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Analysis
The SDGs and climate change: a chance to join the dots
2015 is a key year for the climate and development community worldwide. The process of defining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will hopefully culminate in …
Why we need a standalone SDG for women and girls
2015 is a critical year for gender equality. It is 20 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, where women’s rights were finally formally recognized as human rights and progress on gender equality …
Communities of practice and the multiplier effect
In 2006 – before the United Nations declared 11 October International Day of the Girl Child, before Malala Yousafzai’s courage brought her the Nobel Peace Prize, before anti-rape protests erupted in India – only a …
Plugging the leaking bucket of illicit financial flows in Africa
While millions of philanthropic dollars pour into Africa annually, billions of dollars in illicit financial flows (IFFs) leak out of the continent, mostly back to the global north. It’s like trying to fill a leaking …
Why philanthropists should not fund the arts
The recent Alliance special feature on arts funding in philanthropy, despite its broad view, fails to take seriously the fundamental question: should philanthropic funds be devoted to the arts? Remarkably, although many of the pieces …
Foundations and the SDGs: the ‘conspicuous absentees’ speak out
The philanthropic community has been ‘conspicuously absent from the SDG debate’, according to Kevin Watkins of the UK’s Overseas Development Institute, writing in the March 2015 issue of Alliance. However, as he suggests, the Sustainable …
The beginnings of venture philanthropy in the Arab world
In 2004, young Egyptians working in the development field set up Nahdet el Mahrousa (meaning ‘renaissance of Egypt’ in Arabic), the Middle East’s first incubator of early stage social enterprises. Nahdet el Mahrousa has since …
Audacious philanthropy for our time
Climate change is happening now, and women and children are the hardest hit. Women walk further when water runs out, and work harder for less when changing rainfall wreaks havoc on crops. Fourteen times more …
The SDGs: a shopping list that matters
Mention the words ‘sustainable development goals’ – or SDGs – outside the inner circle of UN officials, government representatives and civil society groups involved in drafting them and you are guaranteed one outcome: glazed eyes …
Philanthropy and the post-2015 development agenda
This year, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) come to an end, and all the world’s governments will agree on a Post-2015 Development Agenda and set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – as described by …
