Agents of Change

Using carrots, not sticks, to get companies to do good

Activists in San Francisco have created a new way of getting companies to do good: the anti-boycott. It uses carrots, not sticks, to get companies to do good.

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Working for change: Samasource redefines international aid

Need to Know profiles the founder of Samasource, an organization that brings what she calls “microwork” to some of the world’s most marginalized people.

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Filmmaker seeks to change attitudes about America’s wars

Americans paid little attention to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the election. Laura Poitras wonders what, if anything, will change that.

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In Baltimore, victims meet face-to-face with their offenders

An innovative program in Baltimore, a city with one of the worst crime rates in the country, puts youth offenders and their victims in the same room.

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Using cell phones to deliver health care to African children

In Africa, more people have access to mobile phones than treatment for diarrhea. Innovators are using the ubiquitous phones to improve health care services.

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Crowdsourcing ‘violence interruption’ in Chicago

At Pop Tech, an unlikely partnership forms between an infectious disease expert fighting gun violence and a crisis mapping website.

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Fighting corruption in India, one ‘zero rupee’ at a time

India is an emerging power, and its economy has soared in recent years. But the growth has been strangled by pervasive corruption. Now, one activist is fighting to change that — one “zero rupee” at a time.

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Celebrating failure, and other novelties, at Pop Tech

Need to Know reports from the Pop Tech conference in Maine, where social innovators are discussing meditation, disinformation and freakish waves.

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