About Us

The Blum Center for Developing Economies
Real World Solutions to Combat Poverty

The Blum Center for Developing Economies was established in March 2006 to improve the well-being of the three billion people in the world who live on less than two dollars a day. Spanning UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC San Francisco, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, its mission is to improve the well-being of poor people in developing countries by designing, adapting and disseminating scalable and sustainable technologies and systems and by educating and inspiring a new generation of global citizens. The Blum Center addresses the needs of the poor in developing countries by leveraging UC and LBNL expertise and preparing students with the theoretical understanding, applied skills and experiential learning that enable them to become agents of change in the struggle against global poverty.

The Center uses a rigorous, multi-disciplinary approach that corresponds to the complex nature and the intricate web of factors that cause poverty. It integrates innovation and social entrepreneurship to develop appropriate, sustainable solutions to the toughest poverty challenges. The Blum Center brings real-world issues faced by the poor to classroom, the lab and into the field. With its combination of unrivaled disciplinary depth and breadth, cutting-edge thinking and the University of California's unique culture of global engagement, research and reflection are translated back into real-world applications that solve real problems.

The Center’s focus on partnership, capacity building of local partners and on factors affecting decision-making and behavioral change improves outcomes, increases efficiency and enhances the chance of long-term sustainability. Rigorous monitoring and evaluation methodologies promote responsive implementation and maximize both short-term results and long-term impacts.