Small rural communities are discovering they can generate sustainable income without compromising their traditions and culture. Visitors from around the world discussed ideas at the Rural Social Enterprise Gathering 2025.
Ukraine posts second highest number of climate-focused, blended finance transactions in the world in 2024 – and enters top 10 countries for the first time – as blended finance is identified as a “form of crisis financing” – new Convergence research.
The consensus text criticised for watering down corporate sustainability requirements had been approved by centre parties in committee last week, but MEPs narrowly rejected it in a plenary vote yesterday.
The Rural Social Enterprise Gathering 2025 will take place in Malaysia at the end of October, bringing together hundreds of social entrepreneurs to focus on the distinct challenges faced by communities outside the world’s urban areas. It will be about ‘sharing like family’, predicts one of the key speakers.
Social Enterprise World Forum was founded in Scotland. Now, the country’s government is backing a delegation to head to Taiwan to promote its social enterprise ecosystem to the world.
This week: the financial fragility of Black-led social enterprises and charities in London, a bonanza of multiyear grant funding for creative enterprises in Scotland and a bumper harvest of payouts for employee-owned veg box firm Riverford.
As Donald Trump pulls the plug on the world’s largest aid donor, the impact investing community warns the existing funding gap to meet the SDGs will widen by billions of dollars. But is China now poised to step forward?
Yes, blended finance has its flaws, but Mariana Mazzucato’s critical UN briefing creates a misleading narrative around its role, says Joan Larrea of Convergence. The approach’s real promise is not as a gap-filler, but a market enabler.
Can the DEI agenda survive Trump's attack? Davos's diversity problem and fund managers feel ‘squeezed’ by Better Society Capital. This week’s view from the Pioneers Post newsroom.
This week: Irish social enterprises test accreditation, AVPN and Latimpacto collaborate, a criticism of the UK government’s view of civil society, and more.
Independent review finds UK's social investment wholesaler has driven growth in lower-risk funds but frontline social investors say more catalytic capital is needed.
AI, natural capital, the Trump effect, this year’s G20, and the self-destruction of modern civilisation were all discussed at this year’s World Economic Forum annual meeting featuring Muhammad Yunus, Klaus Schwab, Steven Pinker and more.
This year’s World Economic Forum was sorely lacking in contributions from BME leaders, found Gosbert Chagula. What’s more, Donald Trump’s isolationist views are influencing others to ignore the climate impacts of their actions. This must change.
As the rich and powerful talk about saving the planet in Davos, President Trump is threatening to undo any progress made in the past few years. The impact community has many reasons to despair – but it still has the power to change the world for good.
