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New Mortgage Program Helps Cambodia's Poor Find Better Homes

Daniel Zwerdling

April 04, 2013 |

NPR |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh

An innovative program by an unusual bank allows low-income people in Cambodia to take out a 15-year fixed mortgage with little or no documentation - contradicting traditional loan assumptions and creating means for some of the country's poorest people to completely change their lives. The bank and its investors are now making a profit, and more than 700 mortgages and building loans have been provided.

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Crowdfunding Clean Energy

David Bornstein

March 06, 2013 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

In Oakland, a company created an online crowdfunding platform that allows users to earn interest by financing clean energy projects and gives people with good social intentions a direct line of action. Across the world, there is a growing movement toward people-powered clean energy.

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Avoiding the Curse of the Oil-Rich Nations

Tina Rosenberg

February 13, 2013 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Alaska

Alaska has created a way for residents to financially benefit from the state's dependence on oil revenues. By giving residents a yearly portion of the revenue, the state has been able to see positive effects from an often conflict-ridden industry.

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A Retailer For Free Stuff, Created By Walmart, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Zipcar Vets

Ariel Schwartz

December 04, 2012 |

FastCompany |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Yerdle is a website that allows companies to resell their used and returned items in a way that is helpful for customers and the environment. The three co-founders have experience at ZipCar, Walmart, and the Sierra Club, and they decided to put their business experience to use in finding a creative solution to minimize waste. Yerdle, which is expanding across the United States, helps consumers find affordable products in their region while also minimizing the waste that accompanies new products.

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What a Little Land Can Do

Tina Rosenberg

November 21, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Kolkata, West Bengal

In many parts of the world, not owning one's own land is more directly correlated to poverty than other factors such as illiteracy, but land reform is controversial, difficult, and expensive. A new program called Landesa is having success in India through a non-confiscatory model that gives families tennis-court size plots.

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Turning Rural Indians Into Water Entrepreneurs

Whitney Pastorek

November 01, 2012 |

FastCompany |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India

In rural communities throughout India, having access to clean water does not always come easy. Sarvajal, originally a non-profit experiment, believes that water insecurity is a solvable issue, however. By helping those living in the rural communities take ownership through entrepreneurship, common sense, and the patience to reinvent old systems with more efficient technology, the group has achieved the ability to distribute small reverse-osmosis filtration plants and Water ATMs throughout the northwestern Indian states.

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The ‘Avon Ladies' of Africa

Tina Rosenberg

October 10, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Uganda

A successful program in Uganda trains village women to sell medicines, fortified foods and other important goods using the Avon model, aiming to create a self-sustaining system for delivering essential health products.

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Innovative funding model allows urban poor to determine their own future

Katia Savchuk

October 08, 2012 |

The Guardian |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: South Africa, Cape Town

Though well-meaning, many poverty alleviation and development efforts treat the receivers of aid as subjects rather than capable people. Urban Poor Fund International, the first global fund to give poor people direct control over urban development spending, is having more than just a local impact.

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There IS a Bicycle Economy, Two Cities Find

A.K. Streeter

October 02, 2012 |

TreeHugger |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Conventional merchants are afraid to lose parking spaces to bike parking or bike lanes. New York and Portland are finding cyclists increase local economies, and spend more money too.

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For Ambitious Nonprofits, Capital to Grow

David Bornstein

June 27, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Funding with too many strings attached makes it hard for non-profits to grow and be impactful. An American organization, Nonprofit Finance Fund (N.F.F.) Capital Partners division, is finding ways to finance non-profits likes companies and has already shown great success in pilot situations.

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