Topic: International Development

Social entrepreneurs discuss how they use for-profit activities to fund their organizations' missions in this session of the Skoll World Forum. These are done in combination with, and in addition to, nonprofit activities. From profitably of providing water to poor villagers to training street children to run business, and from franchising medical care to creating a transparent market place for handmade goods, these entrepreneurs show that business and nonprofit can mix well.

Do you think we can change the world by involving enterprise one hour a week? Al Jisr, and it's founder Mohammed Abbad Andaloussi, are convinced that we can. In this episode of Design for Change, host Sheela Sethuraman interviews Abbad Analoussi about his efforts to improve education in Moroccan schools by involving businesses. So far, over 100 corporations have adopted over 200 schools. They provide volunteers, support, and a real world perspective to students.

TerraNet hopes to bring cell phones to villages in developing nations. CEO Anders Carlius describes TerraNet's ad hoc GSM mesh networking technology and business model. He envisions local entrepreneurs rolling the technology out one village at a time.

Most Americans are unaware of the enormous progress Mexico has enjoyed since the peso's devastating collapse in 1994. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox highlights his country's opportunities to foster democracy, develop entrepreneurism, and promote alternative energy sources as it emerges as a world economic power. He addresses challenges, including a poor educational system, rapid population growth, and dwindling oil reserves. Sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation.

Latin America may be poised to become a much bigger player on the world economic stage, yet 54 percent of its citizens would choose an autocratic regime over a democratically elected government if it meant more jobs. Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo reflects on the challenge of democratic development and consolidation in Latin America in this dialog sponsored by the Stanford School of Education and moderated by Stanford sociology and political science professor, Larry Diamond.

The Industrial Revolution ushered in an era of technological change, leading to better standards of living for us today. Yet this progress has taken a toll on the non-renewable resources of our planet. Given the accelerated rate at which developing nations now follow in our footsteps in the exploitation of natural resources, how long will our planet be able to sustain such growth? Panelists Harriet Babbitt, Nancy Birdsall, Lawrence Summers and Cameron Sinclair discuss the meaning of, and ways to achieve, sustainable development.

Coffee price fluctuations over past decades have created extreme financial crises and long-term poverty for thousands of small-scale Latin American farmers. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation sponsored talk, David Funkhouser of TransFair USA, details how the Fair Trade movement arose as a market-based approach to poverty alleviation and international development. He discusses Fair Trade's function to offer suppliers fair, above-market prices, and TransFair's role in supporting that movement.

People in the developing world expend more than a quarter of their potential earnings on energy. Economic development, environmental health, and global stability all hinge on wise management of global energy resources. David Goldwyn and David Dollar paint a positive picture on what developing countries and governments in the west can do to improve energy use abroad and at home.

AIDS, malaria, and maternal mortality are some of the chronic public health issues that plague Africa. Invited to Stanford, Paul Farmer talks about how his Boston-based organization, Partners In Health, is spending donor dollars to bring the lessons garnered from its work in Haiti to scale up health care services in war-torn Rwanda. His organization seeks to fill the gap that exists between medical R&D and health care delivery so preventions and cures can be brought to more of the people who need them.

Ten years ago, "entrepreneur" didn't exist in the lexicon of many parts of the world. Now, thanks to the work of a nonprofit called Endeavor, entrepreneurs are emerging in countries where such activity was once impossible. Invited to speak at the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford, Linda Rottenberg shares how her organization has gone from a "crazy" idea of two business school graduates to an important engine for empowering entrepreneurs in Latin America and beyond.