Around the world, one billion people lack access to healthcare because they live too far from a health facility. Today, we are more committed than ever before to bridging the gap between clinics and remote communities by deploying community health workers to bring primary health services to the doorsteps of people living far from care.

I was meeting with Dr. Raj Panjabi, and he was showing me one of the backpacks created by Last Mile Health, the nonprofit he co-founded in Liberia. Raj reached into the bag and took out a vial of medicine to treat pneumonia. Next he pulled out rapid test kits for malaria and HIV. Then, rehydration salts for children with diarrhea. A measuring tape to screen kids for malnutrition. A thermometer to check for fevers. A blood pressure cuff. And so on. It was like watching a magician pull rabbits out of a hat.

Several years ago, I asked a group of inventors called Global Good that I support to take on the cold chain problem. They came up with two remarkable innovations that are changing the game for vaccinators like Blandine.

The experience of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in accelerating investment, collective action, profitability, and impact provides lessons for other impact industries attempting to do the same in base of the pyramid markets across the developing world.

Telemedicine is changing the way patients in rural and remote parts of the world can access medication and improve health. In Kenya, improved telecommunication infrastructure and adoption of mobile phones have enabled the rollout of several initiatives through telemedicine and are currently benefiting many.

A group of women in Khagra near Berhampur, West Bengal, were busy giving the final touches to an event that was going to mark a new beginning in their lives. It was the day they were starting the production of low-cost, biodegradable sanitary napkins in their village.Once the preparations were over they all eagerly waited for Sombodhi Ghosh and Jaydeep Mandal – founders of Aakar Innovations, a Gujarat-based social enterprise that aims to assist rural communities by promoting grassroots innovations – to arrive with the prized mini sanitary napkin-making machine that was going to enable them to use hygienic pads instead of unsterilized cloth during their menstrual periods.

BOOND Engineering & Development Pvt. Ltd. is a Social Enterprise founded in 2010 promoting alternative energy in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR and other northern states of India. In our advent, we are trying to reach to remotest and most difficult geographies to not just provide energy access, but also embed solutions to various social issues. By the end of FY 2015 we implemented projects in various sectors with installed capacity of over 1500 KW, impacting more than 100,000 individuals and many small-scale enterprises.

Energy access has been identified as an integral component in rural development all over the world. Especially for developing countries, this translates into a great opportunity to tackle issues of poverty and climate change simultaneously using decentralized renewable energy (DRE) technologies. These technologies have already proved their mettle in terms of providing basic facilities of lighting, mobile charging and advanced livelihood opportunities. So the inclusion of these technologies becomes inevitable while devising various schemes in rural development. Unfortunately, such  holistic design thinking was absent in many of our earlier schemes and policies where the clear role of DRE technologies was not recognized. SELCO Foundation has been advocating for an integrated approach in these schemes starting with National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in Karnataka with regular interactions and close engagement with the Karnataka State Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (KSRLPS).

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is a public-private partnership hosted by the UN Foundation to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and protect the environment by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The Alliance’s 100 by ‘20 goal calls for 100 million households to gain access to clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels by 2020. We are working with a strong network of public, private and non-profit partners to accelerate the production, deployment, and use of clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels in developing countries.

ZubaBox is a shipping container converted into a solar-powered internet café or classroom for people in need living in remote areas — including refugee camps. The interior of the box can accommodate up to 11 individuals at a time and gives people in traditionally marginalized communities a sense of inclusion while widening their opportunities.

We work with communities and governments to empower India’s rural poor through awareness, skills and training programs. We do this by helping them find solutions that are sustainable, in areas ranging from economic development, infrastructure to healthcare and education. We encourage them to alter their attitudes and take ownership of changes that bring about lasting development. As a not-for-profit, we mobilize resources necessary for their transformation. Our programs work only with the reciprocal, sustained participation of our communities.

To build an equitable and sustainable society where people live in peace with dignity. To promote processes which are sustainable, socially inclusive and gender equitable to enable critical masses of poor and marginalized rural people or communities to achieve a dignified quality of life.