At the start of the recession of the early 1980s, youth unemployment was a significant problem in France. In 1982, the recently elected Socialist government passed Order No. 82-273, creating missions locales, places where young people between the ages of 16… Read more
Archives: Public Impact Fundamentals
Free antenatal and postnatal care: seventy years of the protection maternelle et infantile (PMI)
In 1945, the French government introduced the PMI to provide free, high-quality medical and social care to all mothers and their young children. Through over 5,000 PMI centres, it aims to be accessible to all French women, whatever their social… Read more
Combating electoral corruption and violence in the Philippines
The 2004 election campaign in the Philippines was one of extreme violence with nearly 300 deaths. At the same time, Philippines Commission on Elections (Comelec) was tarnished by corruption. In 2008 a new election commissioner took over with the brief… Read more
Rio de Janeiro’s centre of operations: COR
In 2010, the landslide in Rio was a major social and environmental disaster, and the city had to take action. Spurred on by the forthcoming 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, they developed an ambitious operations centre. It’s a data… Read more
The Metrocable: transport by urban cable car in Medellín
At the turn of the century, the Colombian city of Medellín had the reputation of being an exceptionally violent and dangerous place and a global centre of drug crime. There were major problems of social exclusion: the residents of the… Read more
Tourism in Iceland
Iceland has long been dependent on income from its travel industry, which contributes over 5 percent of GDP. It has seen the need to develop a more coherent and integrated approach to tourism and is being rewarded with large annual… Read more
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)
The GPEI was formed at the 1988 World Health Assembly, when the World Health Organization member states created an organisation to focus on eradicating polio from all the nations of the world. The development of vaccines and immunisation programmes has… Read more
Electronic ID cards in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) is responsible for the development of digital ID cards in the UAE. The EIDA wanted to widen the scope of ID cards so that they could access in financial services and retail purchases as well… Read more
Mobile currency in Kenya: the M-Pesa
Kenyans in the early 2000s had limited access to conventional finance institutions for money transactions. What they did have was access to mobile networks through their smartphones. Public and private organisations worked together on the solution, M-Pesa – money transfer… Read more
The National Environment Agency (NEA) in Singapore
In the late 1990s, Singapore was badly affected by the worsening air quality that affected the region and resulted in the notorious haze of September 1997 while its increasing industrial activity and individual prosperity resulted in a growing waste management… Read more