The next weeks I will stay in Phuket and Bangkok. Touristic destinations, nice landscapes, dream beaches, swimming flower markets, colorful world, diving, fun. Holidays! But there is another world, too. Have you ever heard of the slums of Phuket? The environmental issues? The poverty in the homes for children and battered women? Not good…
Category: social impact
Development hubs- a huge opportunity for big business to create market places in India
Huge economic reforms have taken place in India since the 90s. Institutions have been created for more market effectiveness, regulations have been established to make markets work better. The agricultural sector has been opened up to global competition. The development of the third sector, the so-called service sector has been going up. The most…
From India’s mountain of waste to fashion
When I went the first time to India I was shocked by all the plastic waste on the streets, in front of the houses, in the Indian Ocean… Plastic bags, a thousands and thousands of plastic bottles, often combined with a bad smell. It does not just look ugly, but is the source for disease…
The Five Key Learnings to provoke innovative thinking and Empathy within your organization
Social thinking, inclusive capitalism, even innovation based on community engagement – these all are valuable, important and future- oriented trends which are widely discussed, also within companies of each size. We all like these ideas – not because we are becoming more social than before, but because it is widely known that there is a…
CSR and individual social engagement need to be concrete and simple
It is a strange symptom, but it happens to all of us: if we get used to a negative situation, be it that we observe that old people need to collect empty bottles out of the waste to earn some money, children who fail at school because they miss the right support or homeless people…
Two tailoring machines for tribal women – a small contribution, but a huge impact
We have made it. We have collected some money among friends and colleagues. Via betterplace, an online platform that helps to collect some money. Nothing special, nothing big. It takes just some time to describe the project and to ask friends to help. Even a few EUR make a big difference. In this case the…
Digital potential to combat poverty – there is still a big gap
Wherever I have been during my Indian stay, even in small tribal villages, while talking to people, it happened after a while: People came closer, interested to find out more on what I was doing with the smartphone. Nearly everyone of the younger generation (not just the youngest, but also men and women up to…
An accident, money lenders, misery. Poverty has many faces.
Sanyo is 29 years old. He lives in a small rural village close to Karamadai, a village with a very poor infrastructure. Drinking water is delivered every second week only via a pipeline system. Recently, a housing project has helped to give a better home to families – without leaking roofs and with…
Lakshmi, a woman who wants to discover the world and beautiful Valparai
Lakshmi is eighteen. She’ s still at school. Another year, then she wants to go to university – if possible at Coimbatore, a four hours trip from here. When I meet her the first time in Villoni, a very small and remote village in the surroundings of Valparai in the West Ghat mountains, a very…
Women education is key, but what about men?
Women education is key For change but not enough Everyone who is somehow involved in development issues knows that education is one of the basics to build a real sustainable progress in a personal life, a village, a region. Women are those who generally are known to be keen to learn. Women Are Social multiplicators…
Go India, go future! 