Center for Social Innovation

In the past few years, several international reporting standards have emerged. But are they actually changing corporate behavior? With particular emphasis on labor standards, this panel discussion explores the effectiveness of current efforts to monitor and improve labor conditions abroad, the role of verification groups, and practical challenges faced by companies in implementing guidelines.

"Moving the World" is a partnership between logistics company TNT and the United Nations World Food Programme, the world's largest humanitarian aid agency. Together they provide food aid to an average of 90 million people, including 56 million hungry children, in more than 80 countries. Speaking at the Stanford Effective Disruption Management Seminar, Moving the World Director Ludo Oelrich explains in this audio lecture how the benefits of this association play out both ways.

Stanford welcomes Gloria Steinem, co-founder and first editor of Ms. Magazine, in celebration of Ms.'s 40th anniversary. Steinem reflected on Ms. Magazine's role over forty years and looked ahead to what feminism may mean for future generations. 

San Francisco's young and charismatic mayor, Gavin Newsom, has suffered his share of punches for taking bold positions on controversial issues. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation-sponsored talk, Newsom tells of the courage and persistence it takes to make real social change as a leader.

Microfinance, the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans, has proved to be an effective strategy for raising millions of families from poverty worldwide. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, who pioneered the microloan revolution in Bangladesh, explains in this audio lecture how he saw rural poor and women struggle against deeply institutionalized economic systems, and realized the massive change that small loans could provide.

Transparency International is a global network with a mission to create a world free of corruption. In this audio lecture, Peter Eigen chronicles the experiences that led him from a directorship at the World Bank to the head of a movement to strengthen civil society by stamping out corruption. He reports on new incentives for good conduct that have made the elimination of corruption a cornerstone in the international effort to promote global equity.