Insights, a product of the ongoing work of The Rockefeller Foundation’s strategic research team, identifies compelling and emerging problem trends and areas of dynamism where there might be opportunities for intervention.
The purpose of this guide is to introduce a promising approach to surfacing insights and supporting innovative thinking within a field in order to explore new and better paths to impact.
Building Capacity for Innovation and Systems Change: Innovation Fellowship Pr...The Rockefeller Foundation
Achieving The Rockefeller Foundation’s goals to build resilience and advance inclusive economies requires moving beyond traditional approaches to problem-solving. New ways
of thinking and working are needed in order to have impact at scale. The Rockefeller
Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation was designed to enable
leaders to innovate in order to address the underlying causes of complex social and
environmental challenges. With two successive cohorts of Fellowships now complete and
a third underway, the timing is right to reflect on what the Foundation is learning about
building individual and institutional capacity to innovate and drive systems change.
A successful philanthropic initiative depends not just on the strategy pursued – but also on how that strategy is implemented. Implementation considerations can vary significantly based on the shape of an initiative – starting a new organization can look very different than investing in a portfolio of existing organizations. This report looks at four “models” for implementing initiatives. These don’t represent an exhaustive set of potential models to pursue, or even the most high potential models. Rather, these are four examples of models, each of which has significant potential for impact when chosen wisely and executed well. The report outlines the considerations involved in choosing to pursue each of these models and findings on how to implement them, drawn from real-world experience.
The increasing complexity of development, coupled with the widening range of public, nonprofit, and private sector actors and the demand for more timely feedback, has challenged the utility of conventional approaches to M&E in many development contexts. Though emerging ICTs offer promise, the methodological rigor of tech-enabled M&E has sometimes been questioned and viewed as unreliable in contemporary evaluation debates.
Despite this broad reluctance, M&E innovators are already experimenting in this new space. By reflecting on ways in which these innovators have begun to navigate new territory, and by exploring the great potential for technology to further transform and advance traditional evaluation methods, this paper aims to highlight the current state of tech-enabled M&E while also maintaining a critical perspective which recognizes the limitations and inherent risks which evaluators should remain mindful of when engaging in this new and exciting space.
In addition to providing financial support for the paper, The Rockefeller Foundation supported the M&E Tech Conference and Deep Dive in the fall of 2014 to gather M&E practitioners, technology developers, and leadership from a range of organizations and institutions to discuss opportunities, challenges, and a way forward in strengthening capacity in the area of tech-enabled M&E.
Is convening the right tool for your work? Convening places a significant demand on people’s time and resources, so it’s important to make informed decisions about when and how to bring a group together.
GATHER: The Art & Science of Effective Convening is a unique guidebook for convening planners and change agents interested in harnessing the potential of collective intelligence through in-person convening.
Learn more: http://rockefellerfoundation.org/gather-guide
Impact investing - which helps address social and/or environmental problems while also turning a profit - could unlock substantial for-profit investment capital to complement philanthropy in addressing pressing social challenges.
This presentation, given at the inaugural Global Impact Investing Network Investor Forum, discusses the priority barriers in scaling for-impact enterprises and examples of innovative acceleration platforms currently operating within the space.
The purpose of this guide is to introduce a promising approach to surfacing insights and supporting innovative thinking within a field in order to explore new and better paths to impact.
Building Capacity for Innovation and Systems Change: Innovation Fellowship Pr...The Rockefeller Foundation
Achieving The Rockefeller Foundation’s goals to build resilience and advance inclusive economies requires moving beyond traditional approaches to problem-solving. New ways
of thinking and working are needed in order to have impact at scale. The Rockefeller
Foundation Global Fellowship Program on Social Innovation was designed to enable
leaders to innovate in order to address the underlying causes of complex social and
environmental challenges. With two successive cohorts of Fellowships now complete and
a third underway, the timing is right to reflect on what the Foundation is learning about
building individual and institutional capacity to innovate and drive systems change.
A successful philanthropic initiative depends not just on the strategy pursued – but also on how that strategy is implemented. Implementation considerations can vary significantly based on the shape of an initiative – starting a new organization can look very different than investing in a portfolio of existing organizations. This report looks at four “models” for implementing initiatives. These don’t represent an exhaustive set of potential models to pursue, or even the most high potential models. Rather, these are four examples of models, each of which has significant potential for impact when chosen wisely and executed well. The report outlines the considerations involved in choosing to pursue each of these models and findings on how to implement them, drawn from real-world experience.
The increasing complexity of development, coupled with the widening range of public, nonprofit, and private sector actors and the demand for more timely feedback, has challenged the utility of conventional approaches to M&E in many development contexts. Though emerging ICTs offer promise, the methodological rigor of tech-enabled M&E has sometimes been questioned and viewed as unreliable in contemporary evaluation debates.
Despite this broad reluctance, M&E innovators are already experimenting in this new space. By reflecting on ways in which these innovators have begun to navigate new territory, and by exploring the great potential for technology to further transform and advance traditional evaluation methods, this paper aims to highlight the current state of tech-enabled M&E while also maintaining a critical perspective which recognizes the limitations and inherent risks which evaluators should remain mindful of when engaging in this new and exciting space.
In addition to providing financial support for the paper, The Rockefeller Foundation supported the M&E Tech Conference and Deep Dive in the fall of 2014 to gather M&E practitioners, technology developers, and leadership from a range of organizations and institutions to discuss opportunities, challenges, and a way forward in strengthening capacity in the area of tech-enabled M&E.
Is convening the right tool for your work? Convening places a significant demand on people’s time and resources, so it’s important to make informed decisions about when and how to bring a group together.
GATHER: The Art & Science of Effective Convening is a unique guidebook for convening planners and change agents interested in harnessing the potential of collective intelligence through in-person convening.
Learn more: http://rockefellerfoundation.org/gather-guide
Impact investing - which helps address social and/or environmental problems while also turning a profit - could unlock substantial for-profit investment capital to complement philanthropy in addressing pressing social challenges.
This presentation, given at the inaugural Global Impact Investing Network Investor Forum, discusses the priority barriers in scaling for-impact enterprises and examples of innovative acceleration platforms currently operating within the space.
Final Evaluation: The Rockefeller Foundation's Program-Related Investments Po...The Rockefeller Foundation
In 2013, The Rockefeller Foundation funded an independent evaluation of 12 years of PRIs, including 18 transactions totaling $23.9 million deployed both domestically and internationally. The resulting report assesses the portfolio's social and financial performance, as well as opportunities to refine the PRI program strategy and align it with the Foundation's focus areas and grantmaking programs. It also considers the Foundation's contributions to the larger impact investing ecosystem.
This report gives a holistic look at the impact sourcing space within the context of the business process outsourcing industry, the current challenges the space faces, and its future outlook.
The information in this brief is drawn from a case study of the JLN conducted by Mathematica Policy Research in consultation with the THS team and the Evaluation Office of The Rockefeller Foundation. The study, completed in 2016, was undertaken to assess the extent to which the JLN had achieved its goal of becoming a country-driven, sustainable network helping to advance progress toward universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries.
The Rockefeller Foundation recently concluded a three-year initiative focused on maximizing the number, quality and accessibility of green jobs in the United States. The Sustainable Employment in a Green US Economy (SEGUE) initiative was launched based on a recognition that the twin challenges posed by high unemployment and climate change created an opportunity and imperative to invest in green jobs in the United States and around the world. SEGUE grant-making focused on advancing the knowledge, innovation, standards and institutions necessary to catalyze growth in the green economy and unlock greater demand for green jobs.
This initiative supported several major research efforts, including an independent, developmental evaluation of the SEGUE initiative by Abt Associates, that yielded important insights on what it would take to create more green jobs and a sustainable green economy.
The concept and the practice of Impact Investing—or the placement of capital with
intent to generate positive social impact beyond fi nancial return—have grown and
matured signifi cantly over the past fi ve years. In 2008, the Monitor Institute took stock
of the emerging industry and characterized it as being on the precipice of passing from
a stage of “uncoordinated innovation” into one of “marketplace building.” Since 2008,
the Rockefeller Foundation has sought to help build that marketplace as well as hold
it accountable for its social and environmental impact goals. We have helped to build
networks, develop social impact ratings and reporting standards, cultivate new and
larger intermediaries and contribute to research and enabling policy environments.
“Industry building” is not often the remit of foundations, but our rationale for doing
so was clear: a functioning impact investing industry has the potential to complement
government and philanthropy by unlocking signifi cant resources to address the world’s
most pressing problems and to improve the lives of poor and vulnerable people.
Four years later, and as part of our commitment to learning and accountability within
the Foundation and to our partners and stakeholders, we undertook an independent
evaluation of our work in this arena. In March 2012, we presented to our Board the
results of this evaluation, undertaken by E.T. Jackson and Associates. It highlighted
a number of early successes and remaining challenges, many of which will shape our
activities in the months and years to come. As part of its evaluation, E.T. Jackson also
undertook a global scan of impact investing activity over the past four years so that
we could assess our progress in relation to the evolution of the broader fi eld. We
believe the results of the scan will also be informative for a number of other current
and future industry participants, and we are proud to contribute it to the growing
body of evaluative knowledge and research in this fi eld.
It is clear from our evaluation and scan, and from the growing body of research on
impact investing, that there exists great momentum and inspiring leadership in this
dynamic fi eld. More signifi cantly, there are promising signs here that together we can
play an important role in bringing about a more sustainable, resilient and equitable
future for humankind. We are honored to work with all of you on this journey.
Demand for evaluation services is growing in the impact investing industry. Yet, much of the evaluation community remains unaware of the industry and its performance assessment requirements. This paper proposes five channels, or doorways, through which professional evaluators can learn about and engage with the field of impact investing.
Scientists and activists concerned about the future of human society and the planet have pointed to the urgent need for what they term sustainability transitions (Clark 2001; Raskin et al. 2002). In other words, due to the complex, systemic, and interrelated nature of the serious social, economic, and environmental problems confronting us, we need entirely new forms of solutions. Clearly, we humans must learn to think differently about our complex world and to work together in unusual and very strategic new ways. We need to more fully see and understand the systems within which we all exist so that we can learn to identify and create conditions for social innovation.
Stimulating Opportunity: An Evaluation of ARRA-Funded Subsidized Employment P...The Rockefeller Foundation
In 2009, in its efforts to stimulate the economy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Congress included funding in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund (EF) to help states cover the costs of creating new or expanding existing subsidized employment programs. All told, 39 states and the District of Columbia received approval to spend $1.3 billion of the Emergency Fund on subsidized employment programs. While the goals and structures of the TANF EF-supported subsidized employment programs varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, they generally sought to create job opportunities for unemployed individuals so that they could earn immediate income and build experience and skills. Many programs also sought to reduce the costs and risks to employers of hiring during a slack economy and to stimulate local economies. In a short period of time, states implemented large-scale programs, creating more than 260,000 subsidized jobs.
Impact investment is a strategy to align the power of private markets to the social and environmental development needs of society at-large. From 2012-13, the Rockefeller Foundation, through its Impact Investing initiative, funded research in five Sub-Saharan African countries with the aim of understanding the barriers for impact investing across Africa, as well as recommending national policies to encourage the growth of the industry. This report synthesizes the findings of that work, examining the potential of impact investing as a ‘strategy of choice’ for African policymakers.
The Accelerating Innovation for Development Initiative was built on the realization that while the private sector used well-developed innovation practices to generate value and growth, these practices had yet to take hold in the social sector. The application of these same concepts effectively in the social sector could lead to products, processes, and services that could significantly advance the lives of poor and vulnerable people. It was one of the first Initiatives approved in the 2006-2007 period under the Foundation’s refreshed strategy and model.
The Initiative supported the testing, application, or scaling up of three models of innovation that produced new or modified processes, products, or services that were potentially valuable for poor and vulnerable people around the world. These three models of innovation are: open source innovation, user centered innovation, and user led innovation.
Because the Initiative was structured to test different innovation processes with major grants, the evaluation report captures learning from in-depth case studies of 6 individual key grants - 2 from each model of innovation - and their effects on the broader field of innovation.
The evaluation report features findings and case studies from site visits in four countries spanning three continents, additional interviews with funders and other individuals working in the field, as well as a literature and document review and video coverage.
Impact investing involves “investors seeking to generate both financial return and social and/or environmental value—while at a minimum returning capital, and, in many cases, offering market rate returns or better.” The Rockefeller Foundation’s Impact Investing Initiative has sought to address the “lack of intermediation capacity and leadership to generate collective action” that was constraining the small but rapidly growing impact investing industry.
Carried out in 2011, the evaluation of the Initiative aimed to evaluate the relevance, rationale, effectiveness, influence and sustainability of the Initiative through document review, portfolio analysis, interviews with more than 90 impact investing leaders based in 11 countries, participant observation at industry events, and organizational assessment. The external evaluation team also conducted a scan of the impact investing industry’s evolution over the past four years (summarized in a companion report).
Given the rapidly changing and emergent nature of the impact investing field, the Evaluators were asked to frame their findings for the Initiative in the context of findings for the field as a whole, to help guide the recommendations for the Foundation and for leaders in the field more broadly.
Few could argue that stortelling is a powerful tool to inspire action and change, and to influence thought leaders and decision makers. The shape and delivery of stories has also shifted dramatically in the digital era. Long-form narrative and conventionalism journalism now share a stage with messages 140 characters or images that disappear in seconds after they are opened. There have never been more ways to reach audiences, but it's also never been more difficult to really reach them.
Impact investing can help solve major social and environmental problems in West Africa, leveraging new sources of capital in places that lack sufficient government resources and development aid to address development challenges. A recent report by the Rockefeller Foundation and JP Morgan (2010) suggests that impact investments are emerging as an alternative asset class that could grow to represent a global market of US$ 500 billiona in five to ten years. The implications for West Africa are exciting. Now is the time to deepen our understanding, increase awareness, and foster dialogue on impact investing in the region.
Impact investing—making investments to generate positive impact beyond financial return—is not new to West Africa. However, few investors in the region identify themselves as impact investors or are familiar with the concept in those terms. This lack of awareness, coupled with other substantive challenges, could slow the development of the impact investment industry in the region. This report is the first comprehensive analysis ever conducted on the impact investing industry in West Africa. It aims to: (1) map the landscape of impact investing supply and demand in West Africa; (2) identify the substantive challenges that hamper the growth of the industry and recommend solutions for overcoming them; and (3) serve as a starting point for regional dialogue and local network development activities among impact investors.
Putting “Impact” at the Center of Impact Investing: A Case Study of How Green...The Rockefeller Foundation
More than ever before, investors are looking to put their money where their values are. As a result, impact investing has burgeoned into an over $100 billion industry in just over ten years. But how do impact investors know whether their money is truly having a positive impact on people and
the planet? How can these investors better manage their results, and use material data – both positive and negative – about social and environmental performance to maximize their impact?
This case study documents the journey of one organization, Green Canopy Homes – and its financing arm, Green Canopy Capital – toward more systematically thinking about, measuring, and managing its impact. While developing the impact thesis for its resource-efficient homes, Green Canopy applied a theory of change tool, an approach common within the social sector, to systematically map the causal pathways between its strategies and intended impact. Its rationale for adopting this approach was simple: use it to maximize impact, and understand and minimize possible harm. The tool also effectively positioned Green Canopy to measure and communicate about its social and environmental performance, and to make client-centric adaptations to its business.
The case study provides an illuminating example of how investors can adapt theory of change to serve their impact management needs. By demonstrating the relevance and transferability of this tool for articulating, measuring, and managing impact, the hope is that this case study can contribute to strengthening other investors’ approaches, in turn contributing to building the evidence base for the “impact” of impact investments.
Streams of Social Impact Work: Building Bridges in a New Evaluation Era with ...The Rockefeller Foundation
This working paper addresses the gaps and opportunities between the approaches of traditional public sector and NGO program evaluation and the social impact measurement approaches of new market-oriented players.
The authors posit that a convergence of these cultures would generate enormous rewards for both constituencies. New methodologies, evaluative tools and strategic learning processes would enrich social impact work, private giving and public-private partnerships. More nimble and business-like evaluation approaches would benefit traditional evaluation players and civil society. Thus bridging the divide would contribute to the rigor and utility of methods and practices and advance the effectiveness of evaluation everywhere.
This guide is designed for program officers to use in their work related to networks, coalitions, and other relationship-based structures as part of their initiatives, program strategies, and outcomes. It offers a set of core components that make up the basics of strategizing, implementing, and sustaining inter-organizational relationships and structures. You can work through the guide from beginning to end or jump to specific issues with which you might be struggling. Every component suggests concrete “actions” or questions that a program officer can apply.
This report presents the findings of an evaluation commissioned by the Evaluation Office of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation Initiative on Equitable and Sustainable Transportation (TRA). The evaluation, conducted by TCC Group from October 2011 to April 2012, focused principally on efforts to build state capacity and attain state and regional policy changes. An evaluation of Foundation efforts focused on federal transportation reform was completed in early 2012.
This report touches on the relationship between some of the state strategy work and its relationship to federal reform.
The transportation initiative team articulated four key evaluation questions:
• What is working in the state strategy?
• What are promising practices that have evolved from the state grants?
• What should next steps be for the state evaluation?
• What has been missed by our grantmaking strategy?
By 2050, it is estimated that the Earth’s population will top 9 billion. This growing
population will undeniably stress our food systems, natural resources, and ecosystems.
But consider this: Currently, we waste up to 40 percent of our food globally. In the United
States, this equals roughly 400 pounds annually for every American. Meanwhile, one in
seven Americans are food insecure.
These stunning facts—partnered with seeing waste occur firsthand through our work
with our operating farm and the restaurants and grocery stores it services—really
brought this issue home for us. This prompted us as philanthropists and a family
concerned about healthy communities and ecological sustainability to ask our team to
explore the topic of wasted food.
Through our family foundation, we have been focused on solving large-scale
environmental issues with market-based solutions since 2001. We started by looking at
how funding solutions to climate change, both through grants and impact investments,
can play an important role in transitioning our society to a low-carbon economy.
This special edition of the Economist -- in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and OECD -- explores long-term living standards, crises and their impact; technology and jobs; pensions, and migration and climate change.
As private and public players at all levels examine our progress in moving people out of poverty, the time is right to explore if and how livelihoods have improved. What factors really determine livelihoods? Which issues will most affect them over the next 20 to 30 years as economic growth shifts from West to East, amid increasing global interdependence? And how can rising living standards across the globe be ensured and sustained?
Livelihoods are constantly at risk. Local and global crises, demographic shifts, climate change, new technologies and other challenges impact livelihoods in many ways. These challenges vary dramatically across countries, cultures and communities. Their impacts’ complexity demands that relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors, universities, nonprofits and the public join forces in a holistic way to design future strategies for securing sustainable livelihoods.
Across employers and industries, we have heard stories about the value young people bring to the workplace. Employers in manufacturing cited the need for serious hand-eye coordination and reported positive experiences with young people filling these roles. Others cited the benefit of having youth in their companies who can use evolving technologies. For others, especially firms that need a lot of entry-level employees, young workers are their lifeblood.
Youth Hold the Key: Building Your Workforce Today and in the Future focuses on the role that youth can play in helping employers meet some of their current and looming workforce challenges, and how companies can improve how they hire and retain youth. The findings are based on a recent survey of 350 employers, more than 80 interviews with employers and workforce experts conducted during 2014 by The Bridgespan Group and Bain & Company, as well as a review of published literature. Much of this work focused on the potential of the millions of young people—referred to here as "opportunity youth"—who are disconnected from both work and school, and lack a college degree, to address the needs of employers.
Final Evaluation: The Rockefeller Foundation's Program-Related Investments Po...The Rockefeller Foundation
In 2013, The Rockefeller Foundation funded an independent evaluation of 12 years of PRIs, including 18 transactions totaling $23.9 million deployed both domestically and internationally. The resulting report assesses the portfolio's social and financial performance, as well as opportunities to refine the PRI program strategy and align it with the Foundation's focus areas and grantmaking programs. It also considers the Foundation's contributions to the larger impact investing ecosystem.
This report gives a holistic look at the impact sourcing space within the context of the business process outsourcing industry, the current challenges the space faces, and its future outlook.
The information in this brief is drawn from a case study of the JLN conducted by Mathematica Policy Research in consultation with the THS team and the Evaluation Office of The Rockefeller Foundation. The study, completed in 2016, was undertaken to assess the extent to which the JLN had achieved its goal of becoming a country-driven, sustainable network helping to advance progress toward universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries.
The Rockefeller Foundation recently concluded a three-year initiative focused on maximizing the number, quality and accessibility of green jobs in the United States. The Sustainable Employment in a Green US Economy (SEGUE) initiative was launched based on a recognition that the twin challenges posed by high unemployment and climate change created an opportunity and imperative to invest in green jobs in the United States and around the world. SEGUE grant-making focused on advancing the knowledge, innovation, standards and institutions necessary to catalyze growth in the green economy and unlock greater demand for green jobs.
This initiative supported several major research efforts, including an independent, developmental evaluation of the SEGUE initiative by Abt Associates, that yielded important insights on what it would take to create more green jobs and a sustainable green economy.
The concept and the practice of Impact Investing—or the placement of capital with
intent to generate positive social impact beyond fi nancial return—have grown and
matured signifi cantly over the past fi ve years. In 2008, the Monitor Institute took stock
of the emerging industry and characterized it as being on the precipice of passing from
a stage of “uncoordinated innovation” into one of “marketplace building.” Since 2008,
the Rockefeller Foundation has sought to help build that marketplace as well as hold
it accountable for its social and environmental impact goals. We have helped to build
networks, develop social impact ratings and reporting standards, cultivate new and
larger intermediaries and contribute to research and enabling policy environments.
“Industry building” is not often the remit of foundations, but our rationale for doing
so was clear: a functioning impact investing industry has the potential to complement
government and philanthropy by unlocking signifi cant resources to address the world’s
most pressing problems and to improve the lives of poor and vulnerable people.
Four years later, and as part of our commitment to learning and accountability within
the Foundation and to our partners and stakeholders, we undertook an independent
evaluation of our work in this arena. In March 2012, we presented to our Board the
results of this evaluation, undertaken by E.T. Jackson and Associates. It highlighted
a number of early successes and remaining challenges, many of which will shape our
activities in the months and years to come. As part of its evaluation, E.T. Jackson also
undertook a global scan of impact investing activity over the past four years so that
we could assess our progress in relation to the evolution of the broader fi eld. We
believe the results of the scan will also be informative for a number of other current
and future industry participants, and we are proud to contribute it to the growing
body of evaluative knowledge and research in this fi eld.
It is clear from our evaluation and scan, and from the growing body of research on
impact investing, that there exists great momentum and inspiring leadership in this
dynamic fi eld. More signifi cantly, there are promising signs here that together we can
play an important role in bringing about a more sustainable, resilient and equitable
future for humankind. We are honored to work with all of you on this journey.
Demand for evaluation services is growing in the impact investing industry. Yet, much of the evaluation community remains unaware of the industry and its performance assessment requirements. This paper proposes five channels, or doorways, through which professional evaluators can learn about and engage with the field of impact investing.
Scientists and activists concerned about the future of human society and the planet have pointed to the urgent need for what they term sustainability transitions (Clark 2001; Raskin et al. 2002). In other words, due to the complex, systemic, and interrelated nature of the serious social, economic, and environmental problems confronting us, we need entirely new forms of solutions. Clearly, we humans must learn to think differently about our complex world and to work together in unusual and very strategic new ways. We need to more fully see and understand the systems within which we all exist so that we can learn to identify and create conditions for social innovation.
Stimulating Opportunity: An Evaluation of ARRA-Funded Subsidized Employment P...The Rockefeller Foundation
In 2009, in its efforts to stimulate the economy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Congress included funding in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund (EF) to help states cover the costs of creating new or expanding existing subsidized employment programs. All told, 39 states and the District of Columbia received approval to spend $1.3 billion of the Emergency Fund on subsidized employment programs. While the goals and structures of the TANF EF-supported subsidized employment programs varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, they generally sought to create job opportunities for unemployed individuals so that they could earn immediate income and build experience and skills. Many programs also sought to reduce the costs and risks to employers of hiring during a slack economy and to stimulate local economies. In a short period of time, states implemented large-scale programs, creating more than 260,000 subsidized jobs.
Impact investment is a strategy to align the power of private markets to the social and environmental development needs of society at-large. From 2012-13, the Rockefeller Foundation, through its Impact Investing initiative, funded research in five Sub-Saharan African countries with the aim of understanding the barriers for impact investing across Africa, as well as recommending national policies to encourage the growth of the industry. This report synthesizes the findings of that work, examining the potential of impact investing as a ‘strategy of choice’ for African policymakers.
The Accelerating Innovation for Development Initiative was built on the realization that while the private sector used well-developed innovation practices to generate value and growth, these practices had yet to take hold in the social sector. The application of these same concepts effectively in the social sector could lead to products, processes, and services that could significantly advance the lives of poor and vulnerable people. It was one of the first Initiatives approved in the 2006-2007 period under the Foundation’s refreshed strategy and model.
The Initiative supported the testing, application, or scaling up of three models of innovation that produced new or modified processes, products, or services that were potentially valuable for poor and vulnerable people around the world. These three models of innovation are: open source innovation, user centered innovation, and user led innovation.
Because the Initiative was structured to test different innovation processes with major grants, the evaluation report captures learning from in-depth case studies of 6 individual key grants - 2 from each model of innovation - and their effects on the broader field of innovation.
The evaluation report features findings and case studies from site visits in four countries spanning three continents, additional interviews with funders and other individuals working in the field, as well as a literature and document review and video coverage.
Impact investing involves “investors seeking to generate both financial return and social and/or environmental value—while at a minimum returning capital, and, in many cases, offering market rate returns or better.” The Rockefeller Foundation’s Impact Investing Initiative has sought to address the “lack of intermediation capacity and leadership to generate collective action” that was constraining the small but rapidly growing impact investing industry.
Carried out in 2011, the evaluation of the Initiative aimed to evaluate the relevance, rationale, effectiveness, influence and sustainability of the Initiative through document review, portfolio analysis, interviews with more than 90 impact investing leaders based in 11 countries, participant observation at industry events, and organizational assessment. The external evaluation team also conducted a scan of the impact investing industry’s evolution over the past four years (summarized in a companion report).
Given the rapidly changing and emergent nature of the impact investing field, the Evaluators were asked to frame their findings for the Initiative in the context of findings for the field as a whole, to help guide the recommendations for the Foundation and for leaders in the field more broadly.
Few could argue that stortelling is a powerful tool to inspire action and change, and to influence thought leaders and decision makers. The shape and delivery of stories has also shifted dramatically in the digital era. Long-form narrative and conventionalism journalism now share a stage with messages 140 characters or images that disappear in seconds after they are opened. There have never been more ways to reach audiences, but it's also never been more difficult to really reach them.
Impact investing can help solve major social and environmental problems in West Africa, leveraging new sources of capital in places that lack sufficient government resources and development aid to address development challenges. A recent report by the Rockefeller Foundation and JP Morgan (2010) suggests that impact investments are emerging as an alternative asset class that could grow to represent a global market of US$ 500 billiona in five to ten years. The implications for West Africa are exciting. Now is the time to deepen our understanding, increase awareness, and foster dialogue on impact investing in the region.
Impact investing—making investments to generate positive impact beyond financial return—is not new to West Africa. However, few investors in the region identify themselves as impact investors or are familiar with the concept in those terms. This lack of awareness, coupled with other substantive challenges, could slow the development of the impact investment industry in the region. This report is the first comprehensive analysis ever conducted on the impact investing industry in West Africa. It aims to: (1) map the landscape of impact investing supply and demand in West Africa; (2) identify the substantive challenges that hamper the growth of the industry and recommend solutions for overcoming them; and (3) serve as a starting point for regional dialogue and local network development activities among impact investors.
Putting “Impact” at the Center of Impact Investing: A Case Study of How Green...The Rockefeller Foundation
More than ever before, investors are looking to put their money where their values are. As a result, impact investing has burgeoned into an over $100 billion industry in just over ten years. But how do impact investors know whether their money is truly having a positive impact on people and
the planet? How can these investors better manage their results, and use material data – both positive and negative – about social and environmental performance to maximize their impact?
This case study documents the journey of one organization, Green Canopy Homes – and its financing arm, Green Canopy Capital – toward more systematically thinking about, measuring, and managing its impact. While developing the impact thesis for its resource-efficient homes, Green Canopy applied a theory of change tool, an approach common within the social sector, to systematically map the causal pathways between its strategies and intended impact. Its rationale for adopting this approach was simple: use it to maximize impact, and understand and minimize possible harm. The tool also effectively positioned Green Canopy to measure and communicate about its social and environmental performance, and to make client-centric adaptations to its business.
The case study provides an illuminating example of how investors can adapt theory of change to serve their impact management needs. By demonstrating the relevance and transferability of this tool for articulating, measuring, and managing impact, the hope is that this case study can contribute to strengthening other investors’ approaches, in turn contributing to building the evidence base for the “impact” of impact investments.
Streams of Social Impact Work: Building Bridges in a New Evaluation Era with ...The Rockefeller Foundation
This working paper addresses the gaps and opportunities between the approaches of traditional public sector and NGO program evaluation and the social impact measurement approaches of new market-oriented players.
The authors posit that a convergence of these cultures would generate enormous rewards for both constituencies. New methodologies, evaluative tools and strategic learning processes would enrich social impact work, private giving and public-private partnerships. More nimble and business-like evaluation approaches would benefit traditional evaluation players and civil society. Thus bridging the divide would contribute to the rigor and utility of methods and practices and advance the effectiveness of evaluation everywhere.
This guide is designed for program officers to use in their work related to networks, coalitions, and other relationship-based structures as part of their initiatives, program strategies, and outcomes. It offers a set of core components that make up the basics of strategizing, implementing, and sustaining inter-organizational relationships and structures. You can work through the guide from beginning to end or jump to specific issues with which you might be struggling. Every component suggests concrete “actions” or questions that a program officer can apply.
This report presents the findings of an evaluation commissioned by the Evaluation Office of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation Initiative on Equitable and Sustainable Transportation (TRA). The evaluation, conducted by TCC Group from October 2011 to April 2012, focused principally on efforts to build state capacity and attain state and regional policy changes. An evaluation of Foundation efforts focused on federal transportation reform was completed in early 2012.
This report touches on the relationship between some of the state strategy work and its relationship to federal reform.
The transportation initiative team articulated four key evaluation questions:
• What is working in the state strategy?
• What are promising practices that have evolved from the state grants?
• What should next steps be for the state evaluation?
• What has been missed by our grantmaking strategy?
By 2050, it is estimated that the Earth’s population will top 9 billion. This growing
population will undeniably stress our food systems, natural resources, and ecosystems.
But consider this: Currently, we waste up to 40 percent of our food globally. In the United
States, this equals roughly 400 pounds annually for every American. Meanwhile, one in
seven Americans are food insecure.
These stunning facts—partnered with seeing waste occur firsthand through our work
with our operating farm and the restaurants and grocery stores it services—really
brought this issue home for us. This prompted us as philanthropists and a family
concerned about healthy communities and ecological sustainability to ask our team to
explore the topic of wasted food.
Through our family foundation, we have been focused on solving large-scale
environmental issues with market-based solutions since 2001. We started by looking at
how funding solutions to climate change, both through grants and impact investments,
can play an important role in transitioning our society to a low-carbon economy.
This special edition of the Economist -- in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and OECD -- explores long-term living standards, crises and their impact; technology and jobs; pensions, and migration and climate change.
As private and public players at all levels examine our progress in moving people out of poverty, the time is right to explore if and how livelihoods have improved. What factors really determine livelihoods? Which issues will most affect them over the next 20 to 30 years as economic growth shifts from West to East, amid increasing global interdependence? And how can rising living standards across the globe be ensured and sustained?
Livelihoods are constantly at risk. Local and global crises, demographic shifts, climate change, new technologies and other challenges impact livelihoods in many ways. These challenges vary dramatically across countries, cultures and communities. Their impacts’ complexity demands that relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors, universities, nonprofits and the public join forces in a holistic way to design future strategies for securing sustainable livelihoods.
Across employers and industries, we have heard stories about the value young people bring to the workplace. Employers in manufacturing cited the need for serious hand-eye coordination and reported positive experiences with young people filling these roles. Others cited the benefit of having youth in their companies who can use evolving technologies. For others, especially firms that need a lot of entry-level employees, young workers are their lifeblood.
Youth Hold the Key: Building Your Workforce Today and in the Future focuses on the role that youth can play in helping employers meet some of their current and looming workforce challenges, and how companies can improve how they hire and retain youth. The findings are based on a recent survey of 350 employers, more than 80 interviews with employers and workforce experts conducted during 2014 by The Bridgespan Group and Bain & Company, as well as a review of published literature. Much of this work focused on the potential of the millions of young people—referred to here as "opportunity youth"—who are disconnected from both work and school, and lack a college degree, to address the needs of employers.
Employment prospects for teens and young adults in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas plummeted between 2000 and 2011. On a number of measures—employment rates, labor force underutilization, unemployment, and year-round joblessness—teens and young adults fared poorly, and sometimes disastrously. While labor market problems affected all young people, some groups had better outcomes than others: Non-Hispanic whites, those from higher income households, those with work experience, and those with higher levels of education were more successful in the labor market. In particular, education and previous work experience were most strongly associated with employment.
Policy and program efforts to reduce youth joblessness and labor force underutilization should focus on the following priorities: incorporating more work-based learning (such as apprenticeships, co-ops, and internships) into education and training; creating tighter linkages between secondary and post-secondary education; ensuring that training meets regional labor market needs; expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit; and facilitating the transition of young people into the labor market through enhanced career counseling, mentoring, occupational and work-readiness skills development, and the creation of short-term subsidized jobs.
Driven by long‐term shifts in the labor market and on‐going poverty and inequality, youth employment challenges have mounted steadily over the last decade and reached a crisis point in the wake of the Great Recession. Youth unemployment in 2010 reached its highest level since World War II. The short‐ and long‐term consequences of youth unemployment are severe. Individuals who fail to
transition to stable jobs by their early 20s are at risk of experiencing more frequent and prolonged spells of joblessness, permanently lower earnings, and greater difficulty building a secure financial future for themselves and their families. Ultimately, youth unemployment and associated challenges threaten to perpetuate cycles of intergenerational poverty for individuals and communities.
Giving Them an Edge? The Effects of Work Experience on the Employment Prospec...The Rockefeller Foundation
This brief summarizes the results of NCLR’s quantitative analysis of the marginal effects of work experience on the employment prospects of millennials. It focuses on Latino young men, offering an overview of the structural barriers, an investigation of whether and to what extent additional work experience gives millennials a competitive edge in today’s hypercompetitive labor market, and recommendations to ensure that they fully leverage their work to maximize their potential in the labor market. In particular, this brief will examine the labor market outcomes of Latinos, the youngest and fastest-growing segment of the American labor force.
The Future of Youth Employment report offers an in-depth look at the changing nature of work in the United States—from microwork, to new coordination and automation technologies, and beyond. It explores challenges and opportunities these changes present for poor and vulnerable youth, and suggests policies and actions corporations, governments, and nonprofits can take to ensure positive futures for them.
The City Resilience Framework provides a lens through which the complexity of cities and the drivers that contribute to a city’s resilience can be understood. The 12 capacities in the 100RC City Resilience Framework collectively determine its ability a city’s resilience to a wide range of shocks and stresses.
Urban populations are facing increasing challenges from numerous natural and manmade pressures such as rapid urbanisation, climate change, terrorism and increased risks from natural hazards. Cities must learn to adapt and thrive in the face of these diverse challenges - they must learn how to build resilience in an uncertain world. Armed with this knowledge and understanding, governments, donors, investors, policy makers, and the private sector will be able to develop effective strategies to foster more resilient cities.
Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the City Resilience Index (CRI) is being developed by Arup. It builds on extensive research undertaken by Arup to establish an accessible, evidence-based definition of urban resilience, which culminated in the publication of the City Resilience Framework (CRF) in April 2014 (www.arup.com/cri). This provides a holistic articulation of city resilience, structured around four dimensions and 12 goals that are critical for the resilience of our cities. This structure also forms the foundations of the CRI.
Who is the CRI for?
The CRI will measure relative performance over time rather than comparison between cities. It will not deliver an overall single score for comparing performance between cities, neither will it provide a world ranking of the most resilient cities. However, it will provide a common basis of measurement and assessment to better facilitate dialogue and knowledge-sharing between cities.
It is envisaged that the CRI will primarily be used by city governments who are in the best position to gather administrative data, but it can also be used by other interested organisations and individuals (for example, universities, non-governmental organisations, community groups). It is intended that the CRI process will also provide the means for cities to capture the views of the poor and vulnerable groups as they normally suffer more severely the impacts of disruptions and failures.
As so many fields have in recent years, entry-level hiring must also make the transition from relying on untested intuition to leveraging the power of data and evidence. Employers now have access to talent analytics tools that can enable them to develop a deep understanding of what attributes drive good performance for their current employees, apply tools to objectively assess these attributes, and access broader talent pools to find individuals with the most-valued attributes. The talent analytics tools that enable this vision for data-driven hiring already exist. The key obstacle to their implementation is institutional will.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, promising self-driving cars, medical breakthroughs, and new ways of working. But how do you separate hype from reality? How can your company apply AI to solve real business problems?
Here’s what AI learnings your business should keep in mind for 2017.
You have asked people to rate a product on a 1 to 10 scale. You ha.docxjeffevans62972
You have asked people to rate a product on a 1 to 10 scale. You have divided your results into two samples: people from urban areas, and people from rural areas. You wish to show that there is a difference between the two groups in how they rate the product. You have no prior belief about which will be more than the other, however. The appropriate statistical test in Excel produces the results shown below. Answer these questions:
(a) State the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis. Be sure it is clear which you are saying is the null and which is the alternative.
(b) Which statistical test is appropriate? [Your choices are one mean, one proportion, two means for related samples, two means for independent samples, or two proportions]
(c) Can you conclude that there is a difference between the two groups? Explain why or why not.
Introduction
Global leaders are a rising class of leaders that are capable of working in universal and global connections. Introductory exploration demonstrates that global leaders are a remarkable breed with identifiable attributes (Mendenhall, 2013). They have a particular interest in the world and enthusiasm for individuals is not the same as themselves. This hobby motivates visionary activities and associations that encompass national limits. Besides, genuine global leadership perceives the effect of their activities on surrounding groups and the entire society. They comprehend that individual success is subordinate upon the thriving of others and that they assume a part in changing their organizations, as well as the social orders in which they work. Osland, Oddou, Bird, & Osland, (2013) Shows worldwide pioneers conceived, as well as can make. Global leadership gets to be who they are by developing specific methods for taking a gander at the world, contemplating issues and opportunities and acting with respectability in a quest for arrangements. Research demonstrates that global pioneers offer three typical qualities: they have a collective mentality that permits them to unite cross-culture over limits, they are international business people headed to make new solutions and seize opportunities, and they are universal nationals enlivened to add to the groups they touch. Initiative in a various and multicultural environment: creating mindfulness, learning, and abilities (Caligiuri, & Tarique, 2012).
Over the previous decade, global and residential associations have perceived the essential requirement for their leaders to wind up skillful in culturally diverse connections. The move to a worldwide economy and the expanding expansion of the workforce in the United States bolster the progressing requirement for exploration and preparing here. Capable multicultural leaders are vital to an association's accomplishment in the global business sector. Mendenhall, (2013) gave a content understudies in administration or business and can likewise be valuable to differ qualities and improve the diplomatic skill of a.
Presentation about how to achieve research impact by Professor Paul van Gardingen, Strategic Advisor on Impact to the ESRC-DFID Joint Research Scheme on International Development, Director Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Programme and UNESCO Chair in International Development at The University of Edinburgh. Given as part of ACES/CSID workshop on "Achieving Research Impact" at the University of Aberdeen in January 2011
Fresh thinking begins with exploration. As you plan for how your organization will overcome nascent obstacles and meet emerging needs, consider the approaches introduced here to better incorporate innovation and design methodologies to evolve your organization.
A Global WorkforceGlobalization Impact on CultureCulture is im.docxsleeperharwell
A Global Workforce
Globalization Impact on Culture
Culture is impacted by globalization, especially when it comes to a popular or dominates culture. Western or "Americanized" cultures are exposed around the globe through popular movies, television shows, fast food chains, books, clothing, and other consumer goods. These pop cultural items bleed into indigenous cultures and change local beliefs, values, and traditions; thus the historical cultures are changed or infused with the dominant culture.
Globalization and Cultural Domination
Cultural domination is one result of globalization. This theory refers to the dominant culture imposing beliefs, values, knowledge, and other cultural social norms onto the other country. A major example here is the Western culture domination over a global environment. The United States is a major capitalist society and therefore shapes values, identities, and perception around the world. As proven in the following example, with great power comes great responsibility.
As companies like McDonald’s move into countries like China, they are influencing the current cultural traditions in their wake. For instance, in China it was not acceptable for children to buy food with their own money; instead they were expected to eat what was placed in front of them. Traditionally McDonald's in Western countries would market to children with toys and happy meals, and they followed the same approach in China. Chinese children began wanting to select their own food when going to McDonalds, and after some time had passed, this has now become a new socially accepted practice (Lim, 2013).
Globalization and Divergence of Cultures
Cultural divergence is another result of globalization. As more and more opportunities for cultural exchanges take place, promotion for tolerance and diversity acceptance are happening. In this theory, a global society is the outcome where ideas are freely exchanged and appreciated, as cultures merge together to form a new inclusive culture. For example, when McDonald's expanded into China, the Chinese culture did not celebrate children’s birthdays. As McDonald's continued to market to children and birthday parties, these celebrations have now become a new custom with Chinese children with the celebration of birthdays (Lim, 2013).
Impact of Globalization on Dominate and Divergent Cultures in the Workplace
As we have seen above, dominant and divergent cultures are powerful theories in shaping society; these societies influence individual’s beliefs, values, and behaviors in the workplace. If dominate cultures are present in an individual's society, these individuals could become highly protective of their beliefs when it comes to workplace policies. Managers must look to adapt and work with all individuals to ensure common ground or a divergent culture is the outcome.
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
Hofstede’s Dimensions of the Basic Human Condition
To successfully manage a global workforce we must understand som.
The Transforming Health Systems (THS) initiative was one of The Rockefeller Foundation’s largest global health initiatives. Aligned with the Foundation’s mission to promote the well-being of humanity, THS aimed to improve the health status and financial resilience of poor and otherwise vulnerable populations through activities promoting improved health systems performance and the expansion of universal health coverage (UHC).
This report synthesizes findings from a five-year, multicomponent evaluation of the THS initiative. The objectives of the evaluation were to assess i) the effectiveness of the three core strategies – global advocacy, regional networks, and country-level investments – employed under THS to advance progress toward UHC in low- and middle-income countries in four focus countries, ii) the overall effectiveness and influence of the initiative, and iii) the Foundation’s legacy in the UHC arena. A key component of the evaluation was to document lessons learned from achievements and challenges to inform the development of future initiatives at the Foundation.
Overall, the evaluation found the THS initiative to be successful in its efforts to activate a global movement to accelerate progress toward UHC. The Foundation catalyzed and shaped the global UHC movement and, ultimately, influenced the inclusion of UHC in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the post-2015 agenda. It also created enduring cross-learning platforms and tools to support country progress toward the SDGs’ UHC targets. Although THS gained less traction in advancing UHC through its focus country investments, its success in making UHC a global development target and creating networks and coalitions to support UHC reform efforts in LMICs will likely have country-level impacts for years to come.
Electricity is one of the most important drivers of socio-economic development, yet up to 250 million Indians are not connected to the national grid, and the majority of rural consumers have grossly unreliable power supply. More than solar lanterns and home systems that power a few lights and fans, among the most efficient ways to provide reliable electricity in remote areas is through local mini-grids. India has several run by energy service companies and usually funded by philanthropic capital.
Most of these enterprises have not been able to scale-up their impact meaningfully because the risk of the national grid entering their markets can render their mini-grid unviable. Rather than seeing “grid versus mini-grid” as a policy choice, Beyond Off-Grid: Integrating Mini-Grids with India’s Evolving Electricity System explores ways we can encourage more of both: to have the grid operate in partnership with a network of distributed mini-grids to accelerate electrification.
What does the roadmap for this ‘interconnection’ of our energy system look like? How can we leverage both government and private investment? What are the different interconnection models and their commercial, technical and regulatory implications? Where do mini-grids go from here? This timely report – commissioned by the Asha Impact Trust in collaboration with Shakti Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation – provides a multi-layered perspective to address these questions based on extensive research, wide-ranging policymaker interactions, and our investment experience evaluating mini-grid operators.
We cannot achieve significant poverty reduction without stimulating electricity consumption, which fuels income-generating activities in the modern economy. In India, about 237 million people have little or no access to reliable electricity -- more than 90% of them live in rural areas. This severely constrains economic opportunities. Addressing this chronic problem requires going beyond simply expanding the government grid.
Mini-grids have emerged as a viable solution to complement and integrate with the national grid, and can support the government in achieving its ‘Power for All’ vision. The Rockefeller Foundation’s Smart Power for Rural Development (SPRD) initiative is the first to pursue the creation of a mini-grid sector that is robust enough to fuel commercial enterprises and drive economic development beyond just one village. Smart Power India (SPI), which leads the SPRD initiative in India, has proven that mini-grids can be swiftly deployed to deliver reliable power, and has likewise demonstrated that mini-grids can spur economic activity needed to help people lift themselves out of poverty.
This issue of Smart Power Connect, published after the hundredth village was connected to Smart Power, explores the efforts, success stories, and challenges faced in SPI’s mini-grid journey to date. With insights from government agencies, policy experts, energy service companies, investors and mini-grid customers themselves, this publication provides a glimpse into the potential of the mini-grids to transform the energy sector – and how rural communities are embracing and utilizing clean, reliable and adequate power to improve their lives.
Today, nearly 240 million Indians lack access to reliable electricity, and 90 percent of them live in rural areas. Despite the government’s ambitious plans to accelerate universal electrification by 2018, challenges remain in providing reliable and sufficient energy to the last mile. Distributed renewable energy (DRE) solutions, and in particular mini-grids, have emerged as a reliable complement to the government’s electrification programs by providing rural areas with access to reliable and high-quality electricity at a much faster pace. The growth of the DRE sector will be an important fillip to the last-mile challenge.
Smart Power India (SPI) is an organization that implements The Rockefeller Foundation’s Smart Power for Rural Development (SPRD) to build viable and commercially oriented mini-grid ecosystems in India. This report explains the Smart Power mini-grid model and explores the drivers of success. Analyzing early data from a cohort of the 106 Smart Power mini-grids operational as of 2017, SPI provides data on commercial performance as well as recommendations to further accelerate the rural mini-grid business.
Encouragingly, the report reveals that the 23 top-cohort plants have an average unit-level profit margin of approximately 30% after the first year of operations. It also highlights that villages receiving electricity from SPRD mini-grids show early signs of social and economic impact (also see Understanding the Impact of Rural Electrification.) SPI has observed that site selection, a strong focus on operations, support for demand generation and marketing optimized for rural customers, are critical to the continued improvement of mini-grid operations. Finally, the report provides recommendations to address external challenges such as the need for increased financing, stronger policy support and further technological innovation.
Globally, over 1 billion people still live without electricity. Roughly 237 million of these people are in India. Smart Power for Rural Development (SPRD) is a $75 million initiative aimed at accelerating development in India’s least electrified states. Through the deployment of decentralized renewable energy mini-grids, SPRD works to accelerate the growth of rural economies, while at the same time improving the lives and livelihoods of poor and marginalized families and communities. With access to energy, individuals, households, and communities can generate economic opportunities and enhance their quality of life. Understanding the Impact of Rural Electrification has generated significant insights on how SPRD is having an impact on the lives of villagers, and what more is needed to sustain, grow, and scale these gains. We’ve learned that households and businesses are slowly but surely moving up the energy ladder; enterprises are expanding and new ones are being created as a result of energy access, and women are feeling safer and more mobile after dark. In this report, we also introduce the innovative GDP+ approach which, which quantifies and measures the social, economic and environmental gains of access to electricity in GDP terms. The initial findings here show that SPRD villages experienced an $18.50 per capita increase in GDP+.
The Joint Learning Network (JLN) is a key innovation and central part of The Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts to promote universal health coverage (UHC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) under its Transforming Health Systems (THS) initiative (2009-2017). Launched in 2010, the JLN is a country-led, global learning network that connects practitioners around the globe, in order to advance knowledge and learning about approaches to accelerate country progress toward UHC. The JLN currently includes 27 member countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America that engage in multilateral workshops, country learning exchanges, and virtual dialogues to share experiences and develop tools to support the design and implementation of UHC-oriented reforms. The core vehicles for shared learning and resource development under the JLN are technical initiatives, which are managed by several technical partners and organized around key levers for reaching UHC objectives.
With 62.5 million tons of food wasted in the United States each year, there is much work to be done to
bring about substantial changes in the food industry that will create a more efficient food system and
help preserve the environment. This guide describes promising opportunities to reduce food waste
in three areas—packaging, food retail, and home kitchens—and discusses a number of solutions that
could be piloted, validated, and scaled to significantly reduce food waste in America.
National Disaster Resilience Competition's Resilience Academies - Emerging In...The Rockefeller Foundation
In 2015 The Rockefeller Foundation partnered with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to launch the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC)
Resilience Academies. Recognizing the salient need to infuse resilience thinking into HUD’s NDRC, these Academies were established to expose state and local governments to new approaches for protecting and promoting the long-term well-being and safety of their communities. A recent independent evaluation of the Academies has provided instructive insights about what works in efforts to build innovative resilience capacity.
Following its successful partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) post–Hurricane Sandy Rebuild by Design competition, The Rockefeller Foundation launched the Resilience Academies and Capacity-Building Initiative. Designed to support HUD’s National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC), the Academies and the Initiative provide eligible state, county, and municipal governments with subject-matter expertise and lessons from the Foundation’s years of on-the-ground disaster recovery programming and mitigation planning. Further, the Foundation hoped to assist these key players in moving global knowledge and resources to meet homegrown needs.
In December 2016, The Rockefeller Foundation’s African Regional Office hosted the Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Convening in Nairobi, Kenya. Over 150 delegates and 40 speakers participated, sharing insights, examples, and engaging in debate and discussion on why and how ‘resilience’ can enhance Africa’s ongoing development.
Launched in 2008, the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) Initiative aimed to catalyze attention, funding, and action for building the climate change resilience of vulnerable cities and people in Asia. Given that current estimates forecast that about 55 percent of Asia’s population will be living in urban centers by 2030, the ACCCRN Initiative is built on the premise that cities can take actions to build climate resilience – including drainage and flood management, ecosystem strengthening,
increasing awareness, and disease control – which can greatly improve the lives of poor and vulnerable people, not just in times of shock or stress, but every day.
At the time the initiative was launched, the concept of urban resilience and models for implementing it were nascent and emergent. ACCCRN proved to be an important experiment and “learning lab” for the Foundation and its grantees and partners to build capacity in cities to better understand and implement resilience solutions to the often devastating shocks and stresses of climate change. The initiative was effective in the initial 10 ACCCRN cities and, later, in an additional 40 cities.
As part of our Foundation-wide commitment to learning and accountability to our grantees, partners and stakeholders, we undertook an independent evaluation of the work of the initiative in 2014 to assess what worked well and not so well in ACCCRN. Conducted by Verulam Associates and ITAD, who also conducted a mid-term evaluation of the ACCCRN Initiative in 2011, this summative evaluation highlights successes, but also provides an important moment to reflect on the challenges we faced and on what we can do better or differently going forward.
As part of its overall mission of promoting the well-being of humanity throughout the world, The Rockefeller Foundation developed the goal of advancing inclusive economies. The framing of this goal is deliberate: the word inclusive stresses the need to overcome disadvantage while the choice of economies versus growth suggests the need to consider all dimensions of economic life. This executive summary outlines efforts to develop a framework to better understand and measure the characteristics of an inclusive economy. It includes:
• The evolution of the concept of an inclusive economy
• Key lessons learned from an analysis of indicator initiatives
related to measuring an inclusive economy
• A recommended indicator framework composed of 5 broad
characteristics, 15 sub-categories, and 57 indicators
• Implications for future work
For more details, a full report is available at:
inclusiveeconomies.org
Situating the Next Generation of Impact Measurement and Evaluation for Impact...The Rockefeller Foundation
Situating the Next Generation of Impact Measurement and Evaluation for Impact Investing contends that measurement practices need to evolve by borrowing from the strengths of both private business and social sector evaluation. Suggesting that an impact thesis is a crucial anchor for impact measurement strategies, the paper offers several measurement approaches in use today. The ‘next generation’ of impact measurement and evaluation must stem from a commitment of impact investors to strengthen evidence for their social returns alongside the evidence for financial returns.
The goal of the CEO & Gender Media Audit was to understand the media coverage of CEOs in various situations and determine if there are differences in the way male and female CEOs are covered.
Equity and Inclusive Growth from a Development Perspective is essential reading for development and evaluation practitioners. It provides a concise history and critical examination of the concepts related to growth, poverty, and equity. These three foundational elements of contemporary development theory and practice are at the root of The Rockefeller Foundation’s movement toward advancing inclusive economies and building resilience.
The paper offers many insights about the measurement and evaluation of programs. It illuminates the debate surrounding ways to assess well-being beyond GDP. It covers the many ways to approach the measurement of poverty and the most commonly used indexes. Finally, it examines the important distinction between equity and equality and the policy implications of pursuing equity.
Assessing Market-Based Solutions: Lessons from Evaluating a Youth Employment ...The Rockefeller Foundation
Creating employment opportunities for youth is a priority for many countries. How can these opportunities – increasingly situated within market-based approaches to development – generate and sustain positive employment and social outcomes for individuals, their families and communities? This paper reports on an evaluation of a Rockefeller Foundation initiative that provided instructive lessons on how to assess youth employment and digital jobs programs that embed market-based principles.
In 2013, in response to the opportunities presented by Africa’s rapidly growing youth population and the ubiquity of information and communications technologies across the continent, The Rockefeller Foundation launched its Digital Jobs Africa initiative. The initiative aims to enable young people to access jobs by providing them with in-demand technology-related and other employability skills. Now just past its two-year mark, the Foundation is taking stock of the rich learning that has emerged from the initiative.
The Rockefeller Foundation has long recognized the importance of meaningful engagement of the private sector in addressing many of the world’s most complex problems. While many social sector leaders understand that engaging the private sector matters, far fewer understand how to do so, or the key questions one should consider before starting down this path of cross-sector collaboration. For instance: Why would a network want to include a company? Or conversely, why would a company want to participate in a network focused on social impact? Can social impact efforts deliver business value? What makes network relationships durable? And ultimately, what are the different needs around accountability, leadership, governance and mindset? To answer questions such as these, The Foundation and our partners at Monitor Institute, a part of Deloitte Consulting LLP, have created “PARTICIPATE: The power of involving business in social impact networks”—a handbook for social change leaders aspiring to effectively engage the private sector as authentic participants in the pursuit of social impact.
In 2015, The Rockefeller Foundation collaborated with several partners to begin developing incentive-based mechanisms to address competition for freshwater, and to bring human water use back in balance with the water needs of freshwater ecosystems in order to build long-term resilience. The early solutions that emerged, and the wider lessons from the group’s work, are captured in this report.
A process server is a authorized person for delivering legal documents, such as summons, complaints, subpoenas, and other court papers, to peoples involved in legal proceedings.
Up the Ratios Bylaws - a Comprehensive Process of Our Organizationuptheratios
Up the Ratios is a non-profit organization dedicated to bridging the gap in STEM education for underprivileged students by providing free, high-quality learning opportunities in robotics and other STEM fields. Our mission is to empower the next generation of innovators, thinkers, and problem-solvers by offering a range of educational programs that foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking.
At Up the Ratios, we believe that every student, regardless of their socio-economic background, should have access to the tools and knowledge needed to succeed in today's technology-driven world. To achieve this, we host a variety of free classes, workshops, summer camps, and live lectures tailored to students from underserved communities. Our programs are designed to be engaging and hands-on, allowing students to explore the exciting world of robotics and STEM through practical, real-world applications.
Our free classes cover fundamental concepts in robotics, coding, and engineering, providing students with a strong foundation in these critical areas. Through our interactive workshops, students can dive deeper into specific topics, working on projects that challenge them to apply what they've learned and think creatively. Our summer camps offer an immersive experience where students can collaborate on larger projects, develop their teamwork skills, and gain confidence in their abilities.
In addition to our local programs, Up the Ratios is committed to making a global impact. We take donations of new and gently used robotics parts, which we then distribute to students and educational institutions in other countries. These donations help ensure that young learners worldwide have the resources they need to explore and excel in STEM fields. By supporting education in this way, we aim to nurture a global community of future leaders and innovators.
Our live lectures feature guest speakers from various STEM disciplines, including engineers, scientists, and industry professionals who share their knowledge and experiences with our students. These lectures provide valuable insights into potential career paths and inspire students to pursue their passions in STEM.
Up the Ratios relies on the generosity of donors and volunteers to continue our work. Contributions of time, expertise, and financial support are crucial to sustaining our programs and expanding our reach. Whether you're an individual passionate about education, a professional in the STEM field, or a company looking to give back to the community, there are many ways to get involved and make a difference.
We are proud of the positive impact we've had on the lives of countless students, many of whom have gone on to pursue higher education and careers in STEM. By providing these young minds with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed, we are not only changing their futures but also contributing to the advancement of technology and innovation on a broader scale.
ZGB - The Role of Generative AI in Government transformation.pdfSaeed Al Dhaheri
This keynote was presented during the the 7th edition of the UAE Hackathon 2024. It highlights the role of AI and Generative AI in addressing government transformation to achieve zero government bureaucracy
What is the point of small housing associations.pptxPaul Smith
Given the small scale of housing associations and their relative high cost per home what is the point of them and how do we justify their continued existance
This session provides a comprehensive overview of the latest updates to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (commonly known as the Uniform Guidance) outlined in the 2 CFR 200.
With a focus on the 2024 revisions issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), participants will gain insight into the key changes affecting federal grant recipients. The session will delve into critical regulatory updates, providing attendees with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate and comply with the evolving landscape of federal grant management.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the rationale behind the 2024 updates to the Uniform Guidance outlined in 2 CFR 200, and their implications for federal grant recipients.
- Identify the key changes and revisions introduced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the 2024 edition of 2 CFR 200.
- Gain proficiency in applying the updated regulations to ensure compliance with federal grant requirements and avoid potential audit findings.
- Develop strategies for effectively implementing the new guidelines within the grant management processes of their respective organizations, fostering efficiency and accountability in federal grant administration.
Understanding the Challenges of Street ChildrenSERUDS INDIA
By raising awareness, providing support, advocating for change, and offering assistance to children in need, individuals can play a crucial role in improving the lives of street children and helping them realize their full potential
Donate Us
https://serudsindia.org/how-individuals-can-support-street-children-in-india/
#donatefororphan, #donateforhomelesschildren, #childeducation, #ngochildeducation, #donateforeducation, #donationforchildeducation, #sponsorforpoorchild, #sponsororphanage #sponsororphanchild, #donation, #education, #charity, #educationforchild, #seruds, #kurnool, #joyhome
1. An annual publication from
The Rockefeller Foundation exploring
emerging issues of consequence
2014 ISSUE NO. 1
2. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
1
Dear Friends,
It’s my pleasure to introduce the first edition of a new publication, Insights, a product of the
ongoing work of The Rockefeller Foundation’s strategic research team, identifying compelling and emerging
problem trends and areas of dynamism where there might be opportunities for intervention.
Over the course of the last year, our team, alongside
our grant partners, have deeply explored 11 of these
emerging trends to learn more about their root
causes, the opportunities for riding the waves of
dynamism or catalyzing promising new solutions,
and the potential for impact. What we’ve learned
through this process has oftentimes surprised us,
challenging our prior assumptions, making fresh
connections, and broadening our understanding
of what it will take to solve these problems once
and for all. This rigorous research not only informs
what problems The Rockefeller Foundation might
explore further or adds to our current portfolio of
work, but we hope it can also yield intelligence that
is valuable for a range of other actors, from other
foundations, governments, NGOs, corporations, and
impact investors, who are working to make the world
a more equitable and resilient place.
In 2013, we funded hundreds of hours of research on
11 specific problem spaces, but we’ve chosen to high-
light only five in this publication. We encourage you to
use Insights as a jumping-off point for the larger set of
research and resources available at www.rockefeller-
foundation.org.
Our goal for Insights is to not just inform, but also to
engage and serve as a conversation piece. So whether
you read from cover to cover, or flip through for the
sections that most catch your eye, it’s our hope that
you’ll put it down with a better sense of some of the
challenges that are shaping our world, and the collec-
tive opportunities to solve them. And then, of course,
we hope you will take action.
In the meantime, we’ll keep scanning the horizon
and searching for new emerging trends in real time,
and we look forward to sharing those learnings in
subsequent publications. We hope you’ll keep reading.
D R . J U D I T H R O D I N , P R E S I D E N T
Sincerely,
2
Q&A with Claudia Juech
Since 2007, Managing Director
Claudia Juech has overseen
the Foundation’s transformation
to the new search model. In
2012, her team led 11 topic
searches, which involved
coordinating internal staff
and consultations with nearly
200 outside experts.
5
A century of search
While some problems,
such as yellow fever and
malaria, captured international
attention, other challenges
were scoped and reported
on by Rockefeller Foundation
officers on the ground.
6
Help wanted for a
generation on the brink
Driven by long-term shifts in
the labor market and ongoing
poverty and inequality,
youth unemployment has
reached its highest level
since World War II.
10
For coastal cities at risk
of rising tides, ecosystems
offer shelter
As precious ecosystems
along the coasts of developing
world cities are degraded,
the urban poor are increasingly
in harm’s way.
16
In the world’s invisible
economies, a very public
health crisis
Hundreds of millions of
workers in the world’s informal
economy are denied basic
social protections, especially
in access to affordable
health care, which puts their
livelihoods in jeopardy.
20
Luxury SUVs and food
stamps: a new landscape for
the American suburb
Suburban poverty affects
millions of Americans and is
growing rapidly, significantly
outpacing the growth rate
of urban poverty over the
last decade.
24
In the developing world,
property rights for women are
about more than just housing
Insecure property rights
make them less economically,
politically, and socially
empowered, and inhibit them
from improving their families’
health and well-being.
28
For smallholder farmers,
food loss hits twice as hard
Waste and spoilage in
developing countries’ food
production is an intractable
problem of global dimensions,
but it has hit those at the
lower rungs of the economic
ladder particularly hard.
CONTENTS
3. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
32
food waste and spoilage, we must also think about farmers’ limited access to finance and
reliable buyers for their crops — those are part of the problem space.
We identify problem spaces based on a wide range of inputs, using broad, sweeping
horizon-scanning activities, alongside secondary research, expert interviews, and the
work Rockefeller has done to date. Through this process, we often find connections and
inter-relations among several trends that surface across problem spaces.
How do you assess the potential for innovation in a particular problem space?
CJ: There is very little research that has focused on how to measure innovation potential
in a sector with regard to a problem space, so we are really entering new territory here.
We have adopted approaches that assess innovation potential at a national level or at an
organizational level, but will support further research in the future to refine our frameworks.
Fornow,wearelookingattheenablingenvironment — isthereevidenceofcross-pollination,
e.g., are ideas being shared or replicated across actors, sectors, or geographies? What’s the
innovation capacity? Are there active change-makers around or organizations that are capa-
ble of testing or scaling innovations? And what’s the institutional environment? Are there
legal, policy, or business structures in place that promote or hinder innovation in this area?
How does this process differ from or improve upon what was done before?
CJ: For years, philanthropy has dedicated an enormous amount of resources to evaluating
the impact of specific grants after the fact. What we’re trying to do with Search is to make
sure the same rigor and critical thought is applied to our strategies from the outset. We also
need to be innovative in where we go for information so that we are getting the freshest
information — to make sure we are getting the thing that is emerging in the moment and
that may lead to significant progress.
What are some other ways in which the Foundation’s process is unique?
CJ: From my experience, one of the most important distinctions is that we don’t start out
with a pre-determined point of view or a dominant idea of an answer to a problem. In our
process, we investigate an issue and truly test it. Then we come back, and more times than
not, we find there’s not the opportunity for us there to achieve impact as major as there
may be with another issue that is being reviewed at the same time.
Q&A WITH CLAUDIA JUECH
W
hen Judith Rodin took over as president of The
Rockefeller Foundation in 2005, she had a vision
to re-imagine how the Foundation understood
and intervened in the pressing challenges that
confronted a 21st-century world. This transfor
mation would require the Foundation to re-think
its entire strategy model, from the issues it focused on, to the process
of finding, testing, and funding solutions.
To do so, under the care of Managing Director Claudia Juech,
who joined in 2007, the Foundation developed a highly strategic,
analytical search process appropriately, and fondly, referred to as
“Search.” In 2012–13, Juech’s strategic research team led 11 topic
searches, which involved coordinating internal staff, consultants,
and nearly 200 outside experts.
But the process is not as important as its outputs, and whether
or not the Foundation decided to deploy funding into a particular
space, the research yielded insights that could benefit the entire
social impact field. And that’s exactly what you’ll find in the pages to follow and the addi-
tional resources offered online at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/insights.
In a conversation with Insights, Juech talks of how searches are framed, why the process
is unique, and the team’s guiding motto.
Every search is framed around an identified set of “problem spaces.” How does The Rockefeller
Foundation define a problem space?
CJ: AlbertEinstein,aRockefellerFoundationgrantee,said“givenonehourtosavetheworld,
I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.”
This approach is deeply embedded into our process: Before we can solve a problem, we
need to know exactly what the problem is, and we should put a good amount of thinking
and resources into understanding it. And because today’s problems are so complex, we
know they can’t be solved by being broken down into specific components.
And so, “problem space” is just a fancy phrase for the framework through which we
study a particular challenge, which includes a number of interlinking and underlying issues
that must be addressed in order to find a solution. For example, if our central problem is
The Strategic Research
team holds a brainstorm
on potential search topics.
From left: Rebekkah Hogan,
Claudia Juech, Farhat
Jilalbhoy, Kevin O’Neil,
Rachel Bergenfield,
Bethany Martin-Breen,
and Jenny Deady. Not
pictured: Kerry Brennan.
Before we can solve a problem, we need to know exactly
what the problem is, and we should put a good amount
of thinking and resources into understanding it. And because
today’s problems are so complex, we know they can’t be
solved by being broken into specific components.
4. 54
INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
Obviously, the Foundation cannot commit funding to every problem area you research.
What kind of criteria does The Rockefeller Foundation consider when you choose where
to focus your interventions?
CJ: Ultimately, the Foundation tries to determine whether there is potential for us to have
significant impact at scale on a problem that is critical for poor or vulnerable populations
or the ecosystems that they depend on. So it is a combination of three different criteria:
We want to make sure that we work on problems integral to the lives of poor populations;
we want to understand how the specific engagement and investment by The Rockefeller
Foundation would make a significant difference; and we are trying to get a sense of whether
the context is conducive to transformative change, i.e., is there innovative activity or
momentum in regulation or private sector activity that could be catalyzed in order to
achieve significant impact.
So while some options don’t move forward, it doesn’t mean they aren’t worthwhile or
pressing — it simply means it isn’t the right area in which the Foundation should intervene
at this time. But the process is valuable in other ways — in many instances, the findings have
contributed to ongoing work or even informed future searches. And we have a robust body
of research that we can share widely to help other foundations or other actors who care
about social impact to make decisions about their own strategies, or perhaps to illuminate
an area they hadn’t considered funding before.
What insight or insights surprised you most from the first rounds of searches?
CJ: The future trajectory of many of the problem spaces that we investigated truly requires
a call to action, especially as some of these don’t yet receive the level of attention they
deserve. For example, unhealthy food markets and the health implications of different
diets will be severe, particularly in Africa.
Many professions have aspirational mottos that are supposed to guide them in their work.
The famous one for physicians, for example, is “First, do no harm.” What would be the
motto you would hang over your office door?
CJ: Well, the physician motto would be a good one, but I think that for the work we are
engaged in it would be “Give a clear-eyed view.” We want to provide decision-making
intelligence that is as informed and as objective as possible so that the most good can come
from a range of funding sources. ✦
A LOOK BACK AT A CENTURY OF SEARCH
1909A precursor
to the work The
Rockefeller Foundation
would carry, John D.
Rockefeller’s General
Education Board
realized that to achieve
better educational
outcomes it wouldn’t
be enough to address
the challenges of
overcrowded and
dilapidated school
houses and underpaid
teachers. Transform
ative and sustainable
impact required
raising the income
of poor rural farmers
so that they could
send their children
to school instead of
relying on them for
farm labor. It also
required eradicating
disabling diseases,
such as hookworm,
that prevented regular
school attendance.
1913John D.
Rockefeller, Sr.,
establishes The
Rockefeller Foundation
with the mission to
advance the well-being
of humanity throughout
the world. The broad
mission ensured that
the Foundation could
remain flexible and
opportunistic, “without
flags or frontiers,”
as his son John D.
Rockefeller, Jr., would
later say.
1914The
Foundation’s first
secretary, Jerome
D. Greene, develops
a comprehensive
report that includes
a section outlining a
few main areas where
the young Foundation
might concern itself.
Among them, medical
needs in the Far East,
alcoholism, venereal
diseases, and mental
health. Ultimately,
the Foundation settles
on public health and
medical education as
its first endeavors.
1925The Foundation
adopts a resolution
stating that “officers be
requested to keep in
mind the importance
of constant vigilance in
the appraisal of work
already in progress …
and in the consideration
of new opportunities,
whether these are
closely related to
present activities or
extend into new fields.”
1938U.S. Secretary
of Agriculture (and
future Vice President)
Henry Wallace calls
on the Rockefeller
Foundation to fund an
agricultural improve
ment program in
Latin America. At the
time, the Foundation
is reluctant to adopt
a program beyond its
long-standing work in
international health,
but it dispatches a
team of three agricul
ture professors for a
two-month, 5,000-mile
investigative journey
through Mexico, which
has come to be regarded
as the beginning of the
“Green Revolution.”
1973President
Knowles convenes
the heads of leading
American founda-
tions to review and
discuss The Rockefeller
Foundation’s priorities
and programs. This
marks the first time any
major U.S. foundation
has shared its inner
workings openly. The
feedback from the
participants included
the sense that the
Foundation might be
getting “too diffuse,
and that we shouldn’t
forget our traditional
strength of focusing,
over long periods of
time, on a few leading
problems with well-
defined goals.”
1981The Rockefeller
Foundation conducts a
comprehensive review
to address the question
of whether its Conquest
of Hunger Program,
under which its
We have a robust body of research that we can share widely
to help other foundations or other actors who care about social
impact to make decisions about their own strategies.
agricultural research
and food production
efforts are housed, is
still needed. The review
reveals that direct food
aid has been amply
taken on by other
international aid
organizations in the
years since The
Rockefeller Foundation
launched such work.
Consequently, the
Foundation decides to
turn its attention to the
unexplored and under-
funded frontier of rice
biotechnology research.
2005Dr. Judith
Rodin takes over as
president and sets
in motion an inquiry
process that would
re-imagine how the
Foundation finds
emerging challenges
and funds their
solutions, giving rise
to the new “scan and
search” function that
operates today.
The Rockefeller Foundation’s
Intervention Model: How Search Fits
SCANNING
Look across
opportunities in need
of philanthropic
support and funding
DEVELOPMENT
Develop, test, and
select interventions,
identifying potential
impact and feasibility
SEARCH
Assess opportunities,
through rigorous
research, and develop
an early blueprint of
where the Foundation
could act
EXECUTION
Employ time-
bound interventions
with measurable,
pre-defined impacts Background: A typical
record produced by
the output recorder of
the M.I.T. differential
analyzer. The Rockefeller
Foundation was an early
funder of the emerging
field of computer science.
Q&A with Claudia Juech
5. 6
INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
I
t is midday in Houston, Texas. Lani (not her real name), a woman in her late teens who
has been unemployed for several months, is trying to stay productive. She has earned
some extra cash by styling a friend’s hair, planned a week’s worth of dinners for her
family, volunteered to donate blood, and spent hours on the computer searching for
employment leads.
But when, during a job interview later that week, a manager of a local café asks
what she does during a typical day, Lani falters, unable to fully convey her entrepreneurial
spirit and the responsibilities that come with supporting her family.
This story from the daily struggle of a young job seeker begins to sketch out the realities
millions face during an unemployment crisis that continues to plague our country’s youth.
Three years after the start of the Great Recession, the number of unemployed young
Americans hit its highest level in more than 50 years — at the beginning of 2014, the unem-
ployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds exceeded 14 percent in 2013, more than 5.5 million
young people were neither in school or work, and millions more were unable to find
full-time positions or opportunities for earning money that drew on their formal training.
Those numbers translate to significant setbacks for this generation of young people.
Studies show that youth who don’t transition to stable jobs by their early 20s are at higher
risk of more frequent and prolonged spells of joblessness, permanently lower earnings
over a lifetime, and greater difficulty building a secure financial future for themselves
and their families.
While the stories of college-educated youth struggling to find a job are notable for
their recent increase, it remains a fact that youth with the least education have the most
difficulty securing employment. Youth from the lowest income quartile are more than five
times as likely to drop out of school as youth from the highest income quartile. Youth who
have dropped out of high school are four times more likely to be unemployed than youth
with a college degree.
Youth unemployment doesn’t only impact the individual worker — it can take a high toll
on society as well. Indeed, the total costs associated with the current levels of young people
not in school or working will amount to $1.56 trillion — including lost taxes, health care
costs, criminal justice system expenditures, and welfare and social service payments. Some
estimates aggregate the social costs, which include lost gross earnings and productivity,
to be as high as $4.75 trillion.
INSIGHT
Youth Unemployment:
A number of initiatives are
converging to address youth
unemployment, but could
be more strategically
aligned through a focus
on employer needs and
employer engagement.
HELP WANTED FOR A
GENERATION ON THE BRINK
Youth Unemployment
A young man attends
a job fair. Individuals
who fail to transition
to stable jobs by their
early 20s are at risk
of experiencing more
frequent and prolonged
spells of joblessness, as
well as lower earnings
over a lifetime.
6. 98
INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
The youth unemployment crisis results from embedded, systemic challenges — slow
job growth, a general trend of disinvestment in workers, weak education and training
systems, biased hiring and recruiting practices, increasing competition for entry-level
employment, and Baby Boomers’ remaining in the labor market longer than previous
generations, just to name a few of the largest drivers. The changing models of business
have also contributed, such as the move toward automation and outsourcing, in addition
to other means of minimizing labor costs.
“There’s a real sense of urgency: Anyone working in this area now understands that we
are in danger of losing an entire generation — it’s that bad,” says John Irons, The Rockefeller
Foundation’s managing director working on U.S. employment. “People are now open to
system changes and entirely new approaches that they might not have been a few years ago.”
The Obama administration has given new attention to the issue of youth employment
as a key to the nation’s economic competitiveness. In his 2014 State of the Union Address,
President Barack Obama called on Vice President Joe Biden “to lead an across-the-board
reform of America’s training programs to make sure they have one mission: Train Americans
with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right
now.” And in 2011, the president appointed a White House Council on Community Solutions
(The Rockefeller Foundation’s president, Judith Rodin, was a member) to recommend a
strategy for scaling local solutions to youth unemployment challenges — work that carries
on today through the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions.
But there is also a growing recognition that solutions must bring in leadership from
the private sector, which controls 80 percent of the jobs. “It is about what we can do to our
hiring practices and training programs to make the entry points easier. Simple changes
can tip the scales back in favor of young people,” Irons says.
Indeed, the private sector has the opportunity — and responsibility — to be the engine
driving innovative programs and solutions that lead to jobs. But to create sustainable change
at scale, there will need to be compelling business reasons for adopting new programs or
practices that will open more doors for young workers. Says Irons, “The evidence has to
illustrate the case and make sense to the employer.”
To date, some bellwether private sector programs have emerged based on employers’
recognition that it is in their businesses’ best interests to invest in youth talent pipelines.
For example, in 2011, national clothing retailer GAP Inc. began “This Way Ahead,” a pro-
gram that provides job-readiness training and paid internships for underserved youth.
The reasons? GAP cited “contributions to the health of the community and protecting the
long-term health of our business.”
The California-based utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E), has put into place several
youth-oriented training programs, recognizing a generational transition in its workforce, as
aging technicians retire. One such program offers young adults free apprentice technician
training to move into jobs that don’t require college degrees.
Buttobesustainable,theseprogramsmustbeexpandedonanationalscale.TheRockefeller
Foundationisinearlystagesofexploringwhereitcanbeeffectiveat supportingandscaling
employer-focused interventions and raise the profile of the issue among other employers.
“This public–private collaboration is critical — and the clock is ticking,” says Irons. “The
U.S. must integrate and leverage the talent of its young workers now to ensure the long-term
success of America’s economy and promote secure livelihoods for the next generation.” ✦
8.7% Chronically disconnected
Have neither studied nor worked after the age of 16
8.5% Partially disconnected
Have some schooling or work experience
beyond the age of 16, but have not progressed
through college or secured stable employment
13.1% Loosely connected
Working or studying only part time
4.5% Mal-employed
College graduates who are in full-time jobs that do
not draw on much of their formal college education
1.2% Unemployed college grads
Four years after
the Great Recession,
one-third of all the
16- to 24-year-olds
in the country
still face challenges
related to lack of
job opportunities.
A student outside
the Westside Youth
Opportunity Com-
munity Center (YO!)
in Baltimore, one of
the many community-
To date, some
bellwether private sector
programs have emerged
based on employers’
recognition that it is in
their businesses’ best
interests to invest in
youth talent pipelines.
Youth Unemployment
based organizations
providing career
training and services
to disadvantaged
youth.
Grey shading indicates recessions; unemployment rates reflect only individuals without a job who,
at the time of survey, were available for work and had actively looked for a job in the previous four weeks.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; NBER; Bureau of Economic Analysis
Average annual seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate and GDP (%)
Youth
(16–24)
All
(16+)
GDP
Growth
’48 ’52 ’56 ’60 ’64 ’68 ’72 ’76 ’80 ’84 ’88 ’92 ’96 ’00 ’04 ’08 ’12
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
7. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
11
T
hey lose twice,” says Edward Barbier, a professor of economics at Wyoming
University and editor of a book on Asia’s disappearing mangrove ecosystems, in
the Wall Street Journal in 2004, just days after a tsunami devastated the coastal
communities and cities in Southeast Asia. Barbier was referring to the urban
poor who are often pushed out of areas desirable for tourism or commerce
development and, as a result, are forced to live in areas that offer less natural
protection from storms and flooding.
Today, some 125 million of the world’s poor live in urban coastal zones, and that number
is increasing at twice the global population growth rate. The World Bank projects that
by 2025 at least 65 percent of the urban population on each continent will reside in low-
elevation coastal zones. Urban poor living in large coastal cities with a population over
2 million people are especially vulnerable, as they have minimal, if any, natural or other
protections against hazards.
Theseprotectionsareonlyoneofthemanybenefitscoastalecosystemsprovide.Especially
in medium-size and emerging coastal cities, natural infrastructure, including wetlands,
estuaries, and coral reefs, provides coastal populations with a wide range of services such
as food production, livelihood sources, and water treatment and sanitation services.
In the area of the Coral Triangle, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines,
some 340 million people depend on natural coastal ecosystems for their livelihoods. Globally,
90 percent of the world’s 1.1 billion poor depend on some type of forest — for example,
mangroves — for at least a part of their income. More than 50 million employed globally
through small-scale fisheries in developing countries are in coastal or marine areas and are
thus heavily reliant on coastal and marine natural infrastructures to sustain their livelihoods.
Yet, due to trends like migration, changing settlement patterns, tourism, and industrial
development — in addition to climate change impacts — ecosystems are changing and
disappearing at an alarming rate. Around the world, 50 percent of wetlands have been lost
since 1900. Offshore, coral reefs are expected to shrink 60 percent over the next 30 years.
The problem is most acute in Asia due to high numbers of coastal poor, rapidly degrading
ecosystems and resulting natural infrastructure loss, and projected climate change impacts
in the region. Asian countries account for 80 percent of the world’s coastal poor and 70 per-
cent of the world’s population living in high-risk flood zones. In Africa, the risks to the
environment and people come from seasonal flooding, made worse by rapid population
INSIGHT
Vulnerable Natural
Infrastructure in
Urban Coastal Zones:
Natural infrastructure is
often directly connected
to the livelihoods of poor
and vulnerable people,
but is not prioritized (like
grey infrastructure is) in
the decisions made in
the development of cities.
FOR COASTAL CITIES AT RISK
OF RISING TIDES, ECOSYSTEMS
OFFER SHELTER
“
Vulnerable Natural Infrastructure in Urban Coastal Zones
Today, 125 million of
the world’s poor live
in urban coastal zones,
and that number is
increasing at twice the
global population’s
growth rate.
8. 12
INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
growth on urban coastlines. In the top 17 U.S. coastal cities, currently more than 8 million
people live in flood zones, and 6.5 million people face significant risk from storm surges
and flooding. Along with sea levels, that number will rise to 12.5 million by 2070.
Government policies and regulations to deter degradation of natural infrastructure have
failed to sufficiently address the problem. There are several reasons for this: legal and regu-
latory systems in which the poor in coastal communities have few property rights and low
engagementinland-usedecisions;businessandeconomicstructuresthatundervaluenatural
ecosystem benefits; and a political tendency to embrace grey infrastructure — man-made
structures such as seawalls, which have been shown to lose their effectiveness over time —
as opposed to natural infrastructure enhancements, which actually appreciate in value.
One solution has been to blend grey and green infrastructure. In the Netherlands, after
the damaging 1993 flood in which the dikes nearly failed, the government began planning
to build higher dikes, but a coalition of nonprofit organizations convinced them to try
grey-green solutions. Environmental experts worked with engineers to plant sea grasses
and other vegetation in front of the dikes, which reduced wave heights by 80 percent. The
grey-green approach has led many stakeholders to shift their thinking to work with nature
Most of the people living in the coastal areas of the world’s
largest cities are poor, not rich. And 90 percent of the world’s
coastal poor are located in Asia.
Percent of Global
Coastal Poor
India: 27%
Indonesia: 13%
Bangladesh: 9%
Vietnam: 5%
China: 5%
Philippines: 4%
Nigeria: 4%
Myanmar: 2%
Brazil: 2%
North Korea: 2%
Yemen: 1%
Thailand: 1%
Mozambique: 1%
Turkey: 1%
Sri Lanka: 1%
Oyster reefs are made
by a number of distinct
groups of bivalve
mollusks that live in
marine or brackish
habitats. They provide
coastal protection via
wave attenuation and
erosion protection.
Examples: New Orleans,
Virginia Beach, and
Shanghai.
Mangroves replace
salt marshes in the
subtropics and tropics,
and consist of many
different types of
trees and shrubs that
live in saline coastal
habitats. Examples:
large cities in India,
Bangladesh, Vietnam,
and Indonesia.
Seagrasses are a
specialized group
of flowering plants
that grow in marine
environments,
often forming large
“meadow”-like
environments. They
occur in shallow
coastal waters in sand
and mud substrates,
and are often found
adjacent to coral
reefs and mangroves.
Examples: Dakar,
Conkary, Lagos,
and Manila.
Sand beaches
and dunes form at
low-lying coastal
margins where
sand transported by
oceanic waves and
wind combine with
vegetation to produce
dynamic geomorphic
structures. Examples
can be found at
all latitudes and
cover approximately
34 percent of ice-free
coastlines.
Coral reefs are made
from calcium
carbonate secreted by
corals. They provide
coastal protection
via wave attenuation
during storm events,
and can reduce wave
energy by up to
97 percent. Examples:
Singapore, Jakarta,
Ho Chi Minh City,
and Manila.
Coastal salt
marshes provide
coastal protection by
attenuating waves
and stabilizing
shorelines. The former
is accomplished by
reducing wave heights
as a function of per-
unit distance across
marsh vegetation, the
latter via soil accretion,
reducing erosion, and
increases in marsh
elevation. Examples:
New Orleans, Virginia
Beach, and New York.
Natural Infrastructure Typologies
Vulnerable Natural Infrastructure in Urban Coastal Zones
Displaced villagers
construct their
makeshift dwellings
beside a road in
Khulna, Bangladesh,
after their homes were
flooded by Cyclone
Aila. More than
200 people were killed
after the storm hit the
low-lying coast north
of the Bay of Bengal.
Map source: “Ecosystem
Services for Poverty
Alleviation: Marine and
Coastal Situational Analysis,”
ODG-DEV et.al., 2008.
9. 1514
INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
rather than build defenses against it. And it’s timely as more and more climate change–
related impacts can’t be averted and will require a mix of coastal protection measures.
There are times when a natural infrastructure-only model can work effectively. In
rural areas throughout Asia, for example, there are large-scale mangrove restoration
projects supported by governments. And in Chile, Nepal, China, Burkina Faso, Senegal,
and Thailand, the International Union for Conservation of Nature is in the second year of
a five-year program to teach communities how to protect their natural infrastructure and
how to be more resilient in response to extreme weather events.
In either case, policymakers and the public are increasingly accepting of new ways
of assessing and valuing coastal ecosystems. For many cities, it’s no longer a question of
whether natural infrastructure should be part of the solution — it’s now more a question
of how to do it.
In this dynamic landscape, three opportunities have emerged.
The first is to capitalize on the growing demand and support for climate change adaption
efforts. Disasters and other crises — and their increased frequency — have enabled more
governments to build the political will to take action. For example, Superstorm Sandy moved
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to appoint a commission, co-chaired by Rockefeller
Foundation President Judith Rodin, to rethink the state’s resilience planning and infra-
structure investments. At the same time, then–New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
promoted an ambitious multi-point program to strengthen the city’s ability to withstand
extreme weather events, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing
natural infrastructure protection along city waterfronts.
But more can be done to help make the connections between governments, conservation
organizations, public interest groups, and the private sector to design natural infrastructure
projects. One innovative approach, led by U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment Shaun Donovan and funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, is Rebuild by Design,
a competition launched after Superstorm Sandy, which has brought together leading
architects, engineers, and urban planners to propose designs that can reduce communities’
vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather.
A second opportunity is to expand our portfolio of tools, including both natural and
green infrastructure solutions, and instruments for vulnerability assessment, ecosystems
valuation, and trade-off analysis. The Natural Capital Project, a collaboration among
Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment, The Nature Conservancy, World
Wildlife Fund, and the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, has used
InVEST, a suite of software models, that helps decision-makers visualize the impacts of
decisions and identify trade-offs and compatibilities among environmental, economic, and
social benefits. Still in beta, the model could be used to assess the environmental and social
impacts by quantifying the expected gains and loss of ecosystems services, or to develop
practical strategies to mitigate or minimize negative impacts. Food manufacturers could use
it to assess the environmental and social sustainability of their agricultural supply chains,
for example, by investigating water usage. Energy companies in the United States could
assess the impacts of shale gas production on local biodiversity or carbon sequestration.
Athirdopportunityistoincreaseexperimentationwithcommunity-ledandmarket-based
approaches, such as payments for ecosystems services, among other innovative solutions to
incent ecosystem-friendly urban growth strategies. Partners from different sectors, including
insurance companies, infrastructure firms, and local and national governments, can create
innovative financing mechanisms for natural infrastructure investment and maintenance.
For example, RE.invest is a new form of public–private partnerships that will help cities
package portfolios of investments aimed at building more resilient infrastructure. With
the help of leading engineering, law, and finance firms, the cities will be able to use public
resources more efficiently to leverage private investments in, for example, better storm
water infrastructure. In another example, Conservation International and the World Bank
have been involved in the Payments for Ecosystems program, which assigns a monetary
value to the services that ecosystems provide, and sets up a system of compensation for
communities, cities, and countries that care for them. In the case of urban coastal ecosys-
tems, the payments center on the poor in communities along coastlines.
Onthewhole,coastalcommunitiesofferanextraordinaryrangeofbenefitstothepeople
who live there. A shift to a broader view on productive ecosystems, the services they provide
to cities, and the role they play in resilience can provide for effective and economically
sustainable investment where appropriate, and ensure that poor communities who dis-
proportionately rely on the ecosystem for livelihood benefits are getting them. ✦
Residents plant beach
grass on protective sand
dunes in Breezy Point,
a Queens neighborhood
hit especially hard by
Hurricane Sandy. Following
the storm, the value of
coastal ecosystems and
natural infrastructure has
been prioritized, at least
temporarily.
A man rebuilds his
house amid the rubble
of destroyed homes in
the city of Tacloban,
Philippines.
For many cities, it’s
no longer a question
of whether natural
infrastructure should be
part of the solution —
it’s now more a question
of how to do it.
Vulnerable Natural Infrastructure in Urban Coastal Zones
10. 16
INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
A
lma Rosa was born into a hard working life in Santo Tomás, a small municipality
in San Salvador, El Salvador. At 17, she started work as a seamstress. Now, at
age 35, she earns the equivalent of about USD 60 cents an hour. She could have
earned much more working in a factory job, but she needs to stay at home to
care for her mother, who is seriously ill.
Rosa often wonders who will take care of her when she can no longer work.
After decades of 12-hour work days, at home, hunched over a small circular frame where she
churns out piece after piece of embroidered children’s clothing headed for North American
retailers, she has limited use of one arm and her hands ache constantly. But as an informal
contractor, she doesn’t receive health benefits or sick days and can’t afford to take a day
off or visit a doctor if not absolutely necessary. What’s more, home-based workers such
as Rosa can’t easily connect with others who do similar work and are therefore less likely
than factory employees, who are concentrated in one space and more readily organized,
to receive paid sick days, health care, or a retirement account.
Albertina Mundlovo, of Maputo, Mozambique, was also a home-based worker until the
physical toll of her corn-grinding business proved too much. The work required her to use
a mortar and pestle to pound the corn into meal, which she then sold to neighbors in the
evening. But a serious hemorrhage requiring surgery upended her business, and her sister
convinced her to take a less strenuous job as a domestic worker for a local family. Instead,
Mundlovo has discovered that her daily tasks are often more grueling and health-depleting
than grinding corn. Like many domestic workers, her wages are low; there are no medical
benefits, she is exposed to toxic cleaning agents, and her situation makes her an easy mark
for abuse.
Rosa (whose story was featured in an interview published by the Central America
Women’s Network) and Mundlovo (who was a case study published by the international
advocacy group Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing) are consid-
ered to be “informal workers,” the official designation covering 1.8 billion workers globally
whose economic activities are not regulated or protected by government, and who do not
receive the health care benefits and safety provisions available to the formal workforce.
Informality is no longer a fixture only in developing countries, but rather the global
financial crisis has pushed more traditionally corporate settings and larger employers to
FOR WORKERS OUTSIDE THE
FORMAL ECONOMY, HEALTH IS
THE FIRST CASUALTY
Health Vulnerabilities of Informal Workers
INSIGHT
Health Vulnerabilities
of Informal Workers:
More than 60 percent of
the world’s workforce is
in the informal sector,
and 70 to 90 percent have
few or no health benefits.
Accessing health
care requires leaving
work, which reduces
income and adds
health care expenses.
However, most informal
workers have few
resources — more than
one-third receive less
than $1.25 per day for
their labor.
11. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
1918
Dr. Jeanette Vega, the former managing director for The Rockefeller Foundation’s health
work and now a senior health official in Chile, finds this astounding. “It’s amazing because
the trend is that the numbers of informal workers are increasing. They are becoming the
norm rather than the exception.”
As such, Rockefeller Foundation Managing Director Michael Myers said that the question
is not how to make informal workers more visible in the traditional labor sense, but that
“instead, we should be reframing to think about who these populations are visible to — for
example, to their suppliers, clients, and customers, as customers and contributors to GDP,
as users of mobile technology and financial services, and to each other — and use those
channels as entry points for solutions that are consistent with the lifestyles of these workers.”
As an example, Myers cited the national efforts in India to bring HIV/AIDS education
and testing services to truck stops throughout the country. A 2013 study showed that more
than three-fourths of the truckers who were targeted with these services were likely to
wear condoms when engaging in commercial sex, versus only 65 percent who were not
targeted — an important step in curbing the spread of HIV in South Asia.
Another opportunity may lie in new partnerships and agreements with the businesses
that depend on informal worker productivity for their profits. The goal is to have more
companies recognize that their fiscal health is directly tied to worker health and well-being.
“The main benefit to them should be that this is a social investment,” says Myers. “but
there also is a simple business case to be made: If you invest to provide more favorable
working conditions, you will have a much healthier workforce, which means a much more
productive workforce for a longer period of time.”
As one example, in 2012, The Hershey Company debuted CocoaLink, a mobile phone and
SMS program connecting cocoa farmers in Ghana with information on improved growing
practices, child labor, and health. The increased access to information has allowed farmers
to cut their use of agro-chemicals that not only destroyed their crops, but posed significant
health risks, including impotence, when applied without proper protective gear.
Other partnerships of government officials, private funders, worker-led organization
staff, NGO leaders, and private insurers have been making some progress along two strategy
tracks: innovative population-level programs such as universal health coverage and worker
training; and worker-level programs that are smaller and tailored to specific categories
of workers and the regions in which they are based. Among some of the leaders, WIEGO,
the Self-Employed Women’s Association, and HomeNet Thailand have been effective in
organizing women to press policymakers for financial protection programs that meet
their needs.
Despite the challenges, there is a great opportunity to help informal workers improve
their own resilience. “The informal sector is a great driver of innovation, as workers by
nature must take risks and think creatively for their economic survival,” says Myers. “If we
can harness that power — and help more start-ups and small- and medium-sized enterprises
think about the safety and health of their workers from their earliest stages — we can begin
to dissociate informality and vulnerability once and for all.” ✦
Health Vulnerabilities of Informal Workers
In Latin America,
only about one-third
of domestic workers
have health insurance,
compared with three-
fourths of salaried
employees in private
organizations with six
or more employees,
and 90 percent of public
sector employees.
sub-contract and hire part-time workers to save costs, creating a growing group of informal
workers. In low- and middle-income countries, many employers prefer to operate in the
informal sector to avoid taxation and regulation, which makes it harder to regulate social
protections for workers.
As a result, most informal workers still have few options when they or their family
members get sick, as they are unable to take hours off of work to get medical care, and
have no funds to pay for services. Yet their living and working conditions make them more
vulnerable to illness and injury as compared with the general population.
Bearing the brunt of these problems are women, who make up the largest proportion
of the most vulnerable across all categories of informal workers. Many have been denied
opportunities for education and are forced into the lowest-paying jobs; they have special
health care needs during child-bearing years that go unmet; and they often suffer bodily
harm, as well as psychological and sexual abuse, due to societal norms, lack of regulation,
and gender discrimination.
Too many countries are ignoring informal workers through health systems that manage
to cover most other formally-employed people. In Latin America, for example, only about
one-third of domestic workers and non-wage workers have health insurance, compared
with three-fourths of salaried employees in private organizations that have six or more on
the payroll, and 90 percent of public sector employees.
CocoaLink connects
cocoa farmers with
important information
about improving farming
practices, farm safety,
child labor, health, crop
disease prevention, and
crop marketing.
Women make up the largest
proportion of non-agricultural
informal workers.
Africa
84%
63%
Asia
65%65%
Latin America
58%
48%
12. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
21
I
n Irvine, a popular suburb south of Los Angeles, a working mother and her four children
are forced out of their family home and into a subsidized apartment after a divorce
collapses the family’s finances. In Naperville, a well-to-do suburb west of Chicago, local
clergy meet to discuss the alarming increase in members of their congregations who
are facing financial crisis. In burgeoning Cobb County, a suburban enclave northwest
of Atlanta, a single mother loses her catering business and becomes a client of the
local human services agency.
To see the face of suburban poverty, you needn’t look further than the human interest
stories of every major newspaper in America. But while coverage has been plentiful, solu-
tions remain in short supply, partly because the issue is still not well understood, partly
because many would prefer to pretend it isn’t happening. A media audit shows that suburban
poverty has largely been invisible as a specific topic in reporting. The problem is also absent
on most philanthropic agendas: In 2011, barely 8 percent anti-poverty funding from top
foundations went to suburban-based organizations.
Suburban poverty is a trend that has been decades in the making. Fifty years since
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty, 16.4 million suburbanites have
fallen under the federal poverty line, and their numbers continue to climb.
The ongoing tally reflects a seismic shift that has taken place over the past decade:
The suburbs are outpacing the growth rate of urban poverty — 64 percent to 29 percent.
If trends persist, the suburban poor could number 24.5 million people by 2020, exceeding
the number of urban poor by more than a million. Already, there are more poor women,
single mothers, immigrants, children, and elderly in the suburbs than in urban areas.
More than 4 million of the suburban poor live in towns where more than 20 percent of
the population is poor. This is known as concentrated poverty, and it is associated with a
number of knock-on effects, including substantially increased crime rates, unemployment
levels, and rates of teen pregnancy and high-school dropouts. What’s more, it exacerbates
already existing racial inequality — non-whites make up 76 percent of those living in high
concentrations of poverty.
And while poverty is affecting suburbs across the United States, major metro regions
in the South and West have been hit hardest. In fact, nearly one-third of the suburban
poor live in only five metropolitan areas — Southern California, the New York City region,
Southern Florida, central Georgia, and Chicagoland.
INSIGHT
Suburban Poverty:
Because of limited
understanding of and
attention given to the plight
of the suburban poor, there
are few proven solutions.
But those that have been
successful have all worked
at a metro-regional level.
LUXURY SUVS AND FOOD
STAMPS: A NEW LANDSCAPE FOR
THE AMERICAN SUBURB
Suburban
Over the past decade,
the growth of suburban
poverty has outpaced
the growth of urban
poverty, 64 percent to
29 percent.
Suburban Poverty
Urban
Since 2008, there have
been more poor people
in the United States
living in suburbs than in
cities, and the number
continues to grow.
13. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
2322
Suburban poverty does not look the same in every region — making the problem all that
muchhardertosolve.Forexample,intheHoustonsuburbs,povertyhasincreasedby 4 percent
between 2000 and 2011, driven in large part by the arrival of low-income immigrants. In
Washington,D.C.,gentrificationandrisingcostsoflivinginthecityhavepushedmorepeople
out to the suburbs. In the Seattle metro area, poverty is on the rise due to a combination of
factors, including immigration, the economic recession, and growing income disparities.
But while the drivers vary by geography, the overall trend is driven by both poor people
moving to the suburbs and people in the suburbs getting poorer. And system failures — from
often-fragmented government jurisdictions, to limited public transportation options, to
structural discrimination — only exacerbate the problem.
For many suburban service providers, the initial shock of the increased caseloads and
the demand for services has evolved into recognition of the situation as the “new normal.”
But research indicates that poverty does not have to become a permanent, debilitating
feature of the suburbs. In contrast to poverty within American cities, the problem has yet
to become entrenched.
But keeping it from becoming so will require quick action. Fortunately, there is a coales-
cence of forces that indicate dynamism: an increasing interest in suburban poverty among
media, government agencies, and NGOs; the emergence of local interventions for suburban
poverty; and the changing nature of political power in the suburbs, particularly driven by
politicians’ pursuit of the Hispanic vote.
Catalyzing awareness and understanding of the new and changing spatial distribution
of poverty is important, in parallel with engaging key players at the metro-regional level to
demonstrate success stories that can be scaled across regions. For example, in Baltimore,
a specialized metro-regional voucher program works across sectors to help low-income
families access private-market housing in low-poverty neighborhoods through stream-
lined administration of rent vouchers paired with pre-move and two years of post-move
counseling. It includes access to employment and transportation assistance, along with
landlord education and other features. In Connecticut, the Hartford Region Open Choice
Program is a cross-district school integration model that allows suburban students to attend
public schools in urban areas, and vice versa, and supports inter-district magnet schools. In
Minnesota, a property tax pooling policy in the Twin Cities metro area promotes structured
metro-regional level development; it is the only policy to do this across counties.
With more philanthropic funding and attention, these programs could be scaled and
tested to other communities. A metro-regional framework allows solutions to address
regional trends, including labor market developments. But, most important, it helps to
mitigate the criticism that a focus on suburban poverty may distract from work being done
to end urban poverty — for in fact the two are closely connected.
By establishing a single table for the different, and often disparate, players in a region,
from multiple governments, to citizens, to nonprofits, businesses, and foundations — needed
dialogue and coordination can begin. What they’ll find is that cities and suburbs have more
in common than they might have thought — but by collaborating on shared problems, both
will be better, more inclusive places to live, no matter the ZIP code. ✦
Suburban poverty
does not look the same
in every region, but the
overall trend is driven by
both poor people moving
to the suburbs and
people in the suburbs
getting poorer.
To see the face of
suburban poverty, you
needn’t look further than
the human interest stories
of every major newspaper
in America. But while
coverage has been
plentiful, solutions remain
in short supply, partly
because the issue is still
not well understood.
In Connecticut, the
Hartford Region Open
Choice Program is a
cross-district school
integration model
that allows suburban
students to attend
public schools in urban
areas, and vice versa,
and supports inter-
district magnet schools.
Non-whites are significantly
overrepresented in suburbs
with high concentrations
of poverty, perpetuating
structures of racial inequality.
Suburban Poverty
76%
24%
Non-whites
Whites
14. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
25
W
hen her younger brother desired more land to breed his cows, per
Cameroon customs, Elizabeth Maimo had no choice but to hand over
her piece of property to him, reducing her yields and income by more than
50 percent. According to Maimo, in an article published by the Thomson
Reuters Foundation, the culture dictates that a woman who will ultimately
marry into another family has “no right to own a piece of her father’s land.”
Maimo’s story is not unique in the developing world, where millions of women —
including poor and vulnerable migrants, widows, victims of domestic abuse, and single
heads-of-household — often lack property because of their gender.
In cities, limited property rights affect more than 80 percent — about 1 billion — of
urban women. There are three primary reasons that women cannot fully exercise property
rights. The first is that about 350 million of these women live in countries where there are
unequal formal property rights, most prevalent in South Asia and the Middle East / North
Africa region. In other words, the laws and policies either do not exist, discriminate against
women, or are not inclusive of women. Another 300 million live in countries — primarily in
sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia — where cultural norms prevent equal property rights,
meaning that even when there are laws on the books, other forces keep women from their
rights in practice, whether it’s social pressure, threats, or legal systems that allow customary
law to trump statutory law in court. The final third live in countries where rights may be
equal, but women lack access to the tools and means to exercise them, from formal land
registration and official land titles to saving accounts and collateral backed loans.
Yet, as women begin to make up a greater portion of urban residents in developing
countries, there is additional urgency to improve women’s property rights in order to
safeguard their own economic and social agency, and the resilience of cities in general.
However, little funding and few programs exist to address urban women’s property issues.
Research and interviews with funders, practitioners, and experts revealed several key
observations, which can help guide future efforts.
For one, property rights are not just about access to housing — they’re also about
empowering the social and economic position of vulnerable women through less expected,
but equally important, channels. Property rights are typically associated with access to
housing, a critical need for urban women. Secure housing provides safe shelter and protec
tion from homelessness after divorce, widowhood, job loss, or other emergencies. But it
INSIGHT
Women’s Insecure
Property Rights: Today,
over 1 billion urban women
in developing countries lack
the ability to fully exercise
property rights and, as a
result, lack formal land titles
and savings accounts.
IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD,
PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR WOMEN ARE
ABOUT MORE THAN JUST HOUSING
Women’s Insecure Property Rights
As women make up
a greater proportion
of urban residents in
developing countries,
spikes in groups of
vulnerable urban
women — especially
migrants and the
elderly — drive an
urgency to improve
women’s property
rights in order to safe-
guard city resilience.
49%
7%
One study in India found
that 7 percent of women
who owned land and
housing experienced
domestic abuse, compared
to nearly 50 percent of
women who did not.
15. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
2726
Savings accounts
create greater social
agency and bargaining
power for women,
and often benefit their
families through
increased investment in
nutrition and school fees.
A young woman
runs a restaurant
in Juba, the capital
of South Sudan.
The income from
this restaurant helps
her to support her
family and send her
children to school.
Women’s Insecure Property Rights
also provides social and economic benefits. For example, one study in India found that
7 percent of women who owned land and housing experienced domestic abuse, compared
to nearly 50 percent of women who did not. Another study in Mumbai demonstrated that
secure housing could increase women’s weekly earnings from home-based businesses by
35 percent.
Another, perhaps less-expected, property right that emerged as a crucial resource is the
righttoeconomicpropertyand,specifically,savingsaccounts.Savingsaccountsinawoman’s
name offer a basic form of security and insurance by providing a confidential, secure, and
formal way to protect wages. These savings can then be drawn on in the case of unforeseen
circumstances. One study from Nepal showed that 78 percent of poor women who were
offered a savings account actively used it and, as a result, increased their monetary assets
by more than 50 percent. Savings accounts also create greater social agency and bargaining
powerforwomen,andoftenbenefittheirfamiliesthroughincreasedinvestmentinnutrition
and school fees. These women are also more likely to leave exploitative or dangerous jobs,
suchastheunregulatedfactoryworkthatmanyurbanwomenperform.Andunlikehousing,
a formal savings account is portable: It stays with the woman even if she decides to move.
Technology is revolutionizing the ability to access and claim property, but these solutions
may still leave out poor women. New, more accessible technologies, including affordable
GPS devices and open-source mapping platforms, are allowing anyone with a mobile phone
or internet connection to input occupancy and ownership information into a community
map. One standout example of community mapping exists in Kibera, a slum outside of
Nairobi, Kenya, where community non-governmental organizations and social enterprises
such as Map Kibera and Spatial Collective work. These organizations organize and train
slum dwellers to use hand-held GPS devices to create maps of homes and landmarks,
which gives them informal claim to their land and acts as “evidence” in negotiations with
municipal governments. Further, technology-enabled savings accounts, such as mobile
banking and smart cards, are creating more convenient, confidential, and effective ways
to save. But there is evidence that urban women are less likely to use technology-enabled
solutions than men. Therefore, the potential of these solutions will be best realized with
program design features that specifically incorporate women users.
While property rights for women are often framed as a legal issue, funders, governments,
and the private sector all have a role to play. Funders are in a position to pilot and evaluate
interventions to identify cost-effective solutions. As solutions become ready to scale, munici
pal governments will need to adopt policies that are supportive of women. The private
sector is also key, both in its role as an employer of women and as a provider of services,
including financial products.
Additionalresourcesandcollaborationamongstakeholdershavethepotentialtoidentify
effective,scalableprogramsthatcouldpositivelyimpacttheover 1 billionurbanwomenwho
are unable to realize their full potential because of insecure property rights. ✦
In Kibera, a slum
outside of Nairobi,
Kenya, social enter
prises train inhabitants
to use hand-held GPS
devices to create maps
of homes and land
marks, which gives
them informal claim
to their land and acts
as “evidence” in
negotiations with
municipal governments.
16. 28
INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
I
t’s a fact that’s hard to stomach: One-third of the food produced globally for human
consumption is either lost or wasted from farm to fork. Not only is this adding to the
food insecurity of 1.2 billion people, it’s devastating for the 470 million smallholder
farmers and 290 million people whose livelihoods rely on the agricultural value chain,
where post-harvest food loss reduces their incomes by at least 15 percent. Often, these
groups overlap in significant ways: Most vulnerable producers are also part of the
25 percent of households in the developing world that are food insecure.
Post-harvest loss and waste are two different problems. In the developing world, nutri-
tious food most often is lost to poor harvesting and storage practices. On-the-ground studies
have found the chief culprits to be lack of training and availability of local services to build
skills in handling, packaging, and storage; insufficient post-harvest storage facilities or
basic on-farm storage technologies; and unreliable access to markets.
In industrialized nations, the operative term is consumption waste. Shoppers are
attracted to that unblemished apple, which prompts store managers to put their pur-
chase decisions through a cosmetic filter. Of course, working to change the behaviors of
well-off consumers is not typically a priority area for philanthropies. Of the $260 million
directed by U.S. foundations to improve agricultural productivity, only $14 million — about
5 percent — goes toward reducing food wastage.
International donor agencies, national governments, international trade organizations,
for-profit food companies, and research institutions are developing practical and relatively
low-cost solutions to both food waste and food loss. These range from technological fixes
that would allow for more effective preservation and processing to expansion of emerging
markets under the expert management of commercial food companies to adaptation of
agro-processing techniques that create off-farm jobs, in addition to reducing loss.
Yet, even as innovations and technologies advance, the problem has been getting worse
over time. For example, loss of rice in Southeast Asia increased from about 14 percent in
1994 to an average ranging from 37 percent to 80 percent, according to a 2013 report from
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Meanwhile, food wastage in the United States
has increased from 30 percent in 1974 to almost 40 percent in recent years.
Across geographies, fruits and vegetables suffer the largest losses, accounting for
42 percent of loss and waste worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, roots and tubers are also
INSIGHT
Waste and Spoilage in the
Food Chain: In developing
countries, 90 percent of
wastage is from food loss
within the value chain.
It directly impacts poor
producers through foregone
income and impacts poor
consumers through reduced
food availability, increased
prices, and decreased
nutritional content.
Waste and Spoilage in the Food Chain
FOR SMALLHOLDER FARMERS,
FOOD LOSS HITS TWICE AS HARD
Food loss during the
harvesting period
directly decreases
saleable volumes by at
least 15 percent for the
470 million smallholder
farmers and their
families and affects the
290 million people
working downstream in
the agriculture industry.
One quarter of global
freshwater consumption
is used producing food
that is never eaten.
17. INSIGHTS 2014 Issue No. 1
3130
BY 2050
there will be
people
to feed in the world,
per year to meet
that new demand.
and require investment
of an astonishing
If food loss is
not reduced,
food production
will need to increase
by an estimated
$83
billion
7billion.
9billion
70%
22%more than the
2013 number of
Waste and Spoilage in the Food Chain
a significant source of loss. This removes the dietary diversity critical for human health.
Greater food diversity could decrease the incidence of stunting, which already affects
180 million children worldwide and can lower lifetime earnings by 22 percent.
Population forecasts paint what will be an increasingly dire picture without long-term
interventions. By 2050, there will be 2 billion more people to feed in the world. If current
rates of food loss persist, food production will need to increase by an estimated 70 percent
and require an $83 billion investment each year to meet that new demand. Yet reducing
wastagebyhalfwouldyieldenoughfoodtofeed 1 billionpeople,halfoftheadditionalmouths
expectedby2050.Andwhilesomewastageisinevitable,a50 percentreductionisachievable.
The root causes vary by degree across regions and crops but fall into three categories:
a lack of training and local services to build skills; poor postharvest techniques, tools, and
facilities; and inadequate market access. Research and interventions in developing countries
have largely focused on technology-based approaches, but donors have more recently taken
a wider market-based approach, which recognizes the importance of having sufficient
capability, capacity, and incentives along the entire value chain in order to reduce losses.
“The biggest problems the producer groups face are after the harvesting process,
especially transportation and storage,” says Mamadou Biteye, managing director of The
Rockefeller Foundation’s Africa Regional Office. For example, it might take days for the
goods to make it from the farm to a processing facility, and improper packaging may result
in damage. And then there’s the matter of storage — critical during periods when transport
may be impossible, like during the rainy season in Cameroon. Improperly stored, roots and
tubers perish quickly, and grain can create aflatoxin and other mycotoxins, which, while
avoidable, can cause liver cancer and a range of other health issues.
“The sad result is that growers are forced to sell their produce at very low prices. And
even in that situation, they can’t sell most of what they’ve grown, so most of it will rot,
and that is very hard on these people — very tough for the families to make any progress.”
The Foundation is exploring the opportunity to capitalize on market-based models for
low-cost, distributed storage, preservation, and processing technologies, and the expansion
of large commercial food companies’ operations in emerging markets.
One important aspect of the work, Biteye says, is to make policies already in place
more effective by learning from scaled programs in other countries that have been
successful. “We are testing the willingness factor on the part of government officials,
businesses and small-scale farmers to adopt these policies and practices and apply them
to make them work.”
Another critically important piece, Biteye says, is to develop more partnerships among
stakeholders in the food production pipeline to invest in practices that minimize food loss.
For example, fruits grown in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda were rotting because of the
inability of the growers to get the fruit to markets before spoilage. Government officials
convinced the Coca-Cola Company and TechnoServe executives to build a plant near the
orchards. “The company now has a fresher fruit source and a profit center, and growers
are able to sell most of what they grow at higher prices in a guaranteed market,” he says.
“We look forward to seeing this kind of approach replicated wherever possible.” ✦
During the search
process, The Rockefeller
Foundation conducted
a media audit to better
understand coverage
of each issue. The
Waste and Spoilage
search resulted in only
506 relevant articles
from the last 10 years.
Other issues yielded
closer to 1,000 each.
A Burundian
cyclist steers his bike
downhill, carrying a
heavy load of goods
to sell at market. One
chief culprit of waste
in the farm-to-fork
pipeline is unreliable
access to markets,
which can result in
spoilage before food
is sold.
TechnoServe,
a nonprofit that
focuses on developing
business solutions to
poverty issues, works
with smallholder
farmers, suppliers,
and big agri-producers
in the developing
world to boost incomes
across the supply
chain spectrum.
18. Editing Kerry Brennan, Traci Carpenter
Writing Doug Root
Photography Randy Olson: cover, pp. 10, 24,
32; Jonas Bendiksen: p. 5 (far right); Jerry
Clapis / CREC Communications: p. 23 (bottom);
Corbis: p. 7, 9, 17; FAO Mediabase: p. 29;
Dustin Franz: p. 20, 23 (top); Getty Images:
13, 14, 15, 18, 26 (bottom), 27, 30; Vincent
Long: p. 31; Jorgen Schytte / Aurora Photos:
p. 26 (top); World Education, Inc.: p. 19
Design Landesberg Design
Printing Broudy Printing
C Printed on FSC-certified and Rainforest
Alliance Certified™ paper, with 10% post-
consumer recycled content and certified fiber.
2013 SEARCH TOPICS: WWW.ROCKEFELLERFOUNDATION.ORG/INSIGHTS
Over the course of the last year,
The Rockefeller Foundation
embarked on research into the
following 11 topics, five of
which are represented in this
report. For a larger set of
research and resources, go to
www.rockefellerfoundation.org/
insights.
Suburban Poverty in the
U.S. Suburban poverty affects
millions of Americans and is growing
rapidly, significantly outpacing the
growth rate of urban poverty over
the last decade.
Mobility Systems and the Urban
Poor Rapid urbanization and weak
transport systems mean that millions
of urban poor in Asia and Africa
cannot afford or access safe options.
Long-Term Unemployment
Long-term unemployment in the
United States reached historic highs,
and the crisis persists even as other
parts of the economy have recovered.
Waste and Spoilage in the Food
Chain Waste and spoilage in
developing countries’ food production
is an intractable problem of global
dimensions, but it has hit those at the
lower rungs of the economic ladder
particularly hard.
Unhealthy Developing World Food
Markets Nations working mightily
to reduce high rates of hunger
and malnutrition now must contend
with preventable diseases that
have historically been tied to
convenience-food dependency in
wealthier countries.
Vulnerable Natural Infrastructure in
Urban Coastal Zones As precious
ecosystems along the coasts of
developing world cities are degraded,
the urban poor are increasingly in
harm’s way.
Constrained Opportunities in
Slum Economies Slum dwellers
face significant barriers that
restrict their income generation
and economic mobility, and limit
their access to affordable goods
and services.
Youth and Skills Driven by
long-term shifts in the labor market
and ongoing poverty and inequality,
youth unemployment has reached
its highest level since World War II.
Women’s Insecure Property
Rights Insecure property rights
make women less economically,
politically, and socially empowered,
and inhibit them from improving their
families’ health and well-being.
Degradation and Loss of Peri-Urban
Ecosystems Rapid degradation
of peri-urban ecosystems is resulting
in a loss of associated services like
water provision, storm- and waste-
water regulation, and protection from
natural disasters or erosion.
Health Vulnerabilities of Informal
Workers Hundreds of millions
of workers in the world’s informal
economy are denied basic social
protections, especially in access to
affordable health care, which puts
their livelihoods in jeopardy.
19. The Rockefeller Foundation
420 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
www.rockefellerfoundation.org
For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller
Foundation’s mission has been to promote the
well-being of humanity throughout the world.
Today, The Rockefeller Foundation pursues this
mission through dual goals: advancing inclusive
economies that expand opportunities for more
broadly shared prosperity, and building
resilience by helping people, communities and
institutions prepare for, withstand, and emerge
stronger from acute shocks and chronic stresses.
To achieve these goals, The Rockefeller
Foundation works at the intersection of four
focus areas — advance health, revalue
ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform
cities — to address the root causes of emerging
challenges and create systemic change.
Together with partners and grantees, The
Rockefeller Foundation strives to catalyze and
scale transformative innovations, create unlikely
partnerships that span sectors, and take risks
others cannot — or will not. To learn more, please
visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org/insights.