May 07
In the context of our fragile economic recovery, the prices of food, oil and other commodities have risen again. In December of 2010, the FAO food price index reached its 2008 peak; sugar, oils and fats being among the agricultural products that most significantly increased. For instance, the price of rice rose by 127%: wheat …
May 03
According to a recent report by the World Bank, 75 percent of the world’s poor do not have a bank account. Use of formal banking, the system of official bank accounts set up within financial institutions, is pretty rare within the developing world, even for those who actually have the bank accounts. Ten percent of …
May 03
I consider myself a bit of a beer snob, shunning the classic college staple of Natty Light for the much more expensive—but much better—craft beers like Dogfish Head, Bell’s, and Devil’s Backbone, so when I came across an article about how craft brewing companies were improving Colorado’s economy it got me thinking. See, this article …
Apr 27
Read post in English El sábado pasado fui a Harvard para la Conferencia de Desarrollo Internacional (CID), como representante del Grupo SISGI. Los estudiantes de universidades de diversos países y muchas partes del mundo (América Latina, Asia) estaban ansiosos de tener la oportunidad de aprender de la experiencia de profesionales y académicos. Fue una conferencia …
Apr 26
I find North Korea to be a fascinating case study; I’ve read books about peoples experiences there (for class and outside of class), watched documentaries, and followed news coverage on the country for years. So when I saw an article about tourism in the DMZ I knew I had to write about it! Kim Il-Sung, …
Apr 24
This video continues my look at corporate social responsibility by analyzing more closely the one-for-one business model. In the form of a public service announcement , this video encourages consumers who buy one-for-one products to consider the social and economic ramifications of their actions. The video discusses one-for-one products from their purchase to their donation …
Apr 23
If you’ve had the chance to read my most recent posts, you know that the International Development Conference was held at Harvard earlier this month. I’ve written about some of the key takeaways from the education and women in development panels, but I wanted to write something about the overall conference and what I took …
Apr 19
Last Saturday I attended Harvard’s International Development Conference (IDC) as a representative of the SISGI Group. The IDC is an annual conference organized by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Students from many different universities and many parts of the world (Latin America, Asia) were eager to hear from the experience of professionals and academics. …
Apr 18
Read this post in English A menudo tendemos a hacer generalizaciones y simplificaciones sobre cuestiones mundiales. Mi área de investigación referente a la privatización del agua ha dado lugar a muchas preguntas interesantes, más que respuestas concretas. En parte, creo que estas preguntas pueden conducir a enangostar decisiones políticas para obtener resultados más adecuados. Lo …
Apr 17
The week of April 12th I presented a webinar on Corporate Social Responsibility as part of the Institute for Social Change’s Research and Learning Series. The webinar followed the themes I presented in my post “What Kind of Change are Companies Really Trying to Make?”. Social responsibility and humanitarian activism have become new concepts explored in …
