Black Pearl Consulting and Research, LLC

02/04/2022

India is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. These jaw-dropping satellite photos show how much India has developed over the last decade, and the environmental challenges it is facing.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/top-vieweco-survey-13-satellite-images-show-massive-developments-in-india/damn-impressive/slideshow/89246443.cms

Satellite imagery is used to show the annual water storage cycle at Stanley Reservoir, Tamil Nadu in this map. It shows water availability has improved throughout the year. Dam(n) impressive

08/27/2021

People in the international development field often take the benefits of boosting entrepreneurship for granted. Helping people grow their own businesses and find their own path to economic empowerment must be good, right? New research suggests that we may need to rethink that assumption. Recent studies show that the overall economic impacts of entrepreneurship programs depend heavily on whether they focus on businesses in the formal or informal sector. Read more in the new blog at https://blackpearlconsult.biz/entrepreneurship-inequality-and-the-informal-sector/.

08/06/2021

Flooded subways in London, New York and Zhengzhou, China. Raging wildfires in California and Siberia. Record temperatures in places across the globe. These and countless other extreme weather emergencies have made the impossible to ignore. This editorial in the Irish Times highlights the need for all of us to act as while there is still time.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/where-are-the-climate-allies-1.4634258

Opinion: Do we yet understand it requires all of us to respond together on climate action?

05/05/2021

The Indian farmer protests have been going on for months, with no end in sight, despite the COVID surge. The protests, on the surface, are about guaranteed government pricing for crops. But beneath the surface (literally and figuratively) water shortages, present and future, play a role. This recent article by AP talks about how climate change is now and will continue to affect the farmer crisis https://apnews.com/article/india-climate-change-business-science-environment-and-nature-52a57d80d1dcb85f508cfd5f80120870 Another fairly recent article in The Guardian discusses how no-technical "technologies" can help address farmers concerns while adapting India's water supply to coming climactic changes: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/13/purple-revolution-indias-farmers-turn-to-lavender-to-beat-drought

04/21/2021

A torrent of new articles about President Biden's decision to pull out of Afghanistan have come out this week. While this decision is controversial, most Afghanistan experts seem to think that pulling out without a peace plan or some sort of guarantee of stability is a mistake. This mistake will particularly hurt Afghan women, while also contributing to further destabilization of the region. Black Pearl has former Afghan aid workers on its team, and we've found some of these recent articles particularly interesting. Click on for a few thoughtful reads: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/opinion/afghanistan-biden-troops.html and https://www.devex.com/news/as-us-pulls-out-of-afghanistan-aid-groups-consider-role-in-endless-wars-99661

For nearly two decades, development, humanitarian, and peace-building efforts have operated alongside a large military intervention. With that arrangement falling out of favor, aid groups face an uncertain future.

04/08/2021

"It's not a matter of whether another pandemic is coming, but when"...as human populations keep expanding and our contact with wild animals continues, another pandemic is unavoidable. This interesting read from Nat Geo discusses how technology might be able to help us predict, and avoid, the worst: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/can-a-new-app-predict-the-next-pandemic

Scientists say it’s only a matter of time before another deadly virus jumps from animal to human and goes viral. A new global database attempts to rank the risk from wildlife.

03/28/2021

CNN just recently published a nice article on women's entrepreneurship in Ghana, and given that it's women's history month, this is a topic we've been thinking about a lot. What's the upshot of this piece? Entrepreneurship takes a lot of hard work, curiosity, and the ability to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Just go for it! https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/26/world/miishe-addy-jetstream-africa-female-entrepreneur-ghana-spc/index.html

03/18/2021

COVID-19 is thankfully and hopefully on the decline as vaccine distribution accelerates, and the time to recover is beginning. We took a quick look at how some of the lessons learned and new technologies that have emerged, in part as a result of COVID-19, may be used for faster economic recovery. This may be especially true for smallholder farmers in developing economies. Take a look at our newest blog for a nice summary: https://blackpearlconsult.biz/covid-farmers-technology/

The news of 2020 undoubtedly had one major theme: COVID-19. Personal stories of grief and loss, speculations about the post-COVID economy, and studies of long-term health impacts. These were some of the major motifs covered by popular news outlets. These reports provided information and eased fear a...

02/22/2021

Black Pearl has a new (and first!) blog post out. We believe that technological solutions and other innovations that have come out of this ongoing pandemic can help us reach SDG goals faster - if we commit to working together. Read more at: https://blackpearlconsult.biz/blackpearl-covid-sdgs/

01/31/2021

01/31/2021

01/31/2021

01/31/2021

Welcome to the new page of Black Pearl Consulting and Research!

Black Pearl is a USA HUBZone registered business, which means we are small business in a historically underutilized business zone. Our philosophy is driven by our origins. We believe that smaller, tailored approaches to international development, program and project management, and emergency response can bring superior results to our customers and the people they serve. We also know that by staying small, we are able to stay affordable, nimble and deliver efficient, customized solutions to both our clients and our communities.

People come first in our world, and nothing is ever planned without developing trust with our clients and the communities they serve so that we can get a clear understanding of the challenges they face. We believe that when people are safe, healthy, and financially secure, they are empowered to make better decisions about other aspects of their lives and communities, whether it be environmental protection, childhood education or equitable governance.