Impact of infrastructure improvements in India

Assessing reality of ‘trickle-down’ benefits of greater connectivity for rural households The challenge Increasing infrastructure investment is a key growth strategy in many developing countries; policy debates emphasise the ‘trickle-down’ benefits of such investment. However, there is a gap in our understanding of what type of infrastructure affects individuals’ ability to actualise such opportunities. It…

When bulldozers loom

Informal property rights and innovation in marketing practices among emerging-market micro-entrepreneurs Micro-entrepreneurs constitute the most common type of business in the world and marketing is the primary means by which they earn their livelihoods. In emerging markets there are a significant number of micro-entrepreneurs and many live precarious lives, characterised by poverty and potentially devastating…

Increasing the follow-up rate of patients requiring emergency high-consequence treatment

Improving poorer populations’ chances of getting necessary care The challenge A low attendance rate for urgent, high-consequence treatment is prevalent in the developing world. In poorer countries, ignorance about the illnesses people have, allied to the financial costs of attending for treatment, are two of the main reasons why they fail to show up for…

Mobile app intervention to improve child health in underprivileged Indian communities

Helping parents make better child nutrition and immunisation decisions The challenge Undernutrition contributes to more than half of all deaths of children under the age of five and is directly linked with economic development (Unicef, 2018a). Lack of immunisation is also a widespread problem in poor communities. Liquidity constraints can make food products unaffordable, resulting…

Workplace tools to reduce the wealth-based attainment gap

Helping workers from poorer backgrounds fulfil their potential The Challenge There is great focus today on providing equal-education opportunities for individuals from poorer backgrounds to help them attain socioeconomic mobility, thereby reducing the attainment gap and inequality. Organisations are the primary source of economic value-generation but, while some studies suggest that large organisations mitigate inequality,…