Stories
At GKI, we believe in the power of words to influence and inspire action. We actively pursue humility, curiosity, and reflection in our work as we share our insights, experiences, and resources with the broader community of decision-makers, change-makers, and practitioners.
Identifying the Next $100 Million Idea for Social Impact
Imagine that moment when you’re planning a financial investment. Investing in a high-potential offering, when it is still in early days, allows you to maximize the return on your investment. Now consider the pervasive challenges faced by the poor and vulnerable communities in the world. How might investors in solutions to those challenges identify investments…
GKI Facilitates a Global Network Innovating for Food Security
“Feed 9 billion people by 2050.” That was the invitation extended — our opportunity and our challenge — at the Thought for Food Global Summit. And who better to attempt to crack this behemoth problem than 300 creative and committed young entrepreneurs representing 100 countries? Putting method and an exciting structure to this challenge, the…
Waste Not, Want Not: The Challenge of Feeding Nine Billion People and the Innovations Making It Possible
The statistics on food waste and food loss are staggering. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has estimated that one third of all food produced worldwide is either lost (i.e., goes bad before it can be eaten) or wasted (i.e., thrown away). That adds up to an unimaginable 2.8 trillion pounds…
Potato Taste Challenge Prize Winner Identifies Method to Reduce Potato Taste Defect in Coffee
In a recently completed study, Joseph Bigirimana and a research team at the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) demonstrated a connection between controlling the notorious coffee pest, called the antestia bug, through organic insecticides, and reduced incidences of the Potato Taste Defect (PTD). In Rwanda and Burundi, as few as 2-3 antestia bugs per tree cause up to 45%…
Announcing GKI’s Third Year with MSU’s Academy for Global Engagement
The Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI) is proud to announce that we are beginning a third year of working with the Academy for Global Engagement (AGE) Fellowship Program at Michigan State University (MSU). AGE, which was created in 2013, seeks to enhance MSU’s global profile and impact by building the strengths and networks of a group…
GKI Implements Challenge Scoping Lab on ICT in Education in South Africa
How can a resource-constrained government determine what social or economic challenges it should take on, and when? Once the government has identified these challenges, how can it quickly establish systems for developing and implementing solutions? In 2015, the Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI) partnered with designer Mariko Takeuchi, the World Bank, and the South African government to help…
GKI Announced “Innovation Partner” to $130 Million YieldWise Initiative
(Contibutor: GKI Senior Program Officer Amanda Rose) Pursuing innovation — whether incremental or radical, technological or process-based — can be a risky undertaking. That’s because innovation requires a fundamental break from the status quo, demands vulnerability, and absorbs often-limited resources. But while innovation may be risky, it remains a global development imperative; without inspired creativity…
GKI at Fast Company: Insight Sourcing for New Solutions
When facing a world of challenges and opportunities—both those that are well known, and the many more that will come into prominence in the future—how do we choose where to devote our time and resources? One method to inform such choices, which the Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI) is testing with The Rockefeller Foundation: convening diverse, creative, and…
Photo Preview: GKI Kicks Off the Africa Great Lakes Coffee Support Program
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), Michigan State University, the Global Knowledge Initiative, University of Rwanda, and Institute for Policy Analysis and Research kicked off a 3-year partnership on coffee productivity in Kigali on October 13, 2015. Organized as part of the Feed the Future initiative, the Africa Great Lakes Coffee Support program (AGLC) aims to create…
The Global Knowledge Initiative’s Innovation Policy and Strategy Practice Grows: Rwanda Offers a Case Study
How do you know if a policy on science, technology, and innovation is working? What’s the best way to account for science’s role in a nation’s march to progress? How can you structure a new governing body to assure the contribution of technology and innovation to economic growth? Over the course of 18 months, the…