Recent Developments,
Key Innovations, and
Insightful Reports
Your One Stop Platform for Regular Sector Updates
Sector news
View By Category
Categories
- See all
- Agriculture
- Clean Cookstoves
- Clean Energy
- Climate Action
- Digital Technology
- Education
- Financial Services
- General
- Healthcare
- Hygiene
- Impact Investment
- Inclusive Value Chains
- Livelihoods
- Livestock
- Lower Income Consumers
- Marketing, Distribution and Sales for BoP
- Nutrition
- Sanitation
- Water
- Women Empowerment
August 6, 2012
Driving Change Through Technology: The Postbank Example
This case study describes how Postbank, Kenya, adopted new technology to move from using an antiquated passbook system to using cards and point of sale devices. It also highlights the internal cultural change that Postbank went through in the process. Postbank had to professionalize within while also facing increasing competition […]
August 6, 2012
Brazil signs rural internet agreement with Huawei
Brazil’s Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo, and Huawei do Brasil president Veni Shone, have signed a statement of commitment to develop new technology for the use of the 450 MHz frequency range. This will provide easier internet access to people in rural areas and small towns. Read more here.
August 6, 2012
Kenya: ICT Board loans Sh27 million for Pasha Centres
The Kenya ICT Board has loaned out Sh27.95 million to 26 entrepreneurs from different constituencies in Kenya in an effort to roll out electronic facilities named Pasha Centres which are hubs that provide a host of services to the public via internet-connected computers or other ICT-enabled applications at the grassroots […]
August 6, 2012
Vodacom Tanzania to focus on rural expansion
In Tanzania, while the mobile penetration is well over 80 per cent in urban areas, it is still about 25 per cent in rural areas. The new managing director of Vodacom in Tanzania plans to change this by expanding services to the rural areas. Read more here.
August 6, 2012
Increasing telecomm access for 200,000 underserved Nicaraguans
The World Bank and the Government of Nicaragua recently signed an agreement to provide US$ 5 million in additional financing for the Rural Telecommunications Project which aims to extend access to telecommunications services to more than 200,000 rural inhabitants of Nicaragua. Read more here.
August 6, 2012
China: Mobile overtakes desktop for internet usage in rural China
According to a recent report, mobile phones are now the most common way for people to connect to the internet in China. The report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC) said over 50 per cent of the year’s new internet users (mostly on mobiles) were from rural areas. A […]
August 6, 2012
India: Baben redefines what development should be for rural India
Baben, located just 7 km off Bardoli town in Gujarat boasts of more than 50 per cent of the 2,500 homes of the village have internet connections. The panchayat, too, is reflective of the progressive population and of the 19 members nine are graduates including the sarpanch. Read more here.
August 6, 2012
Mobile phones to improve rural Africa water supply
To fix the disrupted water supply scenario in rural Africa, a scientific team from University of Oxford in the UK will now be replacing traditional water pumps with handpumps that feature mobile phones – everytime the pump suffers mechanical failure, water engineers will be automatically notified. Read more here.
August 6, 2012
India: Mobile penetration low in India, but India high on innovation
According to a new report by World Bank, India has 70 mobile subscriptions per 100 people. The developing world is more “mobile” than the developed, having leapfrogged over some communication devices to go straight to mobiles and creating innovations like multiple-SIM phones and mobile payments. Indian penetration, according to the report is low, […]
Get The Latest From The Social Sector In Your Inbox
Subscribe to our newsletter
View Our Publications
06 Key Lessons for informing policy decisions: Mainstreaming tribal-specific climate adaptive capacities in vulnerable coastal regions within National Action Plan on Climate Change
Download Full Report
Four Key Lessons for Policy Consideration: Scaling Climate Adaptive Capacities among Small and Marginal Farming Communities in the Sundarbans
Download Full Report
Five Key Lessons for Policy Consideration: Scaling Climate Action Programs for Landless Rural Communities in Semi-Arid Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin in South Asia
Download Full Report
View Blog Posts
GST 2.0 and Tax Cuts: Can They Make Growth Fairer and Greener?
India's latest GST reform, being termed as GST 2.0, is more than just slashing rates. By simplifying the tax structure, cutting levies on essentials, and supporting renewable infrastructure, it's open..
Reimagining Sports in CSR: From Tokenism to a Vehicle for Multiplying Impact
In 2023–24, Indian companies spent about ₹1,396 crore of their CSR budgets on sports — just 4% of the total ₹34,909 crore Indian corporates spent on CSR that year. Most of the rest went to edu..
Interactive SHG Map of India: 7.5 million Women Self Help Groups are spread across 27 States and 6 UTs in India
Under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), India has 7.5 million Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) spread across 27 states and 6 Union Territories. Each of these small, self-governed, and peer-co..