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Employee Immersion Experience Brings Deeper Understanding of the Importance of Corporate Partnership
Nine employees from The Toro Company participated in an immersive experience in Zambia for an opportunity to learn and engage with iDE programs in the field.
Corporate partners like The Toro Company play an important role in iDE’s ability to create an impact in its programs around the world. This immersion in Zambia gave nine employees a chance to see first-hand the value of their company’s partnership.
Read more: TTC employees engaged with entrepreneurs, farmers and other Zambian market actors in the field. -
In Rural Kenya, Winfred Builds Better Business from Maize Shelling
For Winfred, entrepreneurial success meant supporting farmers in her rural community.
Agness Ndililwa, a single mother of seven in Zambia, helped support her family by enrolling in a training program with iDE, which helped her develop business skills, connect with agricultural suppliers, and diversify her product range. Through partnerships with iDE and the 'Farm to Market Alliance,' she expanded her business, supported local farmers, and contributed to agricultural resilience in her community.
Read more: Agness Ndililwa, a single mother of seven in Zambia, boosted her business and supported local farmers by enrolling in iDE's training program, connecting her with suppliers, while becoming a Farm Business Advisor (FBA). -
Mother of Seven Becomes Leader and Entrepreneur for Family and Community in Zambia
“My determination and hard work paid off after receiving support from iDE through capacity building as a Farm Business Advisor.”
Agness Ndililwa, a single mother of seven in Zambia, helped support her family by enrolling in a training program with iDE, which helped her develop business skills, connect with agricultural suppliers, and diversify her product range. Through partnerships with iDE and the 'Farm to Market Alliance,' she expanded her business, supported local farmers, and contributed to agricultural resilience in her community.
Read more: Agness Ndililwa, a single mother of seven in Zambia, boosted her business and supported local farmers by enrolling in iDE's training program, connecting her with suppliers, while becoming a Farm Business Advisor (FBA). -
In Nepal, Earthworms Foster Entrepreneurship For Bimala
How organic waste is helping communities thrive in the Himalayas.
Bimala from Chisapani, Nepal, has transformed her family's life through an agricultural vermicomposting project. Now a successful entrepreneur, she supports her family, shares her agricultural knowledge with her community, and advocates for women's financial independence through farming.
Read more: Bimala from Nepal, has transformed her family's life through an agricultural vermicomposting project. Now a successful entrepreneur, she supports her family, shares her agricultural knowledge with her community, and advocates for women's financial independence through farming. -
Single Mother Builds Her Agricultural Supply Business After Earning The Trust of Farmers
“I provide an important service to the farmers. When they encounter problems with their crops, they call me or bring me the infected plants to look at.”
Sieng Sophanna, a mother of three, increased her family's income when she opened a small shop. After enrolling in the iDE agribusiness accelerator, she boosted her skill set, which has helped her grow her business and build trust with her clients.
Read more: Sieng Sophanna from Cambodia enrolled in the iDE agribusiness accelerator where she gained valuable skills that helped her grow her sales by supporting local farmers. -
Despite Social Barriers, a Bangladeshi Mother Finds Success as an Entrepreneur
Momena opened a thriving small business and wants other women to do the same
With more than four decades of experience, iDE believes incubating and enabling women-led businesses will significantly accelerate human progress and deliver economic benefits for underserved communities.
Read more: Momena enrolled in an iDE and partner-led program which aims to enhance the employability of 1,500 women garment workers facing challenges from automation and digitization. -
Growing a Business After Fleeing Conflict in Mozambique
Maiasa built a new life from a barren plot to support her family
After fleeing violence in 2020 and losing her father, 30-year-old Maiasa Nahoda Abdala resettled in Nacala, where she transformed her plot into a thriving source of income through resilient agricultural techniques learned from iDE's PROMARE project.
Read more: Maiasa transformed her plot into a thriving source of income through resilient agricultural techniques -
iDE’s impact strategy: Harnessing the power of women to boost prosperity and economic growth
Based on the evidence and experience, iDE is dramatically scaling up its work with women entrepreneurs
Based on the evidence and experience, iDE is dramatically scaling up its work with women entrepreneurs
Read more: iDE's Strategy for Impact at Scale -
Childhood friends find new vocations in southern Ethiopia
Five rural university graduates without work build a thriving welding business in just two months.
The $4.3 million Resilience in Pastoral Areas (RIPA) project offers farming communities alternative income sources by boosting livestock and crop production and providing technical and vocational training, including skills like welding.
Read more: For rural youth, RIPA provides not just an alternative income source but a crucial lifeline -
Bridging Borders: The Role of Climate-Resilient Sanitation in Global Peace and Sustainability
24 August 2024
Published by CLIMATE RESILIENT SANITATION COALITION on August 24, 2024Ensuring that sanitation systems are robust and adaptable to climate challenges is not only essential for safeguarding public health but also for promoting regional stability and sustainable development.
Read more: Ensuring that sanitation systems are robust and adaptable to climate challenges is not only essential for safeguarding public health but also for promoting regional stability and sustainable development. -
gLOCAL Evaluation Week 2024
iDE’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning team shares insights and learnings with a diverse global community
Over the course of a week, members of iDE’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning team shared insights and learnings with participants joining from around the world during gLOCAL Evaluation Week 2024, hosted by Global Evaluation Initiative.
Read more: iDE’s MERL team shares insights and learnings with a diverse global community -
Impact Entrepreneur Luminarias Webinar
Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in the Global South
In developing nations, the stark reality for women reveals entrenched barriers to entrepreneurship that, if surmounted, could unlock a staggering $5-6 trillion global opportunity. To discuss the critical barriers impeding women entrepreneurs, iDE’s CEO Lizz Welch and Global Director of MERL Jennifer Roglà, PhD, joined Impact Entrepreneur’s Laurie Lane-Zucker as featured guests on the Luminarias webinar, “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in the Global South.”
Read more: Creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs around the world -
iDE project spices up earnings for Nepali entrepreneurs
To recover from the COVID shock, iDE clients in the agri-food value chain were supported with business training, loans and labor-saving machinery
With funding provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia, targeted 8 million low income people in rural areas across India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Read more: The project concluded in late 2023, after being extended to support women, returning migrant laborers, and marginalized groups. -
Market-Based Menstrual Solutions Can Unlock Options for Women and Girls
Addressing the needs of menstruators around the world
At iDE, we power entrepreneurs to end poverty, including period poverty. To be successful, it is essential to create an ecosystem of products and services that are designed by women and menstruators for women and menstruators.
Read more: Addressing the needs of menstruators around the world -
iDE starts work in Madagascar, aiming to improve sanitation in three cities using market-based solutions
The USAID-funded project will power Malagasy entrepreneurs to develop and deliver effective sanitation solutions that improve public health outcomes and drive economic growth
Under a US$10 million project, iDE is leading a consortium assembled to catalyze the transformation of sanitation markets in underserved urban neighborhoods.
Read more: The USAID-funded project will power Malagasy entrepreneurs to develop and deliver effective sanitation solutions that improve public health outcomes and drive economic growth -
Sanitation Marketing Scale-Up (SMSU)
Timeline: 2009 - 2023 | Budget: $30.8 million | Country: Cambodia
Rolled out across seven provinces, the program facilitated the installation of more than 410,000 latrines, delivering access to improved sanitation for one in five rural Cambodian households.
Read more: iDE Cambodia has successfully completed implementation of its flagship market-based sanitation program -
To earn a living Nepali women leave gender norms and housebound stereotypes behind
iDE is engaged in a broad effort across rural Nepal to support women becoming small scale entrepreneurs
As part of a broad effort across rural Nepal, iDE is engaged in a range of gender transformative projects that support women to become small scale entrepreneurs.
Read more: Investing in women can also bring about positive change – not only for women themselves but whole communities -
Postharvest technologies provided by women entrepreneurs benefit Kenyan farmers
Switching from manual to mechanized processing saves time and increases profits
The She Feeds Africa project, funded by Zinpro Corporation and the Anderson Foundation, provides women entrepreneurs with access to financing, tools, and training, equipping them to improve postharvest practices and incomes across Kenyan communities
Read more: Switching from manual to mechanized processing saves time and increases profits -
Business training provided to women under a new iDE Cambodia program
iDE plans to further roll out SHE’s expertise in training and coaching women entrepreneurs
By focusing on women entrepreneurs, iDE and the SHE program can empower whole communities, boosting prosperity and wellbeing.
Read more: Evidence shows that women are more likely to invest their earnings in their children’s health and education -
Cambodian children encouraged to eat nutritious foods
With funding from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, iDE rolls out global effort to improve nutritional outcomes for rural families
Despite Cambodia's economic growth, substantial progress, socio-economic and gender inequalities persist, hampering people's access to a nutritious diet, according to the World Food Programme.
Read more: iDE aims to improve nutritional outcomes for children in their first 1,000 days of life -
Women find vocation cleaning up Cambodia's floating villages
iDE is powering locals to monetize the collection of plastic
One third of project project funding is aimed at WASH interventions, which support efforts of small-scale entrepreneurs to build flood-resistant, pour-and-flush pit latrines, distribute water filters, and manage solid waste.
Read more: iDE is leading improvement efforts for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) under the European Union-funded project. -
Regenerative Agriculture Helps Nepali Farms Bloom
iDE is powering farmers to protect the environment using natural remedies
By intervening at critical entry points, iDE Nepal is working hard to promote the integration of traditional ecological knowledge with modern agricultural practices among last mile entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers.
Read more: Farmers are trading chemicals for traditional remedies. -
Getting sanitation back on the (global) agenda
Despite the proven impact and interrelationship between sanitation and climate change, sanitation is still not part of the climate conversation. It must be, not only to ensure the resilience of the infrastructure, communities and the ecosystems which we depend on in the face of a global climate emergency, but also to harness effective and under-utilised greenhouse gas mitigation possibilities.
Published by CLIMATE RESILIENT SANITATION COALITION on November 16, 2023Despite the proven impact and interrelationship between sanitation and climate change, sanitation is still not part of the climate conversation. It must be, not only to ensure the resilience of the infrastructure, communities and the ecosystems which we depend on in the face of a global climate emergency, but also to harness effective and under-utilised greenhouse gas mitigation possibilities.
Read more: Getting sanitation back on the (global) agenda -
Harnessing Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Resilience
A market systems approach to inclusive entrepreneurship in rural communities with a focus on women and youth
In Mozambique iDE is implementing its largest global operation with funded projects totalling more than US$40 million. By implementing a range of innovative agricultural, entrepreneurship and alternative livelihood projects across the country, iDE is working to lift thousands of people out of poverty.
Read more: iDE Mozambique’s efforts have successfully assisted farmers and entrepreneurs living in Maputo, Gaza,Sofala, Manica, Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces -
iDE Cambodia WASH Publications
The resources below were developed through multiple partnerships. We're making them accessible here in the spirit of knowledge sharing and toward fostering collaborative approaches to various SDGs.
Sharing resources for a better way forward
Read more: Connect to our resources -
Building a circular economy to clean up plastic waste
Vietnamese effort sees trash turned into building materials and tote bags
Named a finalist for the P3 Impact Award, the US$1.6 million project, funded by Denmark’s Danida Market Development Partnership, aims to transform Danang’s plastic waste into everything from boards used to construct buildings, to designer carry bags, sold by socially-conscious brands around the world.
Read more: Training informal waste pickers is part of a new approach being taken by iDE to support circular economies -
Empowered women in three African countries
Women entrepreneurs deliver greater business results
The US$6.4 million ($8.5 million CAD) project, being implemented by iDE and funded by Global Affairs Canada, has been designed to enhance economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive growth by providing support to women involved in agricultural value chains.
Read more: 25,000 women are being targeted across Sub Saharan Africa – in Zambia, Ethiopia and Ghana -
Women economically empowered in three African countries
Women entrepreneurs deliver greater business results
The US$6.4 million ($8.5 million CAD) project, being implemented by iDE and funded by Global Affairs Canada, has been designed to enhance economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive growth by providing support to women involved in agricultural value chains.
Read more: 25,000 women are being targeted across Sub Saharan Africa – in Zambia, Ethiopia and Ghana -
Women economically empowered in three African countries
Women entrepreneurs deliver greater business results
The US$6.4 million ($8.5 million CAD) project, being implemented by iDE and funded by Global Affairs Canada, has been designed to enhance economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive growth by providing support to women involved in agricultural value chains.
Read more: 25,000 women are being targeted across Sub Saharan Africa – in Zambia, Ethiopia and Ghana -
Agricultural value chain bears fruit
How adopting a new crop helped boost incomes and climate resilience of Cambodian farmers
The World Bank says improving the performance of agricultural value chains in emerging countries like Cambodia will be crucial to ending poverty and hunger, boosting shared prosperity, and stewarding the world’s natural resources.
Read more: iDE was instrumental in establishing the value chain, under our Climate Smart Commercial Horticulture Cambodia (CSmart) program. -
Sanitation coverage radically increased across the country
The nation leads the world in reducing the rate of open defecation with household sanitation coverage as high as 88 percent in target provinces
Following a concerted effort by national and subnational governments, iDE and other partner organizations have joined forces to radically increase improved sanitation coverage and end the practice of defecating in the open.
Read more: The nation leads the world in reducing the rate of open defecation with household sanitation coverage as high as 88 percent in target provinces -
Locally-led innovation rewarded with new funds provided to iDE staff
Staff solve challenges to create impact in their community
Established in 2021, the Paul Polak Innovation Fund helps nurture and grow iDE’s proud culture of innovation, providing grants to test and implement our locally-led solutions.
Read more: The Paul Polak Innovation Fund -
Bangladeshi entrepreneurs create market for latrines
iDE’s most ambitious sanitation program to date aims to provide toilets for more than 1 million households
“At first, I thought iDE might purchase products from me like other NGOs,” says Mubeen, “But after participating in the training, I understood. They were here to show me how to grow my business.”
Read more: iDE’s most ambitious sanitation program to date aims to provide toilets for more than 1 million households -
New Irrigation System Inspires A Community
iDE powers thousands of Zambian farmers with demonstration plots
A 2015 report by Hystra, a global consulting firm that works with business and social sector pioneers to design and implement inclusive business approaches that are profitable and scalable, says it is important that development organizations identify the right farmers and “over-invest” in their farms through tailored and intensive support.
Read more: The Strengthening Farmer Incomes program has powered 15,000 Zambians -
Seeing is believing for entrepreneurial Ghanaians
Farmers powered by successful agricultural project
Shei is one of 146 farmers powered by the successful project known as Accelerating Impact of Food Security (AIFS) – which is part of iDE’s broader Korsung agricultural initiative, which translates as “good farming practices” in local language, Dagbani – which ran between April 2021 and March 2022.
Read more: The US$225,000 project helped boost nutrition and food security -
Entrepreneur Unleashes Latent Power Of Local Markets
Farmer uncomfortable knowing middlemen were profiting handsomely
Working as a cashew farmer in central Cambodia, In Laihout, 40, was uncomfortable with the fact that most of her crop was being exported to Vietnam where it was being processed and then on-sold by traders to bulk buyers at a significant profit.
Because there weren’t many processing centers in her low-income region, farmers like her were selling their cashews for small margins, only to see these foreign traders capitalize on their hard work and lack of local value chains.
But instead of accepting the situation, Laihout decided to start her own cashew collecting and processing business, initially working through a farmers’ association and community processing center in her village in Kampong Thom province, paying local farmers a fair price for their product and processing it herself.
Read more: Farmer uncomfortable knowing middlemen were profiting handsomely -
Sylhet’s Resilient Market Ecosystem
Bangladeshi Region Characterized by Sufi Shrines and a Changing Climate
This Sylhet market ecosystem map shows the location of more than 2,360 iDE-powered touchpoints – local business advisors, livestock service providers, agricultural collection points, sales agents, entrepreneurs and latrine producers – all engaging with market actors, communities, and individuals – spread across Sylhet.
Read more: Sylhet’s Resilient Market Ecosystem -
Climate Changes Farm Advisor's Message
Inutu Now Tells Farmers To Prepare For Drought
The rains didn’t come in November, as they used to. When they did begin in December, here in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province, they didn’t last long.
“The drought has really impacted the farmers,” said Inutu Musialela, 53. “In February, it didn’t rain at all. In March, it did rain, but not until the last week.”
“Most of the crops were planted, like maize and sunflower. The rains started but then they went off. The farmers were hit with that. Their crops didn’t grow.”
Since Inutu began working with iDE in 2012, she says the local climate has changed significantly. As a Farm Business Advisor (FBA), Inutu has taught small scale farmers how to fertilize and protect their crops from pests.
Nowadays she spends just as much time teaching farmers how to become resilient to climate change, telling them to plant early maturing crops that require less water, or that they should plant a greater diversity of crops should some varieties fail.
“Because climate change has hit us now, I encourage them to prepare the land before the rains come.”
“They dig holes, like a basin, to plant their crops inside. These potholes hold water around the roots. There they can grow soybeans, maize, anything.”
Read more: iDE has trained more than 300 FBAs across Zambia who leverage existing market players, such as suppliers and transporters, to increase small farm productivity, improving access to inputs for farmers and building links with commercial markets. -
Microloans Help Zambian Farmers Cover Their Nuts
iDE Works With Communities To Establish Catalytic Savings And Loans Groups
Tryness Nsofwa, 57, proudly inspects her field of groundnuts. She uproots a clump of pods from the damp, red earth and is pleased with what she sees. Cracking open a husk to reveal edible fruit inside, Tryness notes the nuts are well formed and plentiful. “It’s looking very nice,” she says of her crop. “I will keep some for my family and I will sell some.”
Read more: iDE is working with 379 community savings and loans groups across six Zambian provinces -
Change Agents Power Recovering Mozambican Farmers
iDE Adapted To Combat Natural Disasters and Socio-Economic Disruptions
Farm Business Advisor (FBA) Flora Mostiço is a change agent in her Mozambican community. At her market store in Nhamatanda, in the Beira Corridor, the mother of six sells affordable agricultural inputs including high quality seeds, fertilizer, and water pumps. Despite repeated cyclones in the region, she runs a successful small scale farm and provides business support to other farmers. “I started with something small and now I am growing,” Flora says of her business. iDE has trained some 332 (117 women) FBAs like Flora across Mozambique’s Maputo, Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia provinces.
Read more: FBAs have an average of 639 farmer clients each, 42 percent of whom were women. -
Young pastoralists expand business
Eager entrepreneurs want to work but are unaware of or unequipped for job opportunities
While both men and women in the lowlands of Ethiopia have increased their engagement in local markets, they often lack access, agency, and commercial scale.
Read more: Livelihood variety for the next generation -
Transitioning out of Pastoralism
Nomadic communities in the southern lowlands of Ethiopia diversify their income
Pastoralist communities can no longer rely on traditional livestock and agriculture for high-quality, nutritious food production and consistent income generation.
Read more: Opportunities need capital and technical know-how -
Nutrition Boosted By Income Generation in Bangladesh
Most households receiving training on poultry farming
Farhana Yeasmin, 24, remembers what it was like when her husband was the family’s sole earner. Because he was a day laborer and made little money, they struggled to even pay for basics. And if he couldn’t find work, the family sometimes skipped meals.
Read more: Gender discrimination leadings to poor nutritional status among women and children -
Nepali Women Fetched Water Before Daybreak
But an iDE program now pipes it to their villages
Kamala Magar’s day began before dawn. The Nepali farmer would get up and walk miles in the cold to fetch water for her family. It would take her most of the morning to retrieve just one jar, which she’d use to make breakfast before setting out for more.
Read more: A proven approach to build resilience among Nepalese farmers -
Climate-smart farming pays off
Innovative program focuses on increasing profits for small-scale farmers
By improving access to technical assistance, market information, quality inputs, and new technologies, iDE increases value-chain efficiency and competitiveness to benefit small-scale farmers.
Read more: Technical training improves incomes in Cambodia -
iDE story on Agrilinks third most popular for 2021
Agrilinks says iDE at forefront of academic and thought leadership around resilience measurement
Together, iDE and Queen City are creating a more equitable value chain that respects coffee farmersssss
Read more: Together, iDE and Queen City are creating a more equitable value chain that respects coffee farmers. -
Partnerships Turn Local into Global
iDE and Queen City are creating a more equitable value chain that respects coffee farmers
Together, iDE and Queen City are creating a more equitable value chain that respects coffee farmersssss
Read more: Together, iDE and Queen City are creating a more equitable value chain that respects coffee farmers. -
Addressing two health crises at once
In order to continue selling latrines to rural villagers, iDE first addresses their concerns about COVID-19, combating misinformation about the vaccine and the spread of the disease.
iDE first addresses rural Cambodians concerns about COVID-19, combating misinformation about the vaccine and the spread of the disease, before we talk about the importance of latrines to their village's sanitation.
Read more: Marketing Sanitation During the COVID-19 Pandemic -
Partnership on Scaling Up Bamboo in Ethiopia and Beyond
Working with selected communities in the Sidama region since 2020, and looking to expand to Southern Ethiopia and other high-potential bamboo areas in Ethiopia and beyond.
Expanding high-value bamboo production across Ethiopia
Read more: A partnership to increase productivity and profits in the Sidama region of Ethiopia and beyond -
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion
Resilient market ecosystems must be inclusive of marginalized groups
Power imbalances and harmful social norms prevent women—as well as men and socially excluded groups—from going about their lives freely, preventing them from taking full and equal advantage of opportunity.
Read more: Our approach to inclusion starts with us -
Nutrition
Improving the environment for mothers and children to thrive
iDE works to develop a supportive environment for communities to have availability of nutritious foods, maximized incomes for increased access, and information to support families to make healthy choices around food consumption.
Read more: How we incorporate nutrition into our programs -
Measuring Impact
Our approach to rigorous, inclusive, and ethical measurement
We measure our progress, monitor our impact and evaluate when we need to change our approach. Using a core set of performance indicators and information management tools, we track the number of households we reach, look for increases in household income and savings, and calculate the ratio of what we spend on programs compared to the incomes generated by our customers.
Read more: iDE's approach to Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning -
Designing interventions to context
Good design can change lives when it responds to real needs.
We operate under the ethos of actually talking to the people we work with. Only then can we work to co-design solutions that meet their particular challenges. Using an approach called human-centered design (HCD), we create products, services and processes that fill gaps in market systems and help solve everyday problems.
Read more: Learn more about our work in design -
Climate & Resilience Training and Natural Resource Management
How to best steward our natural resources now and for the future
By managing our natural resources more effectively, through training on best practices, we are able to run projects sustainably and stay within environmental limits.
Read more: Powering farmers to become resilient to climate change -
Climate-Smart Products
Technology that boosts profits and is good for the environment
As the climate changes, these resource-smart technologies have become increasingly important.
Read more: How the right technology can enhance resilience -
Measuring Market Resilience
Using an index to understand the durability of markets
The Market System Resilience Index (MSRI) enables us to track the resilience of the wider market system, specifically in rural contexts, helping us better understand and adapt our market creation approach to local contexts.
Read more: Measuring market resilience -
Climate Change Resilience
As the climate changes, we are powering vulnerable, low-income communities to adapt and thrive
As we leverage market ecosystems to boost agricultural productivity and provide services to rural communities, we also deploy tactics to help people adapt to changing climates, promoting climate-resilient technologies, encouraging regenerative agriculture, and supporting community-led management of natural resources. We also measure the impact of climate shocks on market systems.
Read more: Our market strategies help farmers adapt to changing climates -
Building markets in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector
Increasing health outcomes and building resilient communities
When we told people that we planned to sell latrines, water filters, handwashing devices, and menstrual health products to poor customers rather than just give them away, they didn’t believe it would work. But we’ve proven that it does work, and that it works better than charity, because when people invest their own money, they’re more likely to embrace the change necessary to improve their lives.
Read more: How clean water contributes to community health and well-belng -
It all began with a simple idea—
Creating a global force for change based on the power of business to solve poverty.
Timeline
Read more: Timeline -
Buyer-Centered Market Linkages
When demand leads supply, small businesses increase profits
iDE helps producers understand and react to the needs of buyers, creating business plans that help suppliers meet demand and increase incomes for everyone.
Read more: Read more about how we build links between buyers and suppliers -
Trade Fairs for Farmers
One-stop shopping restores livelihoods, especially after disasters
Input Trade and Technology Fairs support smallholder farmers with access to private suppliers of certified agricultural products.
Read more: Input Trade and Technology Fairs build local market systems after shocks -
Farm Business Advisors
FBAs provide an essential last-mile link between agricultural input suppliers and farmers located in remote areas far from commercial centers.
Read more: An essential part of iDE's approach to creating hubs of resilience for farmers. -
Agriculture for Entrepreneurs
Transforming small farms into small businesses
Any farm can move from subsistence farming to farming as a business with the right support. Farm Business Advisors provide an essential link between farmers and suppliers in remote areas. Our work in nutrition-sensitive agriculture promotes a supportive business environment for producers to deliver more, better, and safer nutritious foods.
Read more: How iDE increases agricultural incomes -
Infinite Model
A roadmap to prosperity
Our Infinite Model provides a roadmap for how individuals who seek to participate in the market can move through a process of growth, promoting profitable livelihoods and ultimately, as our tagline says, ending poverty.
Read more: About our impact model and how we implement it -
Leave a legacy with iDE
Join the “100 Farmers Society” and leave a legacy that will impact generations.
Making a legacy gift ensures that your estate can impact people for generations.
Read more: Planned giving -
Want to know how you can make a difference?
Explore the many ways that you can make an impact with iDE.
The many options for making an impact with iDE
Read more: Ways to give -
Partnering for a sustainable future.
We invite corporations to join us in solving poverty through innovative business solutions.
Learn how your company can partner with iDE to join the global effort that's ending poverty.
Read more: Corporate partnerships -
Powering entrepreneurs to end poverty
The evolution and adoption of an iDE tagline
Our tagline will ensure that everyone we meet knows we see the problem and are confident that our sustainable market approach—and the entrepreneurs all over the world challenging the status quo—can solve it.
Read more: The evolution and adoption of an iDE tagline -
Doing good through sustainable businesses
We're highlighting three social businesses that we’re excited to follow as they grow and make an impact.
Using profit to build a sustainable business that meets people’s needs, social enterprises flourish while doing good.
Read more: Small Businesses Doing Good -
Adapting to climate change
The Farmer Resilience & Rebuilding Initiative in Mozambique
How iDE is helping smallholder farmers increase their resilience following both Cyclone Idai and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more: The farmer resilience and rebuilding initiative in Mozambique -
Blockchain Beans
Increasing transparency in the coffee value chain.
iDE teams up with Bext360 to create a pilot program connecting Honduran coffee farmers to every aspect of the value chain through blockchain.
Read more: Increasing transparency in the coffee value chain -
Blockchain y Granos de Café
Aumentando la transparencia en la cadena de valor del café.
iDE teams up with Bext360 to create a pilot program connecting Honduran coffee farmers to every aspect of the value chain through blockchain.
Read more: Increasing transparency in the coffee value chain -
Hand hygiene—moving from a “should” to a “must”
Good hand washing habits have always been connected to good health, but the practice is even more important now to prevent COVID-19.
This health crisis will lead to a hunger crisis unless we ensure working people have the necessary information and supplies to avoid illness, allowing them to earn an income and put food on the table.
Read more: Washing Hands to Fight COVID-19 -
We stand with #BlackLivesMatter
A message from the CEO of iDE
Published by Elizabeth Welch on June 8, 2020The systemic discrimination of black Americans is shameful and corrupt—and must be stopped.
Read more: We stand with #BlackLivesMatter -
Expanding Nepal's Business Access to Improved Technologies for Agriculture (ENBAITA)
Post Project Sustainability, Impacts, and Food Security During the COVID-19 Crisis
Utilizing the ENBAITA networks is a proven and cost effective way to help Nepal agriculture to recover from COVID-19 and to re-invigorate trading and exchange between Nepal and India to support food security in Nepal.
Read more: Expanding Nepal's Business Access to Improved Technologies for Agriculture (ENBAITA) -
All over the world, COVID-19 is threatening people’s access to food.
This problem is going to get a lot worse.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, millions of people are at risk to experience hunger in the coming months.
Read more: Help us prevent a hunger crisis. -
Even remote farmers are threatened by COVID-19
Our usual support during the growing season has been hampered, or completely suspended in order to prevent the spread of the disease, and that’s why we’re trying new methods to help rural farmers.
Because FBAs are entrepreneurs who connect urban suppliers and buyers to rural smallholder farmers, they can be a powerful force in a time of crisis.
Read more: The Impact of COVID19 on Food Security -
The future for Ethiopian coffee farmers
In the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopian farmers are adopting new practices to enhance a way of life that’s been passed down for generations.
In the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopian farmers are adopting new practices to enhance a way of life that’s been passed down for generations. With the support of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, iDE is working with farmers in Jimma, Ethiopia to practice sustainable coffee production.
Read more: Enhancing coffee production in Ethiopia -
How gender affects sales
Research suggests that matching sales agent gender to different target households can increase sanitation uptake
Research suggests that matching sales agent gender to different target households can increase sanitation uptake
Read more: Learn more about how understanding gender issues can accelerate WASH sales -
Students seek solutions for food preservation
Design students from the Colorado School of Mines develop context-oriented technology to strengthen the post-harvest value chain in rural Mozambique
iDE works with university partners to explore technologies that promise to increase market options for fruit and vegetable farmers.
Read more: Learning how local context informs the design process -
A Tribute to Paul Polak
Market-Based Development Pioneer (1933 - 2019)
A serial entrepreneur and humanitarian, Paul Polak inspired generations to adopt the market-based approach to assist those living on less than $2 a day to earn an income through business.
Read more: Learn more about iDE founder, Paul Polak -
Increasing women’s roles in household decision-making in Mozambique
Involve the entire family in order to achieve gender equality
Involve the entire family in order to achieve gender equality
Read more: Learn more about how to increase women's roles in household decision-making -
Building resilience through hubs of commercial activity
A foundation for stability and growth in Nepal
To build Nepalese farmers’ resilience, iDE engages in what we’ve termed the “Commercial Pocket Approach.”
Read more: Find out more about iDE's Commercial Pocket Approach -
Protecting the watershed and a way of life in Honduras
Watersheds are crucial to the sustainability of businesses, communities, and ecosystems. In Honduras, we’re working with people all along the watershed to protect water at its source, ensuring it continues flowing for generations to come.
Read more: Protecting water at its source -
Growing markets
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Expanding farm-to-business marketing in Mozambique
Mariana now has a business connecting farms directly to restaurants, ensuring that everyone benefits from increased service that ensures profit and better food.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Expanding markets in Mozambique -
Emerging Women Leaders
Ethiopia’s women leaders find confidence and hope to achieve their visions
This model economically empowers women as they invest and save money for the future, but also addresses aspects of social empowerment through new relationships and increased agency.
Read more: Women step into leadership positions by joining Women Economic Groups -
Greenhouses break new ground
Visible agricultural technology spurs demand for change in Mozambique
Tropical greenhouse technology incorporates drip irrigation and ultraviolet plastic filtration cover that both protects the plants from heavy rainfall but also accelerates photosynthesis, resulting in healthier, larger produce.
Read more: Seeding the market with tropical greenhouse technology -
A new method for assessing credit-worthiness
Psychometric surveys increase access to payment plans for the rural poor
iDE’s Sama Sama social enterprise is implementing a Ghana-specific psychometric survey to increase the pool of eligible applicants for sanitation finance.
Read more: A role for psychometric surveys in access to finance -
Leading the way to clean water and sanitation
Why WASH organizations need to hire and grow business-savvy leaders
Why WASH organizations need to hire and grow business-savvy leaders
Read more: PERSPECTIVE: Leading the way to clean water and sanitation -
Leading the way to clean water and sanitation
Why WASH organizations need to hire and grow business-savvy leaders
Why WASH organizations need to hire and grow business-savvy leaders
Read more: PERSPECTIVE: Leading the way to clean water and sanitation -
Learn by doing
iDE immerses Global Good engineers in design thinking
Tailoring existing HCD curriculum to current in-country, contextual challenges the immersion course will provide participants with real-life applications to the Human-Centered Design methodology.
Read more: iDE facilitates a week-long HCD 360 immersion bootcamp. -
Not feel-good change, but sustainable change
An interview with Ali Gregory
Published by Ali Gregory on July 12, 2018Ali Gregory, Program Officer of The Geisse Foundation, shares her beliefs on philanthropy with us, explaining why she invests in sustainable development.
Read more: DONOR PERSPECTIVE: Not feel-good change, but sustainable change. -
Game Theory of Solving Poverty
Thinking about markets for the poor — using game theory
Published by Tim Prewitt on June 18, 2018Why iDE believes the future is bright for people in the poorest locations.
Read more: PERSPECTIVE: Thinking about markets for the poor — using game theory -
Why cloud-based business applications are the future of international development
iDE brings real-time data and entrepreneurial thinking to successfully tackle global poverty issues
iDE is using state-of-the-art business analytics tools to flexibly adapt to the market to drive increasing sanitation coverage.
Read more: Real-time data is key to scaling up sanitation coverage -
The Disaster That Wasn't
Building resilience to famine in Ethiopia
There wasn't a disaster in Ethiopia in 2016, although they had one of their worst famine years ever. What changed from the 1980s and what can we learn from that for the future?
Read more: PERSPECTIVE: The Disaster That Wasn't -
Hero Investor
A critical new role for funding the future
In order to jump start businesses in developing economies, a special type of investor is required.
Read more: PERSPECTIVE: The Hero Investor -
New growth yields new hope
Lors Thmey social enterprise helps smallholder farmers improve the quality, quantity, and diversity of their production.
Lors Thmey operates as a business unit within iDE Cambodia with a mission to improve the economic resilience of poor rural households.
Read more: Lors Thmey Social Enterprise in Cambodia -
Hope & Water On Tap
A Donor Story by Tom and Gayané Ebling
Published by Tom Ebling on December 5, 2017The Eblings joined iDE and 11 other guests on a trip to Nepal and Bhutan where they saw how their support has enabled iDE to deliver transformative programming in Nepal.
Read more: DONOR PERSPECTIVE: Hope & Water On Tap -
Resource-smart technology
Bridging the design gap between the developed and developing worlds
Understanding that small-scale farming families have severe resource limitations, iDE works to help minimize the pressure on labor, income, water, and energy by identifying and re-designing technologies existing at the intersection of these four resources, which can have a life-changing impact on struggling farmers.
Read more: Technology that uses resources wisely, but isn't cost-prohibitive to poor farmers, is smart -
We’re making big waves
Celebrating a milestone: 200,000 toilets sold in just 18 months
Microentrepreneurs have sold 200,000 toilets in just 18 months. This is a major milestone—for iDE’s WASH team and for our partners, who dedicated two years to lay the foundation for this market system, and then a year and a half to catalyze sales.
Read more: Celebrating 200,000 latrines sold in Bangladesh in just 18 months -
We can work it out
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Rethinking subsidy options in Bangladesh
Intelligent use of subsidies can make a real difference for the lives of the very poor without distorting the market. But it takes an understanding of the context to get it right.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How a government official decided to support improved sanitation for his district -
A fortunate son
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Improved toilets provide safety, dignity, and privacy in Ghana
The migration of young people from small villages and farms to the city opens up additional options for improving the lives of those who remain behind. Making improved toilets affordable can spur increasing sanitation coverage by marketing to this newly affluent group.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How young urban professionals are investing in improved toilets to honor their parents -
The future now
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Trying to keep up with demand in Cambodia
Better outputs require better inputs, which is why iDE's Farm Business Advisors sell high-quality seeds to their clients.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How Sou Sothoun views the future after her interactions with iDE. -
From treadle to solar
STAFF PROFILE: Badrul Alam is leading the next wave of innovation in agricultural technology
“The solar pump is very interesting to me. So far, all of the pumps I have seen and known have been powered by man, animal, wind, diesel, or electricity, and they rely on many fast-moving parts. This pump is different because it has no moving parts, and the source of energy is the sun.”
Read more: STAFF PROFILE: Meet Badrul Alam, one of our first employees -
Less risky business
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Expanding micro-finance in Zambia
Farm Business Advisors are called on to perform many tasks. One of David Mbwita’s is to recommend his clients for small loans based on his understanding of their ability to repay.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: David Mbwita helps micro-finance institutions find reliable low-income borrowers -
We’d like to thank...
iDE’s excellence in combating poverty through building markets is recognized by the global community
In recent years, iDE’s work has been recognized by the global community for its excellence and commitment to innovation in building markets for poor, rural households.
Read more: Our Awards -
Juddy rising
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Empowering female farmers in Zambia
Juddy has been working with John Muta, a Farm Business Advisor (FBA), for the past few years, and through talking with her we came to understand how the FBA program is affecting women’s empowerment in the household. Using the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), which measures empowerment across domains ranging from decision-making power to control over income, we asked Juddy about her roles.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How Juddy Mukumbi is creating a family agricultural business -
Beating blindness
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Marketing crops rich in vitamin-A in Ghana
Two farmers participate in a quantitative assessment by our iQ team, which will be paired with results from a qualitative deep dive administered by our Human-Centered Design team. We interviewed them to understand the successes and barriers to growing and selling a very specific kind of sweet potato: an orange-fleshed sweet potato, high in Vitamin A.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How Samuel and Akolbire are taking the risk to grow crops rich in vitamin-A -
Plentiful plantains
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: A farmer makes the switch from flood to drip irrigation
Nicaragua is known for its lakes and rivers—water scarcity has not been a problem until now. The rains are coming less frequently, and weather patterns are less predictable. Farmers like Candelario are having to pivot their practices—making such changes as switching from traditional flood irrigation to water-saving drip irrigation.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How Candelario Bojorge has expanded his plantain grove and reduced water use -
Tunnel vision
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Increasing production despite changing weather patterns in Nepal
Gita Pariyar lives in Lahachok village, within the Kaski district of central Nepal. She is raising 2 daughters and a son while her husband works as a laborer in the Middle East. A member of the disadvantaged Dalit community, she helps supplement her family’s income through agriculture. But she’s noticed a change in the rainfall in Nepal.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How Gita Pariyar uses a 'tomato tunnel' to address climate change -
Life beyond coffee
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Doña Julia Rivera learns to diversify in Honduras
Doña Julia lives in a region of Honduras called Marcala, known for its high-quality coffee production. Undernourishment is a widespread problem among coffee farmers in this region. Normally, farmers only earn an income during the four months of coffee harvesting—leaving farmers eight months each year, known as the “thin months,” to survive on their coffee earnings.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How Doña Julia Rivera overcomes the “thin months” with drip irrigation -
From skeptic to change agent
A government employee embraces the market in Vietnam
Building markets for sanitation always has challenges, but the conditions in Vietnam provide particular barriers. From the top levels of Vietnam’s communist leadership to local government employees, iDE needed to overcome negative perceptions of sales and marketing in order to drive latrine adoption and behavior change.
Read more: iDE trains local government officials to be sanitation change agents. -
Creating a food safety net
Farmers build climate resilience in Ethiopia
iDE provides farmers access to improved seeds and training in proven agricultural practices to increase crop yields that enable small-scale households to have food year-round.
Read more: Addressing drought conditions with improved seeds and farming practices -
Poor people can, and do, pay for toilets
Building momentum toward open defecation free status in Cambodia
iDE is expanding sanitation coverage to everyone in Cambodia through an innovative program that makes toilets attractive and affordable to all people, including the rural poor.
Read more: Removing barriers to latrine purchases sees a four-fold increase in sales -
Design for developing countries
Establishing a methodology for Human-Centered Design in a challenging context
In 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded a collaboration that combined experience and wisdom of designers and field staff that eventually coalesced into the HCD Toolkit, a methodology specifically for organizations working with poor communities to create products that are feasible, desirable, and viable.
Read more: How human-centered design was adapted for use in developing contexts -
Pigging out
ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Ho Thi Hiu earns a profit raising pigs
A mother of five, Ho Thi Hiu used to supplement her household’s meager income by growing rice. She would also make a small profit by buying piglets in a nearby town, raising them, and selling them fully-grown. But raising pigs is no easy task.
Read more: ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: How Ho Thi Hiu leveraged a microloan to build a thriving business -
Watering can vs. drip irrigation
Experimenting with resource-smart technology in Ghana
The use of demonstration plots helps convince skeptical farmers that agricultural technology, like drip irrigation, can make a difference in crop yields and boost their incomes.
Read more: iDE helps reduce risk and uncertainty by demonstrating new technology -
Diving in deep
Gathering insights on sanitation from rural Ghana
Part of iDE's Human-Centered Design process is called a Deep Dive, wherein team members gather insights from stakeholders on their current behaviors, needs, and opportunities.
Read more: Using interviews from the field to inform direction and design -
A new era of progress
Promoting modern agricultural practices in Mozambique
Farm business advisors are change agents who dispense information about best practices in technology, fertilizers, pest management, and post-harvest storage through training sessions and demonstrations, as well as sell direct services, such as crop spraying.
Read more: Farmers benefit from peers who invest in technology and knowledge -
Leading the cause for WASH
Building a sanitation market in Ethiopia
Market-based approaches are new to the sanitation and hygiene sector in Ethiopia. Through pilot and scale-up projects, iDE brings applicable and relevant strategies to build sustainable delivery of these services to Ethiopian households.
Read more: How iDE is building the market for sanitation through partnerships and community outreach -
Increasing self-sufficiency
Farm Business Advisors address food security in Zambia
Refugees are making new lives with the assistance of agricultural extension agents who provide training, advice, products, and services so that they can build businesses around vegetable production.
Read more: Home vegetable plots are key to help refugees rebuild their lives and bodies -
Planting on the straight and narrow
Changing agricultural methods to increase yields sustainably in Vietnam
Compared to mainstream fertilizers and air-borne applications, Fertilizer Deep Placement produces 40% less chemical runoff and 30% fewer greenhouse gas emissions. It also increases yields, leading to a win-win for the farmer and for the environment.
Read more: Using new knowledge to address climate and environmental challenges -
A latrine to be proud of
Increasing hygienic practices in Vietnam
Mr. Nhai, whose village lies in Tuyen Quang, is a happy recipient of iDE sanitation information. “I wish I had known that it was this cheap to have a clean latrine long ago,” he said with a smile.
Read more: Improving sanitation by working with the government to disseminate knowledge -
Balancing social good and profitability
Social enterprise in Nicaragua
Irrigation systems aren't off-the-shelf kinds of purchases. They require proper design, good installation, and operator training. iDE's social enterprise iDEal Tecnologias provides these services to farmers in Nicaragua.
Read more: iDEal fills a market gap by providing equipment and support to poor farmers -
Personal water harvest coaches
Watershed community management in Honduras
To overcome disasters such as crop disease, iDE works with farmers to diversify their crops and connect to markets, helping them have enough food and money to survive year-round.
Read more: Using water-management techniques to address drought and disease -
Carrying capacity
Multiple-Use Water Systems deliver benefits
In addition to dramatically decreasing the workload of women and girls, Multiple-Use Water Systems provide benefits in health and sanitation, enabling communities to improve their decisions on the allocation of water resources.
Read more: Increasing workload efficiency creates new income and opportunities -
Active listening
Community Business Facilitators achieve sanitation sales in Nepal
Nepal is one of the poorest countries in South Asia and still has large gaps in sanitation coverage. Despite gradual improvements, only about 43 percent of the population has access to toilets, while more than half the population continues to defecate openly.
Read more: Training local agents to be successful salespeople achieves results -
Farming is a business
Cambodia Agribusiness Development Facility (CADF) focuses on increasing the profit of small-scale commercial farmers
By improving access to technical assistance, market information, quality inputs, and new technologies, iDE increases value-chain efficiency and competitiveness to benefit small-scale farmers.
Read more: Cambodia Agribusiness Development Facility (CADF) focuses on increasing the profit of small-scale commercial farmers -
A system solution for sanitation
Building a winning team of donors in Bangladesh
By using a portfolio approach, iDE demonstrates and delivers effective solutions that meet the goals of multiple partners and stakeholders, such as improved sanitary latrine coverage in populous Bangladesh.
Read more: Leveraging the strengths of different partners to achieve greater results -
Drip+ Alliance
Affordable drip irrigation plus a comprehensive set of tools
What if one million farmers could grow more food with less water?
Read more: Solving the drip equation by convening experts from industry, research, philanthropy, and social enterprises -
Seeding the market with the right agricultural technologies
Increasing crop yields through dynamic private sector partnerships.
Axial flow pumps, power-tiller operated seeders, and mechanical reapers have the potential to transform farming practices by increasing precision and conserving resources. iDE works with local entrepreneurs who can ensure farmers have access to these machines.
Read more: Making the right equipment available can spark an agricultural revolution -
Healing Markets
Market facilitation in Zambia
In Zambia, the major food crop and staple grown by small-scale farmers is maize. But maize doesn’t return enough profit for farmers to earn an adequate income. Zambia was a market in need of intervention.
Read more: Analyzing market weaknesses and addressing system failures to ensure connections for the poor -
Fueling the coffee craze
Value chains in Latin America
Honduras is the leading producer and exporter of coffee in Central America. Doña Julia Rivera is a coffee farmer in Marcala—a region of Honduras known for its high-quality, organic, and sustainably produced coffee beans. Working with iDE, Doña Julia has been able to expand her farm business with the help of drip irrigation and farmer training. Her farm is now an example in her community.
Read more: Identifying opportunities for small-scale farmers to add value and receive more income -
Building a business case for improved toilets
Private sector engagement in Bangladesh
In rural Bangladesh, about 40 million people live without access to adequate toilets. But RFL Plastics Ltd., a regional plastics manufacturer, hadn’t identified these households as a potential customer base until they formed a partnership with iDE.
Read more: Helping the private sector understand the business potential for serving the needs of the poor -
Power in numbers
Forming groups can improve farmers' access to markets
A farmer acting alone will often have to settle for less money in the small window of opportunity she has for selling. But what if this farmer can join with her neighbors, pooling their crops together to share storage and transportation costs, and provide a more attractive package for large buyers?
Read more: iDE's “commercial pocket” approach links farmers with each other and to the market -
Empowering local government
Open defecation is a major problem in Cambodia, leading to waterborne diseases that claim the lives of nearly 10,000 children yearly. In 2008, the Cambodian government set sanitation as a priority in order to improve people’s standard of living.
Read more: Local officials excel when provided the knowledge and training that aids their constituents -
Clean hands, better lives
Designing handwashing solutions
The biggest barrier to handwashing is not always the availability of water or soap, but rather knowledge. Making the connection between dirty hands and disease is the first step.
Read more: Handwashing solutions could help reduce several chronic diseases -
Infiltrating the market with clean water
iDE’s social enterprise, Hydrologic, won the 2018 Unilever Global Development Award!
Having safe water improves the situation of women and children, who are often responsible for fetching and boiling water.
Read more: Ceramic filters are a cost-effective way to meeting the need for clean drinking water -
Every family deserves a toilet
For the 40 percent of the people on the planet who do not have a toilet, acquiring one would mean keeping your one-year-old child from developing diarrhea and possibly dying from it.
Read more: Building markets for sanitation -
Profit is about more than money
Social enterprises provide community benefits through a sustainable business model
Most people think that the business of businesses is making money. And while profit is at the heart of entrepreneurship, in many cases a business can be about so much more.
Read more: Social enterprise in Cambodia -
Designing to context
If you want to solve the world’s problems, you have to be where the action is—and every location is different.
Read more: Thinking outside of the tomato box in Zambia -
The business of impact
Market engagement unleashes multi-faceted benefits.
iDE has been building markets for over 30 years. One thing we know for sure is that every market is different. Replication of what works in one context is not a guarantee of success in another. We replicate our approach, but each context dictates a unique solution.
Read more: Approaches in private sector engagement, market facilitation, value chain development, and social enterprise creation get results -
Design for humans by humans
Farmers are more likely to invest their money in a solution that comes from their own ideas, and from their true aspirations. iDE uses Human Centered Design to engage with the market to reveal those needs and desires to design solutions that people want to buy and entrepreneurs want to sell. Those solutions are more likely to be sustainable and cost-effective, too.
Read more: Using design thinking to solve problems -
Going the last mile
Getting to most of the world’s population isn’t easy. The road that takes you there isn’t paved, but a dirt path, overgrown with vegetation, barely big enough to get your bicycle or motor bike down. In some seasons, the path becomes mud, sucking at your tires and shoes, making each yard a chore. But if we are going to solve poverty, this is the most important distance to travel: the Last Mile.
Read more: Connecting the first mile with the last