Blog

Browse recent blogs of interest to the Marketlinks community. Use the search box or the filters on the left-hand side to refine the listing of blogs by keyword, topic, and/or region/country.

Latest blog posts

Showing 565 results

Filters Applied:

WOCCU Economic Inclusion Project Introduces ‘The Practical Guide for the Financial Inclusion of the Refugee and Migrant Population’

March 23, 2023

Author(s):

Greg Neumann
The USAID/World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) Economic Inclusion Project in March introduced to more than 100 representatives of Peru’s financial sector a formal guide that will help them identify the types of assistance refugee and migrant populations need to access formal financial services, and the best practices to help facilitate their financial inclusion.

Enabling Net Zero Markets: Greening Public Financial Management

December 5, 2022

Author(s):

Daniel Kim
A nation’s ability to mobilize resources to combat and cope with climate change is primarily constrained by its resources and financial capacity, which vary dramatically across developing contexts.  While external sources of funding like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are critical to meeting a nation’s Paris Agreement goals, they are often out of reach without domestic financial systems and processes to absorb such funds and use them productively.

Financially Including Migrants, a Familiar but Unique Challenge

October 12, 2022

Author(s):

USAID Private-Sector Engagement (PSE)
Since 2014, hyperinflation, corruption, supply shortages, and violence in Venezuela forced over 6 million people to leave their homes in search of safety and opportunity. Migrants face barriers to finance, have limited collateral and have informal businesses and jobs. This blog summarizes four key lessons learned through the USAID Colombia Rural Finance Initiative.

Why Financing Alone Cannot Build Resilience: Lessons from Northern Kenya

September 23, 2022

Author(s):

ACDI VOCA
The pandemic and following economic shocks have underlined the importance of resilience at all levels of the economy, from national and local governments to your neighborhood business. Access to appropriate financial services is a key component of a resilient economy. Access to the right financial services at the right time can strengthen economic opportunities and support business growth.

Can Platform Data Expand Access to Transformative Credit?

August 1, 2022

Author(s):

USAID Private-Sector Engagement (PSE)
Digitizing microbusinesses and informal work can help low-income workers and businesses access more and cheaper financial services, but only if the data created by digitization can improve risk evaluation by lenders.

How Can Embedded Financial Services Better Serve Platform Workers?

July 18, 2022

Author(s):

USAID Private-Sector Engagement (PSE)
Platforms are poised to transform the nature of work low-income people obtain in urban areas of the global South. The digital rails they onboard workers and sellers onto, and the data trails they generate, could transform the kinds of financial services low-income workers can access. But what types of financial services do those workers and sellers really want?

Financial Inclusion, the Gig Economy, and Digital Finance

July 12, 2022

Author(s):

USAID Private-Sector Engagement (PSE)
Technology is disrupting traditional labor markets and creating new work opportunities for youth and other marginalized groups. The emergence of platforms is changing the nature of the gig economy. Join USAID on August 4 for a webinar exploring this topic.

Minimizing Risk While Growing Small Businesses in Peruvian Amazonia

June 16, 2022

Author(s):

USAID CATALYZE Mobilizing Private Capital for Development
USAID CATALYZE Peru increases small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and producer associations’ access to finance through an innovative Pay for Results (P4R) program, which helps financial institutions (FI) minimize their risk in lending while growing their portfolios in underserved regions in the Amazon. CATALYZE Peru has signed P4R agreements with 10 FIs, which have committed to mobilize USD24.1 million to the Amazonia region.

Savings, Loans and Empowerment: 20-Plus Years of Learning from Pact’s Worth Model

June 16, 2022

Author(s):

Emma Willenborg
Pact’s longstanding livelihoods model, WORTH, is a critical tool for building financial access and incomes around the world. Since its inception in Nepal in 1998, WORTH has reached 1.14 million individuals, primarily women and girls, through 48,342 groups across 16 countries. To recognize and learn from this milestone, we recently conducted a formal review of 28 WORTH programs, 17 of which were funded by USAID.

Join Marketlinks in June as We Explore the Relevance, Versatility and Role of Co-ops in Localization

June 1, 2022

Author(s):

LuAnn Werner
Agriculture and food security, democracy, human rights and governance, economic growth and trade, environment and global climate change, gender, and women’s empowerment. What sectors do you work in? Whatever they may be, in the quest to increase local efforts for a more resilient, prosperous, democratic, and inclusive world, there has never been a better time to focus on cooperatives! What is a Cooperative?