Congratulations to mPedigree, entrant in USAID's Development 2.0 Challenge, and 2009 Tech Laureate, as announced by the Tech Awards today! Tech Awards reports that this year's 15 laureates were selected from among 650 nominations representing 66 countries.

The Global Development Commons is delighted to hear reports coming in from far and wide that Maker Faire Africa went off without a hitch and ignited innovation in Accra, Ghana.

Maker Faire Africa (MFA), a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention, will take place August 14-16 at the AITI Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Ghana's capital, Accra.

The sign of success in foreign assistance is that “We are partners in building capacity for transformational change,” President Obama said in a recent speech in Ghana.

“Africa’s future is up to Africans,” he said.

Enhancing value chains to provide market based solutions to development challenges is a strategy that has huge potential to unleash business growth in untapped markets.

Maker Faire Africa (MFA), a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention, will take place August 14-16 at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Ghana's capital, Accra. This event is free to the general public.

VisionSpring brings eyeglasses, a basic, low-cost health product, to those who do not have access to vision care. Vision Spring employs a base-of the pyramid enterprise model, empowering local entrepreneurs to provide affordable products to their communities. Dr. Jordan Kassalow founded VisionSpring (formerly the Scojo Foundation). 
 

CareShop is a health franchise in Ghana started by Ghana Social Marketing Foundation’s (GSMF) for-profit subsidiary (GSMFEL). Franchise owners are local entrepreneurs who are trained in health and business so that they can sell low cost, over-the-counter retail drugs the people in their community. GSMF programs tackle treatment and prevention of malaria in children, deal with HIV/AIDS prevention, fertility management, adolescent reproductive health, and sanitation and reading.