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Energy & Environmental Policy Global Policy Studies & International Security Multimedia Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

Defending the Colombian Páramos

Earlier this month, the Association of Tasco Community Water (ASOACCTASCO), the Tasco Youth Collective and the Peasant Integration Foundation (FINTEC) co-hosted the 2nd meeting of the National Defendors of Páramos in Tasco, Colombia. The conference brought together various grassroots organizations to discuss the harmful effects of area mining exploitation by multinational corporations and to unify […]

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Health & Social Policy Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

Monitoring and Evaluation at Save the Children

This summer I am working with Save the Children’s monitoring and evaluation team in the El Salvador office. For the past month, I have coordinated the midline evaluation of a package of programs focused on early childhood care and development. Over the last several weeks, four teams made up of surveyors and nutritionists have collected data […]

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Global Policy Studies & International Security Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

Innovating for Peace

This summer the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law is thrilled to be funding seven Crook Fellows, who will be interning at non-profit organizations devoted to development work all over the globe. The fellows will be blogging about their experiences in the field over the next few months, so be sure to check back for […]

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Economics & Trade Policy Energy & Environmental Policy Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

Limited Impact: Questioning Impact Investment

Last week, the Net Impact chapter at UT’s McCombs School of Business hosted a summit on “Business for Good,” with one panel devoted to social impact investing. Social impact investing is any form of investment that has positive effects for the broader community. It is hard to state a more precise definition, because “impact investing” […]

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Economics & Trade Policy Energy & Environmental Policy Global Policy Studies & International Security Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations Technology Policy

Doing Well and Doing Good: The Business for Good Summit

The McCombs School of Business Net Impact Chapter is hosting its 6th annual summit on business and social impact. Formerly called the Sustainable Business Summit, The Business for Good Summit has broadened its scope to address some of the more meaningful questions about how business can be used as a platform to affect social and […]

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LBJ School Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

Special Interview: Nina Munk on Jeffrey Sachs and the Millennium Villages Project

Stay in policy school long enough and you’ll notice the growing tendency to treat every problem as a four-dimensional Rubik’s cube just waiting for the right solution. Development studies, in particular, can often fall into the trap of trying to solve a macro phenomenon before fully understanding local economic and political conditions. This is a […]

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Health & Social Policy LBJ School Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

LBJ School Students Help Count Austin’s Homeless Population

While some students spend their Friday nights at bars, a group of LBJ School students recently spent theirs counting homeless people in South Austin. Twelve LBJ students braved the cold weather Friday, Jan. 24th to volunteer for the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition’s (ECHO) annual Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. Students drove, walked, and hiked through South Austin […]

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Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

World Bank Report Misses Needed Substantive Analysis for Crowdfunding’s Potential in the Developing World

Recently (October, 2013), InfoDev, a program of the World Bank, commissioned a study on crowdfunding’s potential for the developing world. This is an important report because, to the best of my knowledge, it’s the first on crowdfunding as a tool for development commissioned by the World Bank or any entity of similar international authority. While this […]

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Energy & Environmental Policy Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations Technology Policy

SXSW Eco Wrap

Much like the music, film and interactive iterations of the conference, SXSW Eco attempts to bring together like-minded thinkers from just about every corner of a specific realm – this one being the environmental. Now in its third year, the Eco conference seems to be making the transition from a platform for innovators to get […]

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Global Policy Studies & International Security Multimedia Philanthropy & Non-Profit Organizations

Podcast Interview with New Strauss Center Director Bobby Chesney

Host Andy Uhler interviews the incoming director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, UT Law professor Bobby Chesney. [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114424414″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]