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Danone Poland: Affordable Milk Porridge for Low-Income Families

In 2006 Danone Poland launched a breakfast product which has a high nutritional value for children and is affordable for low-income consumers. A milk porridge product based on semolina and milk. Milk Start is enriched with vitamins and minerals. To make the initiative financially sustainable,...

Amanco: Providing Irrigation Systems to the Rural Poor

For decades, small farmers in Latin America have faced a grim outlook: low productivity and inefficiency. That was the background for the decision of Amanco, a subsidiary of the conglomerate GrupoNueva, to develop a hybrid value chain model for serving low-income markets. As part of that plan, the...

PETSTAR: Adding Value to the Chain of Recycling While Improving the Scavengers’ Working Conditions

With about 85,000 tons of waste generated every day, Mexico is the 10th largest garbage producer in the world. At the same time, tens of thousands of scavengers, including children, are making a living by collecting saleable items from open-air dumps in very poor, informal conditions.

Strategic partnerships improve child health in Mali

Pésinet, devised in 2002 by Brussels-based Afrique Initiatives, is an early warning method for monitoring the health conditions of children from low-income families. Its concept is simple: mothers subscribe to Pésinet’s services for a nominal fee, and in return a local Pésinet representative weighs...

Vodafone and Safaricom Kenya: Extending the Range and Reliability of Financial Services to the Poor in Rural Kenya

Kenya has fewer than 2 million bank accounts serving 32 million people. To bridge the gap, Safaricom Kenya, one of two mobile service providers in Kenya, developed a technological solution in partnership with Vodafone. The result was MPESA, an electronic money transfer product to make financial...

Integrated Tamale Fruit Company: Organic Mangoes Improving Livelihoods for the Poor in Ghana

The Integrated Tamale Fruit Company—operating in the Savelugu-Nanton District in Ghana’s Northern Region, an area of widespread poverty—cultivates certified organic mangos for local and export markets. To boost its power in the export market with higher production volumes, the company established a...

Partnerships bring fuel services to northern Mozambique medical clinics

In a country with 500 doctors for almost 20 million people, initiatives that can expand the reach of health services to rural people are in critical demand but in short supply. In northern Mozambique, the big challenge for health clinics is the lack of reliable fuel to light medical operations and...

Sustainable Cashew Production in Guinea

Guinea grows about 5,000 tons of raw cashew nuts a year. Meanwhile, its much smaller neighbour Guinea-Bissau, with similar soil and climate, produces 80,000 tons. Encouraged by the growing consumer demand for cashews, Guinea has begun to focus on expanding cashew production—a good candidate for...

Smart Communications: Low-cost Money Transfers for Overseas Filipino Workers

A leading wireless telephone services provider in the Philippines, Smart Communications, Inc. recognized that at least 8 million Filipinos work and live abroad—about a quarter of the domestic labour force. In 2005, Filipino workers overseas sent $10.7 billion in remittances, with at least as much...

Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan - Creating Value for All: Community-Based Tourism

Tourism is a rapidly growing industry throughout the world. It can contribute to poverty alleviation through creating new jobs and providing entrepreneurial opportunities for people from a variety of backgrounds, skills and experiences. Community-based tourism - a type of tourism that is owned and...

ConocoPhillips worked with NGO to support financial services in Venezuela

In 2006, ConocoPhillips worked with Fundefir, an organization with wide experience in developing bankomunales- small neighborhood banks in low-income areas where there are no formal financial services.

In partnership with Hope worldwide, Walmart brings opportunity to local communities in India and Kenya

Factory workers and their families in Kenya and India are getting help improving their lives through Walmart’s partnership with global non-profit Hope Worldwide.

Merrill Lynch and Greenlining Institute announced a $159 million economic partnership for Southern California

In 2000, Merrill Lynch and The Greenlining Institute announced a $159 million three-year initiative to encourage new investments, economic opportunities and home ownership in Asian Pacific, Latino and African-American communities in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area.

Merrill Lynch and the Greenlining Institute announce a $500 million initiative for under-served California communities

In 2003, Merrill Lynch and the Greenlining Institute announced a $500 million initiative to expand small business lending and promote economic opportunities in Asian Pacific, Latino and African-American communities throughout California.

Through an initiative of ASGN, micro-credit and tourism save giraffes in Niger

ASGN (the Association to Safeguard the Giraffes of Niger) used grants from the Wildlife Protection Foundation in the UK and from the Zoo de Doue in France to set up a successful micro-credit scheme.

Extending women enterpreneurship in India

To reach populations in remote areas, Hindustan Unilever has recruited and trained women in rural areas to act as direct sales operators. This led to the creation of Project Shakti in India which is now being extended to other countries as well.

The Asian Development Bank and Non-Governmental Organizations: Working Together

The Microcredit Project in Indonesia, established by the Asian Development Bank and approved in 1994, focuses on microenterprise support, recognizing the potential of microenterprises to create jobs at low capital input costs and raise the income levels of the poor.

The Centre for Self-Help Development: A Nepalese Microfinance Success Story

Microfinance programs are helping reduce both urban and rural poverty across Nepal in what amounts to a micro-finance revolution.