charity: water provides clean water through sustainable solutions

charity: water is a non-profit organization with the mission to “bring clean and safe drinking water to every person on the planet.”  Since 2006, they have funded 9,015 water projects in 20 countries, providing 3,300,000 with clean water.  They achieve this through finding strong local partners at the sites where they are providing clean water, creating sustainability, and providing education and community empowerment.  charity: water is providing a sustainable solution that enables the community that they serve.  Their approach includes four steps: Planning, Implementation, Maintenance, and Proving It.  Just looking at the Planning stage, it is apparent that charity: water’s success lies in their ability to work from the inside out, creating empowerment for the community.

During the Planning stage, charity: water selects partners by examining how well the organization aligns with the mission of charity: water.  They assess the quality of water, water hardware, and sustainability.  They examine the partners’ ability to use funds effectively by looking at their operational capacity and fiduciary responsibility.   Partners choose a water point locations through the assessment of need and based on geography.  They consider different factors including: risk of overlap with work of other organizations, community’s willingness to participate, and potential to develop strong relationships with local stakeholders.  charity: water considers only community-centered organizations who are in tune with what the community can realistically support and sustain.

Their human-centered approach is effective because they have identified the best practices for involving a community through providing education on clean and safe drinking water, while supporting this through building relationships with strong partners who have an extensive knowledge of implementing these water projects.  Is charity: water changing the way that philanthropic organizations bring and support change?

Find out more about charity: water

Google and Solutions for the Changing Basic Human Needs

This week's reading included two articles that really resonated with me, "Where In The World Are The 1.2 M Raspberry Pi Microcomputers? Mostly in the West- But Pi Founders Want More Spread This Year" (Tech Crunch), and "On Sale For $150: One Laptop Per Child Is Now A Touch Screen Tablet" (Fast Company). The reason that they resonated with me was because it shows that basic human needs might be changing as the world is changing. Access to technology is becoming a need, even though, "In some parts of the developing world, kids have far less use for laptops than clean drinking water, working toilets, and a good deworming," according to the Fast Company Article. It seems as though there needs to be some justification for providing children with access to technology and a discussion I had with my group mate Shawneil launched us into the topic of innovators being demonized for providing technology to students and charging for that technology. As the world changes, so do the needs of the humans living in the world, and for me this was most evident at the Thrival Innovation and Music Festival held in Pittsburgh last weekend. During the festival, I was engaged in conversation with a Google staff person and was told that Google will be hosting an event, "Black Girls Code," the weekend following Thrival and that it was a response to the  lack of technological skills that are shown in the black community. I know that America isn't a developing country, but certain regions in America  lack access to technology just as much as children in developing country (however, there might be access to classroom computers). The discussion with the Google employee bemused me because it was evident that equality for all people means access to the things that are considered a necessity: food, water, shelter, safety, education, and now, access to technology. The needs of people in developed countries and areas should be considered the needs of people in developing countries and areas. I believe that access to technology through One Laptop Per Child, for example,increases the opportunity for everyone to be a leader and contribute to social innovation. Technology should now be considered a need and the list of needs will likely continue to expand and diversify as time and human achievement propel.

By the way, a great resource in America to help improve technology to American children is scripted.org (which I might blog about separately at a later date).

The third leg of the race

What does it take to succeed in this world? While no doubt there are as many answers to this question as there are people in the world (probably more) for the purposes of this post we'll use my answer because, well, I can. And because I do believe that it does an alright job encapsulating what many would say.

In short, success in this world requires three things:
1. The will or motivation to do better, to succeed
2. The ability to in fact do better for yourself
3. An appropriate way to know when you're moving closer to success

As this relates to conversations and readings regarding the solving of the world's problems, particularly the problems of people living in poverty and deprivation, it's not hard to see how the first requirement is satisfied. Although I don't have any hard evidence on me at the moment, I feel pretty comfortable saying that most people who find themselves without reliable food and water, without adequate shelter, and/or without a means of sustaining their way of life (like regular income, for example) want not to be without those things. They want to do better. They are motivated to succeed. And with improved communication technologies thanks to the last 100+ years, many in industrialized nations have learned of the details of these problems and are increasingly motivated to do better by those in need as well.

The second requirement is (if the most recent articles are anything to go by) the hurdle that many social innovators are trying to address today. In the past 15 or so years, our world has seen an astounding democratization of capital as the means of achieving stability in the areas mentioned above (and more than that, achieving a more or less Western-like life) are increasingly distributed and accessible throughout the world. From sustainable, local energy production companies and self-adjusting prescription glasses to open source manufacturing designs and $25 microcomputers, barriers to one actualizing one's own success (as opposed to surviving dependent on UN handouts) are falling left and right. Yes, issues of coordination and distribution remain, but it would seem things are moving in the right direction.

That leaves the third and final leg of the race, and something I think is still inadequately addressed much less understood: measurement. This is not to say that contemporary social innovators and do-gooders of all stripes aren't measuring what they're doing. On the contrary, there's nothing sexier right now than metrics, analytics, and data visualizations. The Raspberry Pi folks, for example, have a global map tracking where all of their microcomputers go, letting them know quite effectively if their product is reaching less-industrialized regions as they would like it to. No, measurement as a general concept is not the problem.

What still poses a problem is the dearth of "appropriate" measurement. So much of the data collected today for projects and products addressing world problems are intended to inform (largely Western) investors and the project managers on the ground. But what about meaningful feedback for the individuals and communities working to pull themselves out of poverty? At what point in the process did those distributing capital (physical or ideational) ask those they claimed to be helping "What makes sense for your life and who you are?" or more importantly "How do you define success and what would you like to do to get there?" In short, how intentionally do we involve the people we claim to be helping in determining the measurements of their own success? How often do we simply try to recreate the Western model for improvement and wellbeing with a dash of local flavoring?

There are indeed examples of how this is being done well, and something I intend to think about and discuss further in later posts. But I feel it's important that we not only question the answers we are working toward but the questions that are at the foundation of our inquiry as well.

Get Involved in Social Innovation!

Many of the innovative products created by social entrepreneurs seem like obvious solutions, but anyone who has been involved in the development process is well-versed with the countless obstacles encountered between an initial idea and its implementation. A venture requires a combination of creativity, technical know-how, fundraising ability, and sheer persistence to even have a chance of being successful and sustainable. Unfortunately, there are too few opportunities for the next generation of social innovators to hone their skills in a (relatively) risk-free environment. Over the past decade, Dell has been working to provide a forum to aspiring student entrepreneurs through the Dell Social Innovation Challenge (DSIC).

The challenge allows teams of college students to submit project ideas in any of the four stages of planning: Define, Design, Pilot, or Scale. Separating an innovation’s progression into these categories illustrates the value of the contributors at each level to the overall process. Someone with significant knowledge of social issues and creative ideas to fix them may not have the technical skills to translate their idea into a feasible product. Likewise, those with the skills to create a product may not be the ones that have the initial spark of inspiration. And even with a great idea and the ability to turn the idea into a product, an innovation could easily fail without a feasible business model based on current market trends. Dell’s challenge emphasizes each of these aspects, encouraging individuals with a diverse range of skillsets to collaborate with the shared goal of curing a social ill.  As an added bonus, teams chosen as winners receive benefits ranging from access to funding and mentorship opportunities to cash prizes, not to mention the exposure given to their projects through the challenge.

Past participants of the Dell Social Innovation Challenge have created products that reduce food waste, lower pollution levels, improve health care, and promote the use of renewable energy. The current challenge focuses on the U.S. education system, which is currently in great need of reform, as well as women's empowerment. It is clear that this challenge is valuable to both the participating students and the communities which benefit from the successful projects. How can more programs like this be developed to reach an even greater range of students, and how can we encourage more people to get involved?

To learn more about the Dell Social Innovation Challenge or to get involved, visit: http://www.dellchallenge.org/ or connect with DSIC on Facebook or Twitter. 

Learning through a hole in the wall

A common topic in the education world is how pedagogical methods should evolve based on changes over the past century. Knowledge rates in the United States are very poor given the amount of money we spend on education. At the same time, many disadvantaged children in developing countries have limited, if any, options to attend school. There are many suggestions to address these topics, and Sugata Mitra has proposed one of them.

In Mitra’s TED talk, he describes his explorations with rural Indian children and computers. He provided some Tamil-only speaking children with a computer built into a wall in a village. Without any directions, he left them with the English based device for a couple months. When he returned, they asked for a faster processor and better mouse.

He brought the experiment further and tested the children’s knowledge on biotechnology (0%). He downloaded some relevant documents and left them to the computer again for a couple months. The children’s knowledge level increased to 30%. He then brought in a ‘grandmother’ type role where someone would encourage the students and ask basic questions. A couple months later, the children had mastered 50% of the biotechnology material and taught themselves English.

Building off of these discoveries, Mitra continued to experiment and now promotes self-organized learning environments (SOLE). He would like to build a school in the cloud where children self-educate with the encouragement of virtual ‘grandmothers’.

Between SOLE and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) movement, it seems that there are great possibilities for education around the world. However, I question the scale to which this method can be successful. Will it work for all students or only the ones who are inherently motivated? Will some students need more structure than Mitra’s method?

Regardless, information is powerful and vast information can be provided via computers. Both SOLE and OLPC are strong examples of social innovators in education and it’s hard to imagine surpassing their accomplishments. Communities and institutions should support their endeavors, but also monitor their success. Perhaps there are other solvable gaps that have not been addressed. As we watch OLPC and SOLE grow, we must also watch for the areas that continue to lack improvement. Probably, we need a cumulative effort of initiatives to meet all the needs of education.

Classrooms for the World

Having met Mr. Salman Khan online during my first semester at CMU I was ecstatic to know there was someone out there who will tutor me at any time of the night and day and really make it worth my educational while.  My enthusiasm was sky high and my confidence was restored.

Pause, play..rewind.

1 man, 1 computer, 10 million students.  To me that is sheer brilliance and I highly benefited from this mans efforts.  Even the simplicity of drawing a supply demand graph.  I did not know where to begin!  Going back to school at a much later age and never taking an economics class in undergrad was a wake up call.  I needed something and I needed it fast!

The business model was simple yet effective and now such models are taking on larger efforts in other ways.
Exposing education to the world is one thing, making it available to those who are in remote locations is another.  IDEO.org has partnered with Digital Green and are helping farmers become more aware of general gardening practices, ones that will enable them to be successful at their own trait and flourish with the crop financially.

https://www.ideo.org/stories/kicking-off-with-digital-green

Rural India is the foundation of farmland, the trade is handed down from generation to generation.  Some kids leave home to work in the 'big city' while others remain only to provide comfort and support to their roots.  Being a very 'green' project, its effectiveness has already provided more enthusiasm for these farmers to learn, but also grow with each season.  With tools and software showing the farmers the basics to new farmland care, this effort is enabling each farmer to save time and money and most importantly to share their own trade secrets with others.  Sharing of knowledge and accessibility of that knowledge will make this effort similar to Salman Khans, Khan Academy.

People have a tendency to give up and move on, but if there are resources present and a strong team devoted to the effort then the possibilities are endless as are the farmlands of rural India.

What's Missing in the Flipped Classroom?

Khan Academy is an astounding social venture. Providing various curricula to 10 million students across the globe, Salman Khan has changed the education landscape in a way no individual ever has before. Khan Academy made the term the "flipped classroom" possible. The flip refers to the fact that in a normal classroom you learn concepts by listening to a teacher and applying that learning at home via homework; in this new model you listen to learn concepts at home using online lectures and apply your learning in the classroom with a teacher present to help you along the way.

This model has a variety of implications for students worldwide. First, students can learn at their own pace. Second, it minimizes the amount of time in class taken up with simplistic questions; students can fill in their own educational gaps by using secondary lectures available on Khan. Third and most importantly, teachers can be present during the critical moments of learning, as students change concepts into workable applications.

But what it there isn't a teacher on the ground helping students to apply their knowledge? What does this model overlook?

One teacher, millions of students. As a former educator, this spells disaster in my mind. A lot of meaningful learning happens in conversation and in relationship with others. Just because you can pick the right multiple choice question does not mean you understand. It CAN mean you understand, but that possibility does not negate the other possibility - that you are merely regurgitating information. Many educational models exist as counterpoints to Khan Academy:
Deep Springs
Montessori
Waldorf
And even a initiative local to Pittsburgh:
Saxifrage School

These models focus on learning as well, but provide a fertile environment for other ancillary learning:, e.g. community building & real-world application, which Khan Academy simply cannot provide on its own.

I stand by my assertion that Khan Academy is astounding, (both in its scope and depth), but I believe it should be seen as a tool. A tool from which even the models listed above could benefit. Khan is being touted as a panacea to the educational problems we face the globe over, but it will never be able to replace a group of people, face-to-face, learning together.

LET THERE BE BIOGAS

Energy is the primary and commonly shared issue of the developing countries. There has been talk on alternate energy options for the larger part of the world without electricity and other energy driven amenities, utilities or comforts. We hear a lot about solar and wind, which again is an expensive prescription for the poor countries. But on the other side, almost all developing or undeveloped countries have agriculture and cattle farming as the major sectors in the large rural areas they comprise of. The farm waste can be used for a renewable energy source – biogas.

What is biogas – it is a gas produced from organic matter, it can be produced from recycled waste and is environment friendly. There is hardly any huge investments attached to this mode of energy generation and it is effective in a way that it also takes care of all the farm waste, which would have needed extra cost for its disposal.   

There are few developing countries which have already started working on this idea, and the province Punjab in Pakistan is one such example. In the recent four to five years there has been a noticeable growth in biogas plants in the rural areas of Punjab. Local communities, non-profit organizations and the government – venturing for this new product, are creating awareness among villagers, training them and helping setting up biogas plants. Energy from these plants is being used to run tube wells, operate rice mills, backing power for food processing plants and electrifying villages. Thus, biogas is supporting both economy and community, resulting in sustainable social development that could be further replicated and subsidized by all developing countries. This economical renewable energy option will help developing countries ear carbon credits in addition to responding to their major development issue of energy-shortage.

References:

Definition of biogas:       

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas

Supportive reading with reference to Pakistan:     

http://tribune.com.pk/story/575813/bio-gas-programme-makes-life-easier-for-rural-punjab/

The most beneficial and magical cone for Human

Think about this situation. A castaway is dying in a desert island because he couldn't find drinkable water although the island are surrounded by tons and tons of seawater ironically.

But, if this poor man has 'Watercorn' by Stephan Augstin, he can survive because this cheap and simple corn could produce pure water from seawater without a complex mechanism and expensive filter just like a blessing of God.

Yes. This is a true blessing not from God but human. However, Unlike usual human's artificial things, it's almost a perfect creation. First, 'Watercorn' is very durable. This 23 to 31 inches clear polycarbonate cone has the solidity to keep itself from an external shock and the simple principle (Evaporation) to make water doesn't seem to be broken. Second, it's easy to move and handle since it's very light in weight. So, people can bring and send this wherever the place needs easily. Third, It's very cheap. For commercial purpose, the facility for distillation requires many devices and huge amount of money. But, making 'Watercorn' only take affordable price which could be spread widely. lastly, It's purely functional. One unit could produce 1.3 Liter daily which is the recommended  amount of water for a children although it is depended on a basic and natural phenomenon.

As a result, this is the one of most successful case to focus on the basic and critical human's need under the serious environment and figure out a fantastic solution with Human Centered Design Method. Personally, I'm still remember the moment I saw this first since I got shocked. Before 'Watercorn', I had always imagined high-tech is best way to improve our life, however, I realized we can do many things with limited techs and the matter is not tech and money but our interest about a neglected class of  people.

So, in the last semester, I and my labmate Meng shi (MTID 2013) tried to make a similar version of this. We want to add sustainable method to purifying water by self-purification of land. Also, we wanted to make this more compact size and cheap with an inflatable martial. It's just idea, but someday I like to make a real one. Of course, it's one kind of hommage for 'Watercorn'.

Fish Food: Tilapia farming as an innovative enabler

When we talk about social innovations to deliver basic human needs, probably the most obvious topic is providing substantial nutrition to those with meager financial assets. In many developing countries, malnutrition and food insecurity are widespread and tend to catalyze other social problems, such as disease, or inability to work due to fatigue. Further complicating the issue is the fact that many developing countries are resource poor--either naturally, or due to poor resource management--and the ability to produce a sufficient nutritious food supply is often lacking.

In recent years, aquaculture (as opposed to agriculture) has grown in popularity as a way to bring food security to resource poor nations. The most common form of aquaculture has been the establishment of tilapia farms in villages and communities across the globe. Tilapia farming is simple, cost effective and provides both good nutrition as well as economic opportunities to the families that run the farm.

Construction of a tilapia farm

The basics of tilapia farming are as follows: a small farmer, or perhaps an entire community, constructs a series of basic small ponds (about 200-300 square meters) that are connected by small canals. The ponds are simply dug out of earthen ground and require little to no investment, other than labor and basic tools. They are then stocked with tilapia fingerlings, which cost about $1.30/kg. Tilapia are hardy fish that reproduce quickly, which makes maintaining an ample supply relatively easy. Feeding the fish can be reasonably inexpensive as well, as farmers can just add compost and manure to a pond to fertilize the water, which produces plankton for the tilapia to eat. The fertilized water can also be supplemented by a variety of feeding options for the fish--such as rice bran, table scraps, and green leaves--that require little additional cost.

The ponds can be stocked with approximately 3-5fingerlings per square meter, meaning a 500 square meter project can provide 2500 fish or so. It takes about 4-6 weeks for the fish to grow to consumption size, at which point they are ready to be eaten or taken to the market to be sold. The income generated from the fish can help cover operating costs of the pond and allow the farmer to sustain and perhaps even grow his venture.

Many non-profits and aid groups have supported tilapia farms in various countries as a way to provide sustainable food and income at a low cost. A financial analysis of a tilapia farm project in Mozambique found that a 500 square meter pond, stocked with 2500 fingerling, would have a cost of $950 USD and would generate $3000 USD in revenue (for one production of tilapia). Extending the project for multiple cycles is extremely feasible and, unlike traditional agriculture, does not drain natural resources. In fact, tilapia farms can enhance traditional farming methods by providing new sources of fertilization.

Tilapia farming, at its core, represents the notion that a social innovation does not have to be wholly new. Farming is most certainly not a new concept, and neither is the act of raising fish to sell. However, taking that act and applying it in a way that enables it to bring social change to many populations that struggle to find adequate nutrition is a model of innovation that has proven quite successful.

Sources:
1. http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.echocommunity.org/resource/collection/E66CDFDB-0A0D-4DDE-8AB1-74D9D8C3EDD4/Fish_Farming.pdf
2. http://www.unuftp.is/static/fellows/document/alda08prfa.pdf

Do most needed people have access to effective solutions and enablers?

In the readings of this week, most solutions are creative and relatively cheaper than other commercial products. You can buy a touch screen tablet for just $150, get a pair of glasses for about $20, learn any discipline online for free, and use green electricity at very low cost... All of the novel solutions and enablers indeed could improve people's lives, especially for them in rural districts and developing regions. But as a matter of fact, the most needed people, who cannot afford for the basic human needs, usually do not have access to these effective solutions. 

In some rural districts of China, electricity is limited for use, let alone Internet access. Some places suffer from water shortage and villagers do not have sufficient water supply to take care of personal hygiene. For example, marsh gas is applied in some villages to relieve energy shortage and make use of agricultural waste, such as crop stalks. However, many rural regions in western China still lack of technical support so that they are unable to adopt this simple solution.

It seems that social enterprises can only provide solutions to people who can afford. Some innovative solutions and enablers that are originally developed to fulfill basic needs in developing districts, such as Raspberry Pi microcomputers, are found have difficulty in approaching emerging market.

Although a social enterprise aims at addressing social issues, it still needs to make sustainable profits. Simply providing people free products is philanthropy but social entrepreneurship. To avoid some great solutions become formidable products for needed people, social innovators should find innovative way to make them more approachable. 

How 3D Printing will help developing countries

3D printers can make things like a house or pipe. Instead of using inks, 3D printers use special materials. Enrico Dini tries to make 3D printers that print buildings. This idea seems to be unbelievable because it is never thought about building a house through printers. According to Andrea Morgante of Shiro Studio, one of the advantages of 3D printings, it can create concave and convex designs which is expensive process. Unlike making complicated designs which require more techniques and man power, 3D printers allows people to create any shapes of objects quickly.



By using this technology, we can help people in developing countries. Also, it lowers costs of building a house and materials. One of the interesting projects regarding to 3D printing can be found in this article. From this article, 3D printers create toilets made of recycled plastics. Landfills will be stored in these plastics and turn them into useful objects.

[Benefits through toilets built by 3D printers.]
1. Basic household objects
2. The feed stock
3. Reduced waste

As you can see above benefits, 3D printing can solve lacks of available amenities in developing countries. Many organizations and researchers study about 3D printing. This technology will change a traditional way of creating objects. In addition, it will have a huge impact on manufacturing industries that produce from small parts to big houses. I wonder what happens exactly when 3D printing become dominant in the world.



Sources:
1. http://www.archdaily.com/253380/how-3d-printing-will-change-our-world/
2. http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/21/2811146/3d-printing-d-shape-monolite-enrico-dini
3. http://makezine.com/2013/03/25/will-3d-printers-save-the-world/

Rodeo for a Good Cause

In 1932 the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show (HLRS) became an entity through a partnership with the City of Houston and other entities to increase interest and involvement in agricultural education. In 1970, HLRS began an $100,000 initiative to fund research studies at various Texas Institutions. Through a combination of passion for agriculture and a desire to increase higher education in the community, the HLRS has donated over 330 million dollars for scholarships, research, endowments and educational youth programs.

Every spring the city of Houston, Texas hosts the event. Houston has grown to know the rodeo for things like the infamous Calf Scramble, live entertainment, funnel cakes and turkey legs. All of the sales from these things combined produce enough revenue to cover the cost of the rodeo and provide scholarships with what is left over. This is a social innovation because not only did the creators of the rodeo want to increase awareness of agricultural knowledge but also wanted to benefit the community while doing it. According to the HLSR, over 100 jobs are available every spring in Houston and an economic stimulus of x is provided to Houston.

What is the calf scramble?

The calf scramble is an event of the rodeo, where 100 calves are released in the middle of the Reliant stadium (Home to the Texans football team), in which 200 high school students are standing waiting to catch a calf! If a student catches a calf the student receives $1500.

Watch the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyNnGg45vto

What live entertainment?

The live entertainment has included artists like Destiny’s Child, Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean and the Zac Brown Band.

Why is it a social innovation?

It’s a creative idea that had never ben done before, that:

Benefits high school students through college scholarships.

Increases awareness about Agriculture including raising farm and show animals.

So as Public Policy students, what fun and creative  things can we do to increase awareness of Public Policy areas that interest us?

THE NEXT 4 BILLION

Everyday, when I am on my way to my office from my home (in Islamabad, Pakistan) I look at these huge new buildings branded with the leading multi-nationals and banks from all over the world, thinking why are they investing in my country with per capita income of 1,256 dollars only. I know there are serious energy issues complemented with security concerns still these corporations are investing in my country. Why?

Report – “The next 4 billion”, has brought me the answer. Very truly, countries like Pakistan are very attractive untapped markets. These countries are on the development path with a bulging middle class – better educated and more aware. This huge population has needs for all modern products, so there is a great opportunity for the providers to invest and reap profits. This ever-increasing urban population has better power to purchase; therefore, every business has a chance for first-mover advantage in such economies.

These multinational corporations and banks are providing customized products and solutions specific to the needs of these emerging economies. KFC, McDonalds and PizzaHut are labeling their food as “Halal” to counter the Muslim factor in Pakistan and they are publicizing their “Vegetarian” range in India to cater to the food preferences of Hindus and Sikhs. Almost every international bank in Pakistan has a diversified operation of “Islamic Banking” running parallel.

Very rightly understanding the rule of the game, these organizations are found leading every social development project in these countries. I can see presence of corporations like Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Shell, Standard Chartered Bank and many more in every area of social development in Pakistan. Most of these organizations have developed clearly defined units working for social development in the country. Quoting one such example is Unilever Foundation –

“The Unilever Foundation is dedicated to improving quality of life through the provision of hygiene, sanitation, access to clean drinking water, basic nutrition and enhancing self-esteem.” (http://www.unilever.pk/aboutus/unileverfoundation/aboutunileverfoundation/index.aspx)

These infrastructural and financial investments; modifications and diversifications of the products and solutions to match consumer preferences; and involvement in social development in the developing countries by leading multinational corporations of the world are clearly indicating towards the findings of the report – “The next 4 billion”, which very truly states that “Four-billion low-income consumers, a majority of the world’s population constitute the base of the economic pyramid.”

Reference: The next 4 billion – A report by World Resources Institute                (http://www.wri.org/publication/the-next-4-billion)