International development

A girl dumps spoiled produce and inedible food clippings in a waste storage area at Azadpur market outside of Delhi. Millions of tons of food go to waste in India each year due to spoilage and other problems.

Sustainable approaches to reducing food waste in India

February 28, 2012

Graduate student Kevin Kung, right, sorted through trash with a waste collector outside of Nairobi, Kenya, over Independent Activities Period (IAP). Kung’s IDEAS Global Challenge team, Takachar, is developing efficient ways to produce charcoal from common household organic waste, such as maize husks and other food products.

MIT IDEAS Global Challenge teams innovate around the world during IAP

Students develop quality-of-life solutions for underserved communities.

February 8, 2012

During the entrepreneurship competition that capped off AITI's course in Kenya last summer, students demonstrated the mobile applications around which they hoped to build companies.

In the World: Fostering entrepreneurship in developing nations

In 11 years, MIT’s Accelerating Information Technology Innovation (AITI) program has trained more than 1,500 budding entrepreneurs in seven countries.

December 12, 2011

Members of a team that developed a system for generating gas from agricultural waste, which is attached to a small engine to generate power for charging cellphones, demonstrate their prototype at a village in Ghana.

In the World: Design summit’s inventions find willing buyers

Devices to improve lives in developing countries are so appealing that even the initial prototypes attract buyers.

August 26, 2011

A village in rural Indonesia. A new study by MIT researchers suggests local residents make accurate judgments of their neighbors’ poverty levels.

Wisdom of crowds

In countries that lack financial records, how can we tell who is truly poor? An innovative study suggests: Ask the neighbors.

August 24, 2011

Anna Waldman-Brown demonstrates hands-on science using a bicycle gyroscope at Takorardi Technical Institute.

Waldman-Brown, Fulbright scholarship winner, to spend next year in Ghana

Recent graduate and public service fellow will teach the science of energy generation.

June 24, 2011

Many roads in rural Indonesia are built using informal local taxes.

Taxation without documentation

New study shows ‘informal taxation’ in developing countries is far greater than suspected, supporting public works — and adding a burden for the poor.

May 25, 2011

Amy Smith, in blue dress, leads a workshop in a village in Uganda.

In the World: Cultivating creativity

For some of the world’s poorest people, the biggest impact can come from fostering creative problem-solving.

May 9, 2011

Children collecting water as part of a J-PAL study in western Kenya.

Life on a dollar a day

In Poor Economics, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo open a window into the lives of the world’s poorest people, and suggest new remedies to combat poverty.

April 26, 2011