1 From Innovation to Social Impact
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technology in the energy and health sectors. Mobile technology can be transformative. For instance, mhealth apps can help upscale health programmes for prenatal care.
It can also raise awareness about the risk of contracting malaria and smart phones
can now diagnose pneumonia via diagnostic devices (Ettinger et al. 2016; Friedman
and Karlen 2015). Mobile technology can also leverage social impact in the financial
sector by providing remote banking services for rural low-income communities and
information for farmers about fair market prices (Martin and Abbot 2011).
1.3 Remaining Challenges
However, as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, many needs
are yet to be met in the Global South.
6 Human development has been uneven, as
progress has bypassed many communities; others have merely managed to ensure
basic human needs. Even though poverty has been reduced massively over the past
25 years, poor nutrition still causes 45% of the deaths among children under five.
Stunting and other delays in physical development are still very common in children
in developing countries. Yet, a third of the world’s food supply is wasted each year.
By reducing this figure to 25%, 870 million more people could be fed. Unless the
deprivation is addressed, 167 million children will live in extreme poverty by 2030,
and 69 million children under five will die of preventable causes. These outcomes
will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the capacities of future generations. 114
million young people and 644 million adults still lack basic reading and writing
skills. Persistent deprivation is observable in various aspects of human development.
Yet, the income gap continued to widen in 34 of the 83 countries observed between
2008 and 2013. In 23 countries, the poorest 40% saw their income decline; and
yet, alarmingly, income growth has been particularly pronounced at the top rungs
of the income ladder—in other words, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
Approximately 46% of the total increase in income between 1988 and 2011 was
attributed to wealthiest 10% of the population. Since 2000, 50% of the increase in
global wealth benefited only the wealthiest 1% of the world’s population; only 1%
went to the poorest 50%. Global wealth has become far more concentrated. In 2000,
the wealthiest 1% of the population held 32% of global wealth. This increased to
46% in 2010 (UNDP 2016). Not surprisingly, new development challenges have
emerged and/or deepened, including climate changes, conflict, and desperate migration (UNDP 2016).
6 http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/.
5
technology in the energy and health sectors. Mobile technology can be transformative. For instance, mhealth apps can help upscale health programmes for prenatal care.
It can also raise awareness about the risk of contracting malaria and smart phones
can now diagnose pneumonia via diagnostic devices (Ettinger et al. 2016; Friedman
and Karlen 2015). Mobile technology can also leverage social impact in the financial
sector by providing remote banking services for rural low-income communities and
information for farmers about fair market prices (Martin and Abbot 2011).
1.3 Remaining Challenges
However, as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, many needs
are yet to be met in the Global South.
6 Human development has been uneven, as
progress has bypassed many communities; others have merely managed to ensure
basic human needs. Even though poverty has been reduced massively over the past
25 years, poor nutrition still causes 45% of the deaths among children under five.
Stunting and other delays in physical development are still very common in children
in developing countries. Yet, a third of the world’s food supply is wasted each year.
By reducing this figure to 25%, 870 million more people could be fed. Unless the
deprivation is addressed, 167 million children will live in extreme poverty by 2030,
and 69 million children under five will die of preventable causes. These outcomes
will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the capacities of future generations. 114
million young people and 644 million adults still lack basic reading and writing
skills. Persistent deprivation is observable in various aspects of human development.
Yet, the income gap continued to widen in 34 of the 83 countries observed between
2008 and 2013. In 23 countries, the poorest 40% saw their income decline; and
yet, alarmingly, income growth has been particularly pronounced at the top rungs
of the income ladder—in other words, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
Approximately 46% of the total increase in income between 1988 and 2011 was
attributed to wealthiest 10% of the population. Since 2000, 50% of the increase in
global wealth benefited only the wealthiest 1% of the world’s population; only 1%
went to the poorest 50%. Global wealth has become far more concentrated. In 2000,
the wealthiest 1% of the population held 32% of global wealth. This increased to
46% in 2010 (UNDP 2016). Not surprisingly, new development challenges have
emerged and/or deepened, including climate changes, conflict, and desperate migration (UNDP 2016).
6 http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/.