Showing all 22 stories.
- Why Conversations Matter: A Day with Micro Drip
I was eager for the road trip. It was a chance to get out of Karachi, where the inability to simply walk around freely must surely become stifling; it was also a chance to see more of Pakistan’s countryside. The day was facilitated very effectively by National Rural Support Program (NRSP). NRSP is (in Aun’s words) the ‘big brother’ of TharDeep Rural Development Program – the parent organization of Micro Drip – and has been providing agri-specific support to farmers for over 20 years.
- The Farmer Calls the Shot
Generally, when I do the road trip from Nairobi into Western Kenya, I stay up late the night before so I can snooze during the journey. I sleep because I’ve taken the trip too many times to count – besides, it’s often a bumpy and dusty ride.
- Simple Mathematics
This cost analysis hangs on a wall at in the Osembe Primary School, a concrete block building surrounded by rice fields not far from Lake Victoria.
- Scaling Up in "The Many Indias"
‘India is merely a geographical expression. It is no more a single country than the equator’ - Winston Churchill
Had I read this quote five months ago, I would have not understood what it meant. But after living, traveling and working in India for exactly that long, I can say that Winston Churchill was exactly right.
- Health is Wealth
- In a country with 34 percent of people at or below the poverty line, healthcare is increasingly difficult for Pakistani families to afford. Hospital expenses are steep, and patients are often forced to pay for services out-of-pocket. These costs can leave families without sufficient resources to live on, and they frequently find themselves in significant debt. One of the ways to protect the poor from this poverty trap is to plan for unforeseen risks by offering products like microinsurance.
- Make Way! Marketing to Save Lives in Mumbai
- In Mumbai, ubiquitous traffic jams, few medically-equipped ambulances, and lack of awareness about emergency medical transport pose severe operational and marketing challenges, but 1298 has dedicated itself to applying best practices and innovative marketing tactics to build a new culture around emergency ambulance service in Mumbai.
- Firsts for Khuda Ki Basti
- As we begin to establish Khuda Ki Basti-4, Saiban's housing development, on the outskirts of Lahore, there are some things I fear, and others I look forward to as the community begins to take root. Within this new settlement there has been a host of exciting ‘firsts' happening, reflecting that the community we have dreamed of building for so long is finally taking shape.
- Walkabout
- The other day, we ran an eye camp in Mangzunuru, a village of about 5,000 people. Rama Devi grabbed a stack of flyers and a pair of reading glasses for show, and we set out. It was hot. Going from door to door, she ambled up to small groups and gave her pitch.
- A Community Reshaping Expectations
Along the Grand Trunk road outside of Lahore sits Khudaki-Basti 4, Saiban’s latest housing development. Approaching in the distance we see what once had been an empty field and is now an emerging community.
- Bringing Health and Power to Saurath
- In Saurath we meet Satyan’s uncle, Mamaji, as young in spirit asthe seventeen year old at the computer kiosk. In his sixties, Mamaji isa handsome man with white closely cropped hair. He is charged withrunning the Drishtee office in Saurath, overseeing the experiments andencouraging the community.
- The Value of Water
Colorful trucks overloaded with pots and fruits, furniture and people rumble along the crowded early morning streets of Vijayawada. We are off to visit one of the WaterHealth International (WHI) plants about two hours out of this small industrial city in Andhra Pradesh. Women walk with pots of water tucked under arms covered with colorful bangles. Others carry metal pots on their heads. Morning is the time for fetching water.
- The Power and Powerless of Night
- In Saurath, a rural village in Bihar, one of India’s poorest regions, we walk down a path alongside unending fields of emerald green. We pass a sweet little house with squash growing on its thatched roof and painted sketches of men and women dancing and celebrating drawn across the exterior walls.
- Visiting a BroadReach Clinic
- In Hammersdale, a small suburb outside of Durban, women wait outside the clinic because the waiting room is overflowing.
- A Retail Format Specifically for Poor Consumers
- It was an incredible experience being at the opening of the first Sanjeevani store last Tuesday. Viraj was just giddy about thepossibilities that this new format holds for serving the poor. It also didn’t hurt that the Director of International Operations from the US was there at the launch.
- Bringing Health Services to the Urban Poor
- As an Acumen Fund Fellow, I have spent the past seven months working for Medicine Shoppe India. With Acumen Fund’s recent equity investment, MedicineShoppe has launched the Sehat Clinics, an entirely new format aimed at the urban poor.
- When to Put Your Camera Away
- I’ve recently returned from working in Acumen Fund’s Nairobi office, where I had the opportunity to visit sanitation facilities in low-income communities in Kenya as part of my work. I had never seen life in any of these areas first-hand. Most Americans never do.
- Building Economic Opportunity in Saurath, Bihar
It’s an eight hour drive from Patna, the capital of Bihar, to Saurath,the village of about six thousand where Satyan Mishra, founder of Drishtee, grew up and where we have come to see some of his latest experiments.
- Two-pronged Social Impact
Meet Frances, a beaming driver for Advanced Bio-Extracts (ABE),a company that works with 2500+ farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to produce artemisinin, a critical input for cutting-edge malaria treatment therapies.
- High-quality Healthcare for Low-income Customers
- The Medicine Shoppe we are going to visit is located in a low-income Muslim neighborhood, but still serves a diversity of people. On our way we pass both temples and mosques and women covered in traditional black hijab mingled with fuchsia and turquoise saris.
- Providing Hope and Tough Conversation
- Until BroadReach began its program in Hammersdale, a small suburb of Durban in South Africa, the people who live in the ticky-tacky houses on the hillsides had to find their way into town for treatment, and many did not.
- Vision for Villages
- An hour and a half outside of Hyderabad, we turn off the main road, passing bright green rice paddies and wheat fields, and arrive in Ramalu. Arunesh and Raman, the director and marketing manager of Scojo respectively, are eager to show us how much has changed since our last visit.
- Bringing Community Health Clinics to Kenya
- The SHF clinic in the tiny village called Gichoinjini, near Embu, is located at the end of a long dirt road, lined by tin-roofed shanties on either side. The clinic’s fresh green and gold paint, the gossamer door covering and the happy lettering of its sign send a message of confidence and safety.