I have long admired the work of the Mumbai NGO SPARC, led by the wonderful Sheela Patel. Working with India’s National Federation of Slum Dwellers, and in negotiation with state governments and the World Bank, they seem to offer almost a ‘third way’ between state and private provision of services. Last year, at a Skoll World Forum session organized by Volans, I heard Nancy Kete of EMBARQ talking and was blown away by her story of how they have revolutionized public transport in some of the world’s biggest cities.

It is always inspiring to come across an organization that seems to be involving other players and bringing in other resources and achieving results on a scale that is totally out of proportion to its own size, but there seem to be far too few of them compared to the overwhelming social and environmental problems we face.