Blog

This is one of two posts reflecting on private-sector engagement in a complex, thin market system (read the companion post. It relates to a previous four-part series on Marketlinks.

The global call for access to quality education for all by 2030 comes with a hefty price tag. To meet this target, we need $40 billion in additional funding every year for primary and secondary education alone. To begin closing this gap, new approaches to mobilizing more resources will be imperative, since development agencies and philanthropic organizations do not have the funds to fill the gap on their own.

As investors search out bankable opportunities within green growth sectors, they would do well to look to Sub-Saharan Africa, where renewable natural capital assets account for a higher share of total wealth than in any other region.

Experts from USAID and RTI discuss how agricultural market systems – both domestically and globally – can be a driver of resilience, buffering us from the ripple effects of shocks and stresses such as the ongoing pandemic.

Youth — who make up a large portion of the potential workforce in developing countries — are often left out of markets systems, representing a significant lost opportunity to deliver social and economic benefits. 

In Somalia, USAID is helping blunt the economic impact of COVID-19 by supporting financial institutions and contributing to Somalis’ ability to cope with, and build resilience to, the COVID-19 crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures national governments around the world are taking to contain it have created new challenges for families who were already vulnerable to a number of climate-related disaster risks. New research supported by USAID is learning whether investments in broadly based resilience helps families to withstand even this completely unexpected and global shock.

Agriculture sustains the Ethiopian economy, and access to irrigation here is critical for food security. Now, in the wake of COVID-19, the World Food Programme estimates acute hunger will double worldwide, with concern particularly high for Africa.

At first sight, Lebanon and Uganda might not have a lot in common. Yet when it comes to hosting displaced persons, some similarities start to emerge: together, the two countries host an estimated 2.7 million forcibly displaced, making them two of the largest refugee host countries worldwide. 

Field research from from around the world is finding that resilience to climate-related shocks can encourage rural families to invest more for higher productivity, creating new opportunities for greater prosperity.

In our recent webinar discussing the findings from the Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment (AWE) landscape analysis and case studies on women and youth inclusion in agricultural market systems, we were joined by RisiAlbania and ELAN RDC, two of the activities featured in the case studies. 

The White House–led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative brings new energy and a comprehensive approach to our mission at USAID.

Examining gender-specific COVID-19 impacts and integrating women’s empowerment interventions in agriculture remains essential to COVID-19 survival and recovery.

With support from USAID, the MRR Innovation Lab, The BOMA Project, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) collaborated on a resilence-focused project in Samburu that helps women to build up and keep their assets in spite of natural and manmade shocks. 

Learn how USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures grantees are adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic.

How can programs encourage and enable local commercial banks to lend to companies supplying solar home systems for off-grid customers? This post is part two in a three-part series, and addresses solar photovoltaic systems for commercial and industrial users and providers.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck, the data science company Fraym understood its unique product was critical in mounting the most effective global COVID-19 response at scale.

In many developing countries, the companies that build, supply, and sell clean energy solutions have difficulty obtaining bank loans or other financing to expand their businesses or reach new markets. This blog shares how Power Africa is working with the Climate Economic Analysis for Development, Investment and Resilience (CEADIR) Activity to support off-grid energy companies in Rwanda.

In a four-part blog series, the EEFS project explores a central question: what enables cross-border trade for safe foods?

How is COVID-19 and Senegal’s response to the pandemic affecting the fishing industry as a whole?

USAID's Somalia Growth, Enterprise, Employment and Livelihoods project is responding to COVID-19 by employing a strategy across its value chains to mitigate the impact of distruped supply chains and damage to the private sector.

How women, gender equality, and social norms are critical to recovering from the COVID-19 crisis.

Since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, CARE has prioritized supporting groups to lead their own COVID-19 responses. The groups are rising to the occasion.

Sylvia Natukunda is feeling the effects of COVID-19. As the founder of Farm Reap, a Kampala, Uganda-based company that produces five flavors of yogurt, she is putting together a game plan on how to keep her business profitable.

USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning Senior Economist Peter Richards reflects on the potential impact of a global recession and drop in commodity prices on economic growth in the global south.