North American sales drop.Previously, customers could upgrade their iPhones after less than 24 months. …

via after market trading – Google Blog Search:

Apple fell over 8% in after-hours trading after earnings results disappointed investors. Though it beat expectations on revenue and EPS, Apple had a huge miss on the only thing that really matters, iPhone sales. It sold 51 …

For more info: Apple Tanks After Whiffing On iPhone Sales – Business Insider

after market trading – Google Blog Search

Apple Tanks After Whiffing On iPhone Sales – Business Insider

The post Apple Tanks After Whiffing On iPhone Sales – Business Insider appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/6701/trading/apple-tanks-after-whiffing-on-iphone-sales-business-insider.html



Trading, apple, channel, china, europe, gene, innovation, japan, king, mobile, world

Trader Chatter, Jan. 20, 2014 – Business Insider

Wikimedia Commons The U.S. markets are closed. But the rest of the world goes on. Dave Lutz of Stifel Nicolaus has a roundup of what traders are reading and chatting about as they wait for markets to come back online:Good Morning! Following is a roundup of overnight Market Action – Key headlines (With Story Links), and this week’s calendar.Euro Markets are under pressure – weighed down by Banks after DB released early. DAX off 40bp in average trading, but most EU markets trading 30% light to average volumes. EU Fins are retreating, losing 1% on the back of DB’s 6% drop overnight. Asian Markets were under pressure on Weak China data – Nikkei lost 60bp, Shanghai lowest in 6 months, and most EM Asia weaker. …

via traders – Google Blog Search:

Dave Lutz of Stifel Nicolaus has a roundup of what traders are reading and chatting about as they wait for markets to come back online: Good Morning! Following is a roundup of overnight Market Action � Key headlines (With …

For more info: Trader Chatter, Jan. 20, 2014 – Business Insider

traders – Google Blog Search

Trader Chatter, Jan. 20, 2014 – Business Insider

The post Trader Chatter, Jan. 20, 2014 – Business Insider appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/Ks38Bi



Trading, agriculture, asian, china, dave, governor, headlines, lutz, national, panama, result, world

How to build a market for eyeglasses

Guest post by Paul Polak and Mal Warwick, republished from the Out of Poverty blogOn January 2 this year, The Guardian revealed that a German physics teacher had been inspired by Paul’s book, Out of Poverty, to produce $1 eyeglasses and market them in Rwanda.Martin Aufmuth, founder of OneDollarGlasses, created a hand-operated milling machine that allows opticians to produce his glasses at a cost of $1 apiece after 14 days of training. To enable the local specialist to turn a profit, the glasses sell for between $2 and $7, according to The Guardian.According to Vision Aid Overseas, some 10 percent of the world’s population are vision-impaired, and eyeglasses could correct the vision problems of virtually all of them—sometimes making an enormous difference in their lives. For …

via Global Envision:

Image:

Guest post by Paul Polak and Mal Warwick, republished from the Out of Poverty blog

On January 2 this year, The Guardian revealed that a German physics teacher had been inspired by Paul’s book, Out of Poverty, to produce $1 eyeglasses and market them in Rwanda.

Martin Aufmuth, founder of OneDollarGlasses, created a hand-operated milling machine that allows opticians to produce his glasses at a cost of $1 apiece after 14 days of training. To enable the local specialist to turn a profit, the glasses sell for between $2 and $7, according to The Guardian.

According to Vision Aid Overseas, some 10 percent of the world’s population are vision-impaired, and eyeglasses could correct the vision problems of virtually all of them—sometimes making an enormous difference in their lives. For example, for a tailor in a hill village in Nepal who no longer can see to sew, a pair of affordable eyeglasses makes the difference between earning a living and becoming a beggar.

Usually beginning in their forties, many people become unable to focus their vision on near objects, a condition called presbyopia. Today you can go into a drugstore in Denver or Amsterdam and select an $8 pair of reading glasses that will correct your vision problem. Why not make a robust version of this display stand available to the nearly 700 million poor people in the world who need eyeglasses?

Give me a market so I can see

Adaptive Eye Care, a UK-based company, uses the invention of an Oxford physics professor, Joshua Silver, to bring self-adjusting eyeglasses to people who need them. The constraint here is the cost—$15 dollars now, perhaps $10 or less with volume, but still not affordable to people who earn less than $2 a day.

New Eyes for the Needy, a U.S.-based organization, shipped 355,000 donated used eyeglasses in good condition during 2005-2006 to medical missions and charitable organizations in developing countries. The problem here is that giving glasses away is not a scheme that can be scaled up to reach more than a tiny fraction of the people who need them.

In first five years alone, New York–based VisionSpring (formerly Scojo Foundation) and its partners sold 50,000 reading glasses, at prices from three to five dollars, in India, Bangladesh, and El Salvador. And they referred 70,000 people to eye-care professionals through a network of 600 vision entrepreneurs, 26 franchise partners, and a number of urban wholesalers distributing to pharmacies and other retail outlets. Now, eight years after its founding, VisionSpring glasses are being worn in 26 developing countries. The organization employs a systematized partnership model that works with microfinance institutions, NGOs, for profit businesses, and social enterprises.

Graham Macmillan, former executive director of what was then called Scojo Foundation (now VisionSpring), told Paul Polak that a surprising number of small-acreage farmers were enthusiastic customers for affordable eyeglasses, because without these glasses they can’t read the labels on seed packages. Some of them don’t know what crop they are planting until it begins to come up.

The combined efforts of VisionSpring, New Eyes for the Needy, and Adaptive Eyecare have reached less than one percent of the 670 million poor people who need eyeglasses. The rest live with serious visual problems, paying a significant price in lost income because they can’t see straight — while society pays the price of their lower productivity.

This is outrageous, because there is such a simple solution in taking advantage of uncomplicated eyeglass display stands that already sell affordable eyeglasses to millions of wealthier customers. It would take five to ten million dollars in venture capital to start an international company that would buy a million eyeglasses in mainland China at around fifty cents apiece, design robust, visually appealing mobile display stands pushed by people or pulled by bicycles or motor scooters in poor areas, perhaps forming partnerships with major corporations such as Tata in India, developing an effective global distribution and marketing strategy.

The company’s goal would be to reach sales of 50 million $2 eyeglasses within five years, and make a healthy profit doing it.

One-acre, $2-a-day farmers and their urban brothers and sisters are already hard-nosed, stubborn survivalist entrepreneurs ready to take advantage of marketplace opportunities if the price is right, the return is high, and the risk is low. But they need private-sector supply chains to furnish them with the tools, materials, and information required to create high-value products, and private-sector value chains that sell what they produce at an attractive profit. As their incomes increase, they become customers for products like affordable eyeglasses, houses, solar lighting, health care, and education.

New markets that serve poor customers will provide opportunities for hundreds of millions of dollar-a-day people to move out of poverty. But a revolution in design is needed to create the range of new income-generating tools that will make this move possible.

Editor’s note: Some of the material in this article was adapted from Out of Poverty by Paul Polak.

Articles You Might Like:

Paul Polak on the ultimate goal of achieving scale

Poor Vision Put in Focus for the Developing World

How to make markets work for the poor–and measure the results

For more info: How to build a market for eyeglasses

Global Envision

How to build a market for eyeglasses

The post How to build a market for eyeglasses appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1md9qAA



Social Entrepeneurship, amsterdam, china, india, king, major, material, oxford, visionspring, world

5 Simple Ways to Make Any Financial Goal Easier to Achieve

This website is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Material shared on this blog does not constitute financial advice nor is it offered as such. Therefore, The Simple Dollar assumes no legal liability for the completeness, accuracy, or suitability of the information provided by its authors.Readers will also note that The Simple Dollar maintains financial relationships with certain third party merchants. If readers access and utilize the services of one of these affiliates through a link on the blog, The Simple Dollar may be compensated for the referral.Please read the blog’s policies on privacy and image-use.And always consult a locally licensed insurance agent, financial adviser or certified attorney before making any financial decisions.

via The Simple Dollar:

This article first appeared at U.S. News and World Report Money.

All of us have financial dreams.

We’d like to be completely free from debt. We’d like to retire early. We’d like to be able to build our dream home. We’d like to be able to pay for our children’s college education at a top school. We’d like to open our own shop.

The challenging part is transforming those financial dreams into financial goals. Taking something so enormous and so nebulous and turning it into something that you can actually achieve in a specific time frame is hard. It’s not easy for anyone, even the people that achieve their goals.

Regardless of your specific goal, however, there are a few things you can do that will drastically increase your chances of success.

Create a detailed but flexible plan. How exactly are you going to get from where you’re at to where you want to be? What is the timeframe you desire for achieving that goal? What do you have to achieve each year to make it? Each month?

Your plan for achieving your goal should involve clear answers to all of those questions. At the same time, it should allow for some flexibility, as you never quite know what the future will hold for you. Naturally, major life changes might upend a financial goal, but many goals are actually ended by minor life issues.

Your entire plan shouldn’t fall apart if you struggle to make one step of the plan. Instead, your plan should flex a little bit to account for that.

Add a healthy dose of reality to that plan. How do you add that kind of flexibility? The best thing you can do is to make sure that your plan is actually based in reality.

Quite often, people establish savings goals or other goals that are simply outside the realm of what can easily be achieved. A person who is struggling with a paycheck-to-paycheck existence isn’t suddenly going to be debt free in a year, for example.

Instead, look at what you can realistically pull off. If you are setting a goal for debt freedom in five years, can you realistically come up with 1/60th of that amount this month? If your goal isn’t realistic in shorter timeframes, it won’t be realistic in longer timeframes.

Set milestones. In fact, focusing on shorter timeframes is a powerful way to achieve a financial goal.

Let’s say your goal is to save $50,000 for seed money for a business. Rather than setting such a large number as your goal after, say, five years, break it down into smaller milestones. Your goal is to save $10,000 this year. Your goal is to save $800 this month. You need to save $175 this week.

When you break your goal down into small pieces with milestones, the day-to-day actions you need to take to achieve those goals becomes clearer. It is much more obvious how to save $175 this week than how to save $50,000 over the next five years.

Automate it. Once you have your goal broken down into small milestones, automate the entire plan. Set up a automatic savings transfer at your bank that transfers $175 per week to a savings account.

Doing this serves two purposes. First, it locks you into a plan that moves you toward your goal without having to make active decisions along the way. Second, it puts you in a position where your focus is on dealing with how to live after making room for your goal, not trying to decide whether to make room for it.

Automating a goal means putting it first in your life.

Keep it out of easy reach. Once your saving begins, it can be very tempting to tap into that money for other purposes. Don’t make it easy to tap into that money. You should not be able to access your savings via an ATM card, for example.

There should be no impulsive way for you to access that money immediately, because impulsive decisions will do nothing but undermine your goal.

My suggestion is to save your money in a remote financial institution. The decision whether to use a savings account at a bank or an investment account at an investment house is up to you, but your savings for your goal shouldn’t be sitting in a place where you can grab it at a whim. That’s what an emergency fund is for.

Taken together, these steps can help guide you toward almost any financial goal you can imagine. All that’s needed is the dream and the commitment.

The post 5 Simple Ways to Make Any Financial Goal Easier to Achieve appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

For more info: 5 Simple Ways to Make Any Financial Goal Easier to Achieve

The Simple Dollar

5 Simple Ways to Make Any Financial Goal Easier to Achieve

The post 5 Simple Ways to Make Any Financial Goal Easier to Achieve appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1m32gS7



Personal Finance, adviser-or-certified, existence, king, material, result, simple, timeframe, world

Quotable: Designing low-cost products that save lives isn’t easy

“We thought if you design a good product, it will scale on its own,” Ms. Donaldson said. “That works in efficient markets, but most developing communities don’t have efficient markets.” – Krista Donaldson, CEO of D-Rev, a nonprofit product development company, profiled in the Sunday New York Times’ business section.See Global Envision’s interview with Donaldson: D-Rev’s Krista Donaldson on designing health products for the world’s poor

via Global Envision:

Image:

“We thought if you design a good product, it will scale on its own,” Ms. Donaldson said. “That works in efficient markets, but most developing communities don’t have efficient markets.”

- Krista Donaldson, CEO of D-Rev, a nonprofit product development company, profiled in the Sunday New York Times' business section.

See Global Envision's interview with Donaldson: D-Rev's Krista Donaldson on designing health products for the world's poor

Articles You Might Like:

Interview: D-Rev's Krista Donaldson on designing health products for the world's poor

Free trials and payment plans: Innovative ways to market clean energy products in rural Uganda

You can't solve poverty by supplying products not in demand

For more info: Quotable: Designing low-cost products that save lives isn’t easy

Global Envision

Quotable: Designing low-cost products that save lives isn’t easy

The post Quotable: Designing low-cost products that save lives isn’t easy appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/5655/social-entrepeneurship/quotable-designing-low-cost-products-that-save-lives-isnt-easy.html



Social Entrepeneurship, donaldson, energy, health, krista, products, scale-on-its, sunday, world

More freewheeling traders are leaving the big banks � Quartz

Risk-taking traders at the world’s biggest banks are on the outs.That’s one conclusion from some recent high-profile departures at firms like Morgan Stanley and Barclays, which have further whittled away the ranks of financial crisis-era freewheeling traders.Take Jonathan Hoffman, a global rates trader at Barclays who quit the firm recently. (A spokesman confirmed his departure to Quartz and Hoffman couldn’t be reached separately for comment.)A former Lehman Brothers trader heavyweight, Hoffman was among the highest-paid executives at Lehman prior to its bankruptcy. He pocketed a handsome $30 million one year before the firm, run by CEO Dick Fuld, collapsed under the weight of its own financial bets.It’s unclear exactly what led to Hoffman’s recent exit from Barclays. But Barclays, …

via traders – Google Blog Search:

Risk-taking traders at the world's biggest banks are on the outs. That's one conclusion from some recent high-profile departures at firms like Morgan Stanley and Barclays, which have further whittled away the ranks of financial …

For more info: More freewheeling traders are leaving the big banks � Quartz

traders – Google Blog Search

More freewheeling traders are leaving the big banks � Quartz

The post More freewheeling traders are leaving the big banks � Quartz appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://ift.tt/1hfeAeW



Trading, before-the-firm, brothers, financial, hadden, king, lehman, lehman-brothers, morgan-stanley, trading, world

"Another GSK Venue Question Sent to Third Circuit"

“Another GSK Venue Question Sent to Third Circuit”: In Monday’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers, Saranac Hale Spencer will have this article, in which I am quoted, about an appellate matter on which I am currently working. Posted at 12:36 PM by Howard BashmanIn Bashman news from Australia: With apologies for the recent lull in such coverage, the Australian Associated Press reports today that “Vic teenagers bash man, steal car: police.” Posted at 12:18 PM by Howard Bashman”Retired Judge Donald Ross of Omaha lived by a simple rule: Do what’s right.”This obituary appears today in The Omaha World-Herald. Posted at 10:28 AM by Howard Bashman

via How Appealing:

“Another GSK Venue Question Sent to Third Circuit”: In Monday’s edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers, Saranac Hale Spencer will have this article, in which I am quoted, about an appellate matter on which I am currently working.

For more info: "Another GSK Venue Question Sent to Third Circuit"

How Appealing

"Another GSK Venue Question Sent to Third Circuit"

The post "Another GSK Venue Question Sent to Third Circuit" appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/3551/law-around/another-gsk-venue-question-sent-to-third-circuit.html



Law Around, article, howard-bashman, judge, lawyers, omaha, retired-judge, saranac-hale, spencer, venue, venue-question, world

Slideshow: 8 Facts about Financial Inclusion and Gender

Slideshow: 8 Facts about Financial Inclusion and Gender Email share Financial InclusionSlideshow: 8 Facts about Financial Inclusion and Gender By Betsy Nolan, November 27, 2013 Giving women access can help empower them to rise out of poverty while building the local economy. Photo: S. Shakya for Mercy Corps.Though the gender gap is alive and well among the world’s poor, one interesting fact from this slideshow is that women are more involved than men in informal savings at a rate of 53 percent, compared to 43 percent of men.Click through below:8 things you may not know about financial inclusion and gender from DevexTags:accessing markets, impact investment, shared value, skills

via Global Envision:

Image:

Though the gender gap is alive and well among the world’s poor, one interesting fact from this slideshow is that women are more involved than men in informal savings at a rate of 53 percent, compared to 43 percent of men.

Click through below:

8 things you may not know about financial inclusion and gender from Devex

For more info: Slideshow: 8 Facts about Financial Inclusion and Gender

Global Envision

Slideshow: 8 Facts about Financial Inclusion and Gender

The post Slideshow: 8 Facts about Financial Inclusion and Gender appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/2960/social-entrepeneurship/slideshow-8-facts-about-financial-inclusion-and-gender.html



Social Entrepeneurship, betsy, betsy-nolan, corps, devex, facts, giving, insurance, nolan, photo, world

New Year’s Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic

New Year’s Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogicNov 17th, 2013 · 0 CommentNew Year’s Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic The end of the year is coming and everybody is already thinking about the New Year’s Day celebrations. Someone of you will stay at home, someone will leave for a short holiday and someone other will take a longer vacation abroad to have relax and fun. What about a New Year’s Day holiday in Tuscany? Spending some days there is an opportunity to have relax and fun with your family and visit one of the most beautiful regions in the world in winter. If you don’t like traditional accommodations (hotels, bed and breakfasts, agritourism, etc) you can choose a …

via Italy Luxury:

New Year's Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic

The end of the year is coming and everybody is already thinking about the New Year’s Day celebrations. Someone of you will stay at home, someone will leave for a short holiday and someone other will take a longer vacation abroad to have relax and fun. What about a New Year’s Day holiday in Tuscany? Spending some days there is an opportunity to have relax and fun with your family and visit one of the most beautiful regions in the world in winter. If you don’t like traditional accommodations (hotels, bed and breakfasts, agritourism, etc) you can choose a villa for rent to have relax and comfort at the same time.Here you are with a list of useful suggestions to rent villas in Tuscany and avoid …

via villa rentals in tuscany – Google Blog Search:

The end of the year is coming and everybody is already thinking about the New Year's Day celebrations. Someone of you will stay at home, someone will leave for a short holiday and someone other will take a longer vacation …

For more info: New Year's Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic

villa rentals in tuscany – Google Blog Search

New Year's Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic

The post New Year's Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic appeared first on Italy Luxury.

For more info: New Year’s Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic

Italy Luxury

New Year’s Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic

The post New Year’s Day in Italy? Tips to rent villas in Tuscany – AbiLogic appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/2339/world-news/new-years-day-in-italy-tips-to-rent-villas-in-tuscany-abilogic.html



World News, guardian, italy, king, officer, private, season, spa, stay-at-home, tuscany, world

Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley

Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon ValleyNov 15th, 2013 · 0 CommentInfographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley | Angel Investment Network Blog Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon ValleyPosted onNovember 15, 2013bymikelebusThis entry was posted in Start-Up & Entrepreneurship and tagged advisory board, bootstrap, bootstrapping, business idea, co-founder, early stage business, early stage company, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, founder, founding team, small business, SME, start-up, start-up business, start-up company, start-ups, startup, startup business, startup company, startup team, startups. …

via Start Up:

Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley

Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley | Angel Investment Network Blog Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon ValleyPosted onNovember 15, 2013bymikelebusThis entry was posted in Start-Up & Entrepreneurship and tagged advisory board, bootstrap, bootstrapping, business idea, co-founder, early stage business, early stage company, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, founder, founding team, small business, SME, start-up, start-up business, start-up company, start-ups, startup, startup business, startup company, startup team, startups. Bookmark the permalink. Recent Posts Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley Video – The Transformation of the VC Business Model Infographic – US Venture Capital Trends by …

via Angel Investment Network Blog:

For more info: Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley

Angel Investment Network Blog

Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley

L’articolo Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley sembra essere il primo su Start Up.

For more info: Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley

Start Up

Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley

The post Infographic – Brain Drain – Companies around the world are mining for mind power in Silicon Valley appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/2183/world-news/infographic-brain-drain-companies-around-the-world-are-mining-for-mind-power-in-silicon-valley.html



World News, brain-drain, companies, drain, early stage company, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, miscellanea, network, social, video, world

EcoDistricts 2013 keynote preview: Steve Pemberton

Steve PembertonForward Print HTML Share on Facebook Google Plus One Linkedin Share Button This November, Steve Pemberton will open one of the world’s premier conferences on sustainable neighborhood development – the EcoDistricts Summit in Boston – by addressing some of today’s stickiest urban issues: the role of corporations in creating green cities, the challenges of equity and inclusion, and threats to sustainability efforts in low-income areas from increasing levels of violence.As the first chief diversity officer and a division vice president at Walgreens, Pemberton deals with these issues every day. He directs activities to serve diverse markets and populations, including customers in medically underserved areas and urban food deserts. The recent author of ‘A Chance in World,’ Pemberton is recognized as a leader on …

via Sustainable Industries: All Articles:

Steve Pemberton

This November, Steve Pemberton will open one of the world’s premier conferences on sustainable neighborhood development – the EcoDistricts Summit in Boston – by addressing some of today’s stickiest urban issues: the role of corporations in creating green cities, the challenges of equity and inclusion, and threats to sustainability efforts in low-income areas from increasing levels of violence.

As the first chief diversity officer and a division vice president at Walgreens, Pemberton deals with these issues every day. He directs activities to serve diverse markets and populations, including customers in medically underserved areas and urban food deserts. The recent author of 'A Chance in World,' Pemberton is recognized as a leader on matters of diversity and inclusion, and their importance to what he calls 'the growth of the American industrial complex.' A ward of the state for much of his childhood, Steve Pemberton has made opportunity, access and equality pillars of his personal and professional life.

Q: Okay, when I hear 'American industrial complex,' I think Orwell. You’re a green cities guy, so how am I supposed to hear industrial complex and not fear assimilation by the Borg?

Pemberton: [Laughs] Ahh, well I think that’s a generational perception of the term. I don’t think of 'industrial complex' in the traditional way – not in the way Adam Smith wrote about it. To me, it’s about how organizations think about and interact with communities. From the standpoint of Walgreens, it’s about our partnership with local neighborhoods to advance health and wellness, especially in low-income areas.

Q: How is that work getting done?

Pemberton: We’re evaluating everything from products to supplier diversity to disability initiatives, which are frequently pointed to as an example. Our senior leadership team is actually one of the most diverse in America by race and gender. We have many strategic initiatives focused on putting fresh food in urban food oases, which are commonly found in neighborhoods that are underserved. We’re in a lot of these communities already, but we weren’t in the business of providing fresh food. Now we are, and that’s us putting a stake in the ground. We committed to this, in part, because so many grocery stores moved out of these areas.

Q: How do you react to those who argue that you should sell cheap or unhealthy food in low-income areas, because that’s what the people really want?

Pemberton: I find that to be a flawed argument. You can test that. Our experience is the exact opposite. Once we provide it, communities snap it up. It’s a matter of access. This is a long implementation process, and our goal is to turn at least 500 of our stores into places that provide fresh food in urban food oases. We’re close to hitting that number.

Q: Are we still in an era of lip service when it comes to creating real equity with the green cities movement?

Pemberton: I think we’ve exhausted the runway of pounding the pulpit. Any movement has stages. [pagebreak]First there’s awareness and elevating attention. We’ve been through that. What happens as part of that awareness is that articulation gets confused with resolution. The hard part is, 'What are you going to do?' Therein lies the challenge. It’s about getting people to recalibrate the way they do something, and that’s hard. My focus is on the solution, and I ask, 'Where are the gaps?' There is clearly a gap when it comes to accessing fresh and healthy food. I find that looking for gaps and doing something about them is what moves the needle, not lecturing people on something that’s perceived as a social cause.

Q: What took companies so long to create real solutions?

Pemberton: I’ll be an optimist and say I think there was a period of lack of awareness. Now there’s this realization that doing good things as a public corporation can actually be helpful to your brand. Before, that model wasn’t readily apparent. The term 'corporate social responsibility' seemed almost devoid of bottom-line responsibilities. Now you’re seeing the marriage of the two, and it’s having an impact. Corrective action – righting a social wrong – and competitive business can coexist to address issues such as health, weight and diabetes. I see the role of corporations as contributing to efforts, public and private, that create healthy generations. If we don’t do that, our role in communities will be challenged, and we won’t be there. There’s a heightened responsibility beyond simply greening the environment. There has to be a higher bar.

Q: Where do we go from here?

Pemberton: There are frontiers, clearly, particularly as they relate to the safety of neighborhoods. 'Greening' has been almost exclusively focused on sustainability – lowering the carbon footprint, fresh food, etc. Now we have to focus on a person’s experience and safety in their place. It’s not uncommon to hear about the tremendous violence that’s unfolding in urban areas such as Chicago, where I live. I suspect that organizations such as EcoDistricts will focus on solutions in addition to advocacy when to comes to safety. And who better than the leaders of the green city movement? The green cities movement is all for naught if neighborhoods are not safe.

Q: What else can you do to make equity real to green cities?

Pemberton: You have to be consistent and committed. Those are buzzwords, yes, but we mean it – you can’t have some PR buzz and then move on. For us, we have to hit the mark on 500 stores with fresh food. And, commitment can’t be to a single cause – it has to be several areas of greening. For example, we established car charging stations, but as any business our size will tell you, you need the right partners to get everything done. This comes down to the lighting we install in our stores, supplier diversity, renewable energy, and more. There isn’t one single swim lane here, because there’s a long focus on 'greening' our cities, and greening includes equity.

Q: What’s your plan to overtake the Google dominance of the other Steve Pemberton, the British actor most famous for his role in 'The League of Gentlemen'?

Pemberton: [Laughs] I have seen that! There was a period there where I didn’t know that he existed, to be honest. [pagebreak]I have three kids, and they search 'Steve Pemberton,' and that’s how I know. It’s just a different world with Google, of course. Who knows – if I get popular enough in this country, it won’t matter.

Seth Walker is a writer based in Portland, OR.

For more info: EcoDistricts 2013 keynote preview: Steve Pemberton

Sustainable Industries: All Articles

EcoDistricts 2013 keynote preview: Steve Pemberton

The post EcoDistricts 2013 keynote preview: Steve Pemberton appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/1311/social-entrepeneurship/ecodistricts-2013-keynote-preview-steve-pemberton.html



Social Entrepeneurship, american, business, industrial complex, officer, pemberton, people, state, steve, steve-pemberton, urban food oasis, violence, world

Compensate for Job Anxiety with Activities, not Purchases

It’s a story repeated in millions of lives across the world.A person is working at a job that they’re unhappy with for some reason or another. That unhappiness isn’t quite enough to push them to find another job or career path, but it is enough to make them feel quite uncomfortable.That person goes home. That person doesn’t feel fully happy with life.That person compensates through “retail therapy.” That person buys things so that enjoying something new will make them feel better and that burst of pleasure will take away the negativity of their job for a while.I fell into this trap myself for far too long. It was very easy to deal with job and life stress with retail therapy.Of course, …

via The Simple Dollar:

It’s a story repeated in millions of lives across the world.

A person is working at a job that they’re unhappy with for some reason or another. That unhappiness isn’t quite enough to push them to find another job or career path, but it is enough to make them feel quite uncomfortable.

That person goes home. That person doesn’t feel fully happy with life.

That person compensates through “retail therapy.” That person buys things so that enjoying something new will make them feel better and that burst of pleasure will take away the negativity of their job for a while.

I fell into this trap myself for far too long. It was very easy to deal with job and life stress with retail therapy.

Of course, that’s not a healthy long term strategy. One big difficulty is that “retail therapy” simply adds to the professional problems and, often, the personal problems. By buying stuff, you actually make your financial position worse and make yourself more reliant on your job. The path to quitting or seeking out new work seems more and more narrow.

If you want to be able to switch jobs without stress, you need money in the bank. You need fewer debts – and ideally none at all. You also need a grip on your own behavior.

The nice part is that you can find all of this with just one little change.

When you’re looking to de-stress, don’t open your wallet. Instead, seek out activities – any activities – that take the stress away while keeping your wallet closed.

For some people, exercise does it. Hiking and exploring does it for others. I have a friend who lives for geocaching and is using the same GPS she’s had for many years to do it. Yoga at home does it for others. For me, checking out books from the library and reading them does it.

Try lots of things. If you can find a handful of activities that lower the stress in your life and rotate them enough so that they feel fresh to you, you’ve stopped the chain of needing to open your wallet to de-stress and feel better about your situation.

Once that’s happened, you can channel the money you’re no longer throwing into retail therapy into paying off your debts and building up a savings account.

Once that’s happened, you have the freedom you need to actually walk away from your job and from those situations that are bring you stress in the first place.

It all starts with finding a healthy outlet for your professional stress. If you can find an outlet that doesn’t undermine your financial situation or your professional one, then you’re a giant step ahead of the game.

Good luck!

The post Compensate for Job Anxiety with Activities, not Purchases appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

For more info: Compensate for Job Anxiety with Activities, not Purchases

The Simple Dollar

Compensate for Job Anxiety with Activities, not Purchases

The post Compensate for Job Anxiety with Activities, not Purchases appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/945/personal-finance/compensate-for-job-anxiety-with-activities-not-purchases.html



Personal Finance, game, king, library, personal, personal finance, professional, take-the-stress, wallet, world

Workers Memorial Day–Remember the Dead, Fight for the Living

Social investment takes the stage: Five forums you should know about

When Thanh Truong, a dentist in Vietnam, wanted to help women in the Mekong Delta work their way out of poverty, she thought of quilting. With a small investment, Truong hired 35 women to begin producing the quilts, initially sold to friends. Now, 12 years later, Mekong Quilts has seven shops and employs over 340 women full time.Mekong Quilts is one of many examples of a successful social enterprise program. Around the world, businesses and organizations are applying investment strategies to improve human and environmental well-being and make a financial return.Several social investment forums brought social investment into the mainstream in 2013 and helped create and viable finance social investment and enterprise projects in Vietnam. At the Social Investment Forum in August in Hanoi, social investment experts discussed …

via Global Envision:

Image:

When Thanh Truong, a dentist in Vietnam, wanted to help women in the Mekong Delta work their way out of poverty, she thought of quilting. With a small investment, Truong hired 35 women to begin producing the quilts, initially sold to friends. Now, 12 years later, Mekong Quilts has seven shops and employs over 340 women full time.

Mekong Quilts is one of many examples of a successful social enterprise program. Around the world, businesses and organizations are applying investment strategies to improve human and environmental well-being and make a financial return.

Several social investment forums brought social investment into the mainstream in 2013 and helped create and viable finance social investment and enterprise projects in Vietnam. At the Social Investment Forum in August in Hanoi, social investment experts discussed Vietnam’s potential and readiness for social investment, as well as ways to increase accessibility of social investment opportunities .

In 2012, there were 200 self-identified social enterprise organizations in Vietnam. But social investment totalled just $2 million, and another 165,000 organizations could become social enterprises, forum organizers said. The large gap between actual and potential social enterprises in Vietnam reflects the lack of legal structure for social enterprises, according to The Guardian. Organizations that could be considered social enterprises instead identify themselves as charities or simply as a business. The Social Investment Forum recommended creating a legal structure for social enterprises that would include tax relief for investors and policies that would incorporate and value social impact.

Other social investment forums held this year targeted Western investors, policy makers, philanthropists, and students to engage in the social investment movement. Here are four of the top annual forums to check out for next year:

• Finance for a Sustainable Future 2013, sponsored by the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investments last May in Chicago, connected investors, consultants, analysts and other financial professionals to research, education and leadership opportunities in sustainable investment. Speakers discussed new trends, approaches and policy developments in the field.


• Responsible Investment Forum 2013 was dedicated to reducing social inequalities and environmental damage.The London forum, hosted by Private Equity International in June, explored the impact that environmental, social and governance issues have on debt, and how private equity managers can navigate emerging markets while considering these issues.


• The Social Enterprise World Forum is hosted by a different country each year. The 2013 forum, earlier this month in Calgary, sought to bring representatives from all social enterprise sectors to launch the social enterprise movement into the mainstream. The topics ranged from innovation to systemic change, but the theme of the forum centered on community organization and empowerment. The forum spotlighted organizations such as the Okanagan Changemakers and Groupe Convex that exemplify this theme by promoting community involvement and meaningful employment.


• The theme for the Social Enterprise Summit 2013 in May in Minneapolis was “Building an Economy on Purpose,” reflecting the host’s belief that social enterprise is the most hopeful way to create successful global economies that serve the common good. The Summit brought together organizations to share success stories and learn from each other.

Thanh Truong proved that a vision and small financial expenditure could dramatically improve the quality of life of the women with whom she works. These international forums confirm that similar commitments made by businesses and organizations around the world would be beneficial to investors and communities alike.

Articles You Might Like:

2013 CSR conferences, summits and symposiums

Business schools drive a global boom in social entrepreneurship

Social impact bonds: 5 lessons from a smart new report

For more info: Social investment takes the stage: Five forums you should know about

Global Envision

Social investment takes the stage: Five forums you should know about

The post Social investment takes the stage: Five forums you should know about appeared first on FX FOREX.

via WordPress http://www.evvi.net/806/social-entrepeneurship/social-investment-takes-the-stage-five-forums-you-should-know-about.html



Social Entrepeneurship, chicago, enterprise, forum, international, mekong, organizations, quilts, social, world