Digital Archive....

Collective Impact: Creating Large-Scale Social Change Wednesday, January 19, 11am PST / 2pm EST Webinar presented by: John Kania, Managing Director, and Mark Kramer, Founder and Managing Director, FSG In conversation with: Jeff Edmondson, Executive Director, Strive Partnership Substantially greater progress could be made in alleviating many of our most serious and complex social problems if nonprofits, governments, businesses, and the public were brought together around a common agenda to create collective impact. (See " Collective Impact ," featured in the Winter 2011 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review .) Join "Collective Impact" authors John Kania and Mark Kramer of FSG, in conversation with Jeff Edmondson, Executive Director of the Strive Partnership, for a live one-hour webinar on Wednesday, January 19. Kania and Kramer will introduce the conditions of a collective impact initiative and present their argument that large-scale so...

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MalawiSoc Timbuktu Chronicles Global Voices interviews Clement Nthambazale Nyirenda the founder of social bookmarking site MalawiSoc : How did the idea for creating MalawiSoc come about ? Generally speaking, social bookmarking is a method that enables Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. It also enables Internet users across the web to collaborate with one another by sharing their bookmarks. Because of my blogging activities, I have been a social bookmarking sites, such Digg, Redit and StumbleUpon, for the past few years. My experience with these sites inspired me to create a similar site specifically devoted to blogs and news about Malawi More here Sent with Reeder  

Warren Buffett on Philanthropy Tactical Philanthropy I believe that one day Warren Buffett will be looked on as the most pivotal person in the philanthropy of the early 21st century. Like Andrew Carnegie in the late 19th century, Buffett will be remembered not just for his own philanthropy, but for his outsized impact on the philanthropy of others. Below is the letter that Buffett wrote for the Giving Pledge . Much like Andrew Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth , this document will likely be looked back on by future historians as the fundamental declaration of Buffett's beliefs about the importance of philanthropy. By Warren Buffett In 2006, I made a commitment to gradually give all of my Berkshire Hathaway stock to philanthropic foundations. I couldn't be happier with that decision. Now, Bill and Melinda Gates and I are asking hundreds of rich Americans to pledge at least 50% of their wealth to charity. So I think it is fitting that I reiterate my i...

Fall 2010 Performance Report One Acre Fund Blog We've just released our latest performance report , for the six months ending October 2010. It discusses the following accomplishments: Grew program size from 23,000 farm families to 30,000 farm families, serving more than 120,000 children. Had our eighth harvest, increasing take-home farm income by 100% per acre, with 99% of farmers repaying program fees. Covered 60% of our field costs through farmer repayments, which will continue to improve over time The report shares the story of one of our top field leaders, Patyster, and briefly concludes with our vision for the future, which we are truly excited about. Our momentum continues to build at a terrific pace, and we are on track to create life change for 120,000 families in the next 36 months. You can also check out our previous performance reports here . Sent with Reeder  

New evidence on group vs. individual liability Financial Access Initiative Blog Many believe that group liability in microcredit improves repayment rates through peer screening, monitoring, and enforcement. But when Dean Karlan and Xavier Giné set out to test this hypothesis , they found no increase in default with individual liability. A new World Bank study provides evidence to the contrary .  Nevertheless, although seemingly contradictory, the two studies are actually complementary: together they reveal culture and prior loan experience strongly influence borrowers' monitoring and repayment behavior and are thus key considerations when designing an optimal contract structure. To read more please access Karlan's study here and the World Bank study here . Sent with Reeder  

Learning About Schools in Development Charles Kenny Learning About Schools in Development is a CGD Working Paper.  It is a longer version of this , which itself was a revised version of  this .   There has been considerable progress in school construction and enrollment worldwide. Paying kids to go to school can help overcome remaining demand-side barriers to enrollment. Nonetheless, the quality of education appears very poor across the developing world, limiting development impact. Thus we should measure and promote learning not schooling. Conditional cash transfers to students on the basis of attendance and scores, school choice, decentralization combined with published test results, and teacher pay based on attendance and performance may help. But learning outcomes are primarily affected by the broader environment in which students live, suggesting a learning agenda that stretches far beyond education ministries. Sent with Reeder...

Who was to blame? Baobab THE International Criminal Court (ICC) today named the six Kenyans it wants summoned to The Hague to answer for the violence which killed 1,200 Kenyans, displaced 300,000, and brought the country to the brink of collapse after an election at the end of 2007 . For those following the process carefully there was just one real surprise: the decision to name President Mwai Kibaki's secretary to the cabinet, Francis Muthaura. By choosing to go after Kenya's top civil servant, the ICC's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has signalled that he would like to see the whole election process scrutinised. Many observers, including Baobab, believe some of the responsibility for the blood-letting resides within those within Mr Kibaki's circle who sought to obscure and manipulate the vote tally. An examination of how the result was announced and how Mr Kibaki was speedily and shabbily sworn ...

Is it OK to do randomized experiments on people? NYC edition Aid Watch It has long been the standard practice in medical testing: Give drug treatment to one group while another, the control group, goes without. Now,  New York City is applying the same methodology to assess one of its programs to prevent homelessness. Half of the test subjects — people who are behind on rent and in danger of being evicted — are being denied assistance from the program for two years, with researchers tracking them to see if they end up homeless. The city's  Department of Homeless Services said the study was necessary to determine whether the $23 million program, called  Homebase , helped the people for whom it was intended. Homebase, begun in 2004, offers job training, counseling services and emergency money to help people stay in their homes. From Wednesday's New York Times . It's interesting to watch the debate over the ethics of randomized control trials arrive ...

LOMBORG: No, You Can't Project Syndicate - A World of Ideas - the highest quality opinion ... For years now, climate activists from Al Gore to Leonardo DiCaprio have argued that individual actions like driving more economical cars and using more efficient light bulbs are a crucial element in the effort to address global warming. That is entirely wrong, as new research shows. Sent with Reeder  

Microsavings 101: How do people save when they earn so little? Financial Access Initiative Blog If you're interested in microfinance, but don't necessarily want to learn about graphs, econometric equations and statistical techniques then you have come to the right place. Kiva and FAI are partnering to bring you "101" blog posts that explain the core principles of microfinance. This week's blog is a basic introduction to the subject of microsavings. Check out our past 101 blogs on microfinance and microcredit . When we think about poor people and the role that microfinance plays in their lives we tend to think of microcredit, or small loans. But there's another financial service that is as equally important to the poor: savings. You might be surprised those who earn so little are able to save, but they can, and they do. What are microsavings? Microsavings is a subset of microfinance, and refers to ways "unbanked" individual...

Is it time to call it quits on the Euro? Dani Rodrik's weblog It pained me to write this as I have never been a Euroskeptic, but I fear the answer for Greece, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal may well be yes.  These countries need both debt restructuring and a boost in competitiveness, and it is very difficult to see how they will get those while remaining in the Eurozone.  The most likely alternative is economic decline and political turmoil. Through long and painful experience, Europe's leaders first learned that financial integration requires eliminating volatility among national currencies.  Next they learned that eradicating currency risk requires doing away with national currencies altogether.  Now they are learning – but resisting – the lesson that you cannot achieve monetary union, among democracies, without political union. In other words, Europe is learning that political trilemma of the world economy applies there too.  As K...