Britt Bravo is on a much-deserved vacation, so I'm stepping in for her to keep news and information about the social change web coming your way!

CARE is a humanitarian organization working to fight global poverty by serving individuals and families in the poorest communities of the world. CARE recently launched CARE Connections, a free, online community to connect you with others supporting global poverty work, women's empowerment, world news and more. You can learn more about CARE Connections, here.

By WeBuyItGreen:  promoting green living and fair trade

Buying products that pull producers out of poverty is not only good for the producers. It also benefits the consumer.

Happy St. Paddy's Day! In sunny FL, we've been up for hours waiting for you to wake up - we're hoping you'll spread the luck o' the Irish & vote for us here after reading more about our entry. Our original submission was a little less complete than we'd planned, but we've included many more details below, including examples, a use case diagram, an expanded list of potential data sources & shared services and many compelling statistics that illustrate why we believe this tool could have incredibly broad application & appeal, so read on:

THE WHAT?

Following up on a project proposal. The publication of a plan to offset the cost of major childcare reform with IT revenues in a full cost recovery program/

http://en.for-ua.com/analytics/2007/08/06/121201.html

http://en.for-ua.com/analytics/2007/08/06/121201.html

There's been a few lone voices advocating for business participationin poverty eradication over recent years. Today, in a conversation on the omidyar network, a critical mass seems to have gathered in a conversation which might at last prove to be the tipping point:  

http://www.omidyar.net/group/foodchain/news/207/

Bookmark the page, it might be part of social enterprise history in future! 

There are many sources for research into the plight of social orphans, ie those in institutional care due to economic circumstance. Today I found a summary of some of the more heavy reading: 

ORPHAN STATISTICS

The statistics will amaze you:
1. There are over 100,000 orphans in Ukraine.
2. The older an orphan gets, the chances for his/her adoption drastically decrease.
3. Each year many orphans between 15 to 18-years-old leave the orphanages.
4. Most of these orphans have no one to turn to for help.
5. About 10% of them will commit suicide after leaving the orphanage before their eighteenth birthday.
6. 60% of the girls will end up in prostitution
7. 70% of the boys will enter a life of crime
8. Only 27% of these youth will find work
These youth live in a country that labels them as “useless” and gives no assistance to turn their lives around. It is a society that has created its own problem by placing thousands of children in orphanages, and then when they come of age, they give them no assistance to lead a successful life. It is almost as if the system places them in trade schools to become “slaves of the State” to fill the low-income jobs of unskilled labor and remain the under-trodden, 2nd-class citizens that the majority of the population of Ukraine believe that they are.

Only by joining here, have I realised what tagging is all about and I'm sold. What a great way to get out a message.

My interests include the rose revolutions particularly in Ukraine, institutional childcare, modern day slavery, poverty reduction and social business.

So if anyone else  here is interested in these topics, I'd be glad to be part of your network

my username on del.icio.us is Jeff.Mowatt 

I was fascinated to read this article only today advocating a business led approach to the reduction of poverty and terrorism.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5632.html

In contrast, from our own website a paper from a decade earlier

http://www.p-ced.com/History/tabid/57/Default.aspx

And the relevance here:

http://www.netsquared.org/projects/proposals/targetted-economic-development-for-social-and-economic-empowerment