Our recommended reading list for this week spans health, the climate crisis and unicorns in the social sector:
- The Scale Blueprint: Lessons from India’s Non-Profit Unicorns
Published by Change Engine, an organisation that helps social sector founders scale up, this “playbook for non-profit entrepreneurs” studies 33 successful Indian NGOs to explain what helped them achieve large-scale impact. They found, for instance, that 80% of the successful organisations published data-driven evidence for their work, and the majority collaborated with governments.
- How much are climate scientists trusted?
Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia, asked 70,000 people from 68 countries whether they trusted scientists in general, and climate scientists in particular. This comprehensive report on their findings reveals that people in Egypt, followed by India, have the highest faith in both kinds of scientists. Unsurprisingly, political orientation emerged as one of the strongest factors affecting trust in climate scientists.
- Adolescence, obesity and mental health
The Lancet Commission’s latest report on adolescent health and well-being has some grim predictions: by 2030, it claims that 464 million adolescents worldwide will be overweight or obese, while mental health disorders and suicides affecting them could result in the total loss of 42 million years of healthy life. This could be addressed, the report suggests, by directing more global funding towards adolescent health.
