Search results for "outreach"
showing 10 items of 34 documents
The Past and Future of Innovations in Microfinance
2012
The microfinance industry carries every sign of an innovation in its take-off phase. The various aspects of the microfinance innovation were developed in the 1980’s, twenty years later the industry experiences a phenomenal growth rate, and it has diffused to most developing countries in the world. This review paper looks at microfinance as an entrepreneurial activity in its own right, contributing to the development of small and medium-sized firms in developing countries. We trace the innovations in microfinance, for instance group lending, loans to women, and their financing, and we ask whether the business model implied is sustainable once diffusion has gone far, competition enters, and c…
Playfully Coding
2017
This paper describes a framework for successful interaction between universities and schools. It is common for computing academics interested in outreach (computer science evangelism) to work with local schools, particularly in countries where the computing curriculum in K-12 is new or underdeveloped. However it is rare for these collaborations to be ongoing, and for resources created through these school-university links to be shared beyond the immediate neighborhood. We have achieved this, through shared resources, careful evaluation, and cross-country collaboration. The activities themselves are inspired by ideas from the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT, emphasizing playful exploratio…
Thoughts on What Chemists Can Contribute to Fighting SARS-CoV-2 - A Short Note on Hand Sanitizers, Drug Candidates and Outreach.
2020
Abstract The SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak causing the respiratory disease COVID‐19 has left many chemists in academia without an obvious option to contribute to fighting the pandemic. Some of our recent experiences indicate that there are ways to overcome this dilemma. A three‐pronged approach is proposed.
Exploring Postgraduate Socioeconomics Programs in Spanish-Speaking Countries
2019
Resumen En los últimos años las actividades sin fines de lucro han sido promovidas como un mecanismo alternativo para el desarrollo en el contexto de la situación económica mundial. Sin embargo, a pesar de sus potencialidades, esas actividades continúan siendo relativamente poco expandidas y requieren de ampliar los conocimientos sobre ellas. En este sentido la universidad puede convertirse en un generador y transmisor de saberes sobre el tema de economía social. Por esta razón, se plantea desarrollar un análisis de la oferta de programas de posgrado en Economía Social en las instituciones de educación superior latinoamericanas y españolas. El artículo presenta el proceso y los resultados d…
The Social Nature of Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases and How to Tackle Them Through Communication Technology, Training, and Outreach
2011
As world leaders prepare for the United Nations High Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases, to take place in September 2011, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and economic and business fora have created new alliances and initiatives to accelerate research, advocacy, and political commitment. This article argues that the time is propitious to reflect on the social nature of the most common behavioral noncommunicable disease determinants, including tobacco and alcohol use, physical inactivity, and unhealthy diet. Evidence is presented related to the fact that these diseases are profoundly rooted in social and community ties and points to the need for a modern com…
Do microfinance institutions benefit from integrating financial and nonfinancial services?
2017
This article examines the impact of microfinance ‘plus’ (i.e. coordinated combination of financial and nonfinancial services) on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Using a global data set of MFIs in 77 countries, we find that the provision of nonfinancial services does not harm nor improve MFIs’ financial sustainability and efficiency. The results however suggest that the provision of social services is associated with improved loan quality and greater depth of outreach.
Does competition enhance the double-bottom-line performance of microfinance institutions?
2020
Abstract This paper investigates how competition affects the double-bottom-line performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). While classical economic theory highlights that competition enhances efficiency and benefits both customers and firms, we argue that this is unlikely to apply to institutions operating in socially oriented industries, such as microfinance. Using a cross-country dataset of 4576 MFI-year observations (1139 unique MFIs) operating in 59 countries over a 10-year period (2005-2014), we find that competition has an adverse effect on MFIs’ economic sustainability and that competition undermines their breadth of outreach but enhances their depth of outreach. These results …
La vulgarisation scientifique et les doctorants : mesure de l'engagement, exploration d'effets sur le chercheur
2018
We ask two questions: what are the factors that influence researchers’ public engagement activities (PEA)? And what are the impacts of these activities on the researcher? After presenting a historical overview of PEA, we analyze 20 surveys carried out between 1967 and 2014. We identify some global trends: PEA is generally positively perceived, researcher’s engagement is occasional but robust. Besides those trends some differences appear between studies based on theoretical models and empirical studies: the latter report complaints such as lack of time or lack of recognition, whereas theoretical-based ones challenge these statements.To further explore our two questions, we used two approache…
Identifying Pathways to Computer Science : The Long-Term Impact of Short-Term Game Programming Outreach Interventions
2019
Short-term outreach interventions are conducted to raise young students’ awareness of the computer science (CS) field. Typically, these interventions are targeted at K–12 students, attempting to encourage them to study CS in higher education. This study is based on a series of extra-curricular outreach events that introduced students to the discipline of computing, nurturing creative computational thinking through problem solving and game programming. To assess the long-term impact of this campaign, the participants were contacted and interviewed two to five years after they had attended an outreach event. We studied how participating in the outreach program affected the students’ perceptio…
Diaspora diplomacy: Nordic and Baltic perspective
2020
The aim of the article is to offer a comparative overview of the latest developments in the Baltic and Nordic state diaspora engagement policies and outreach practices, and to further the understanding of the term diaspora diplomacy. In this article, diaspora diplomacy is understood as the use of Foreign Service, or other branches of government, to promote the systematic relationship, for mutual benefit, between the country of origin government, diaspora groupings in countries of residence, and the various interest associations in both the country of origin and country of residence. In addition to reviewing the diaspora outreach initiatives of the eight countries, the article also utilizes …