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The recent World Bank “Unmasking the Impact of COVID-19 on Businesses” paper analyzing surveys co-funded by USAID’s Center for Economics and Market Development shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt all firms in developing countries, large and small.

This blog was originally posted on BEAM Exchange and was written by Isaac Cowan-Gore.

Find the new guide from January 20, 2021 In the midst of a global pandemic - the effects of which are likely to be felt for years to come - many millions are at risk of losing their livelihoods and unable to access opportunities to work themselves and their families out of, or away from, poverty.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) vision is of a prosperous and peaceful world in which women, girls, men, and boys enjoy equal economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights and are equally empowered to secure better lives for themselves, their families, their communities, and their countries. USAID achieves greater and more sustainable development outcomes by integrating gender equality and women’s empowerment throughout their work.

The Private Sector Engagement Relationship Qualities in a Market Systems Development Activity learning brief provides evidence and learning from the team of the USAID/Honduras Transforming Market Systems (TMS) Activity on how to most effectively engage the private sector and the relationship qualities that influence the achievement of partnership results.

Market systems are inherently social networks, and thus there is an understandable tendency for market actors to do business with those that they know and trust. But neither businesses, nor broader market systems, can perform to their potential by relying only on personal exchange.

As COVID-19 circumvented the globe impacting every nation, sector, business, and family, it brought numerous challenges in its wake.  In developing countries – where market systems are often fragmented, connections between market actors weak, and businesses’ reserves limited – perishable products like vegetables were particularly hard hit. Both the supply and demand were affected by the shock. As the crisis deepened, some market actors lost considerable revenue and some went out of business.

USAID has launched its new Economic Growth Policy.

On December 10, USAID’s Sashi Jayatileke and Wade Channell hosted Joe Heim of Dopkins & Company and Bar Pereg of Deloitte for a discussion on Movable Property Lending, an inclusive finance tool that has recently been introduced to many USAID presence countries. The panel discussed the specific barriers to uptake for movable property lending, approaches that enable financial institutions to overcome these barriers, and broader lessons learned for the development community. 

This month, our theme is Marketlinks 2021! Throughout January, we will be highlighting relevant policies, projects, initiatives, tools, and other innovations in the sector that have either recently launched or will be launching in 2021. 

USAID’s “Journey to Self-Reliance” prioritizes programmes that build a country’s ability to plan, finance, and implement locally-owned solutions to solve its own development challenges.

Thanks to a program made possible by the USAID Forests and Deltas Program (VFD), implemented by Winrock International, every six months Koren Gren receives five million Vietnamese dong [USD $213] for his forest protection work — an arrangement that promotes forest conservation and reduces poverty, especially among Vietnam’s poorest ethnic communities.

This month, Marketlinks is exploring the topic of Finanical Inclusion. Throughout December, we will take a deep dive into the topic and its relation to other relevant subject areas.

On November 12, Marketlinks hosted a webinar discussing two innovative finance interventions that are mobilizing private capital in agricultural finance through an approach that combines market incentives and technical assistance. 

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.

Although the Sahel and West Africa are experiencing rapid economic growth, there are still many threats to the region's food security. In this region, the prevalence of undernourishment has increased from 10.4% in 2010 to 15.1% in 2017 according to the FAO.

This post was originally posted on CARE's website here.

By Emily Langhorne, INVEST Communications Specialist This is the final post of USAID/Mexico’s four-part series on hosting virtual co-creation workshops.

By Emily Langhorne, INVEST Communications Specialist This is the third blog post in USAID/Mexico’s Virtual Co-Creation Series. 

By Emily Langhorne, INVEST Communications Specialist This is the second blog post in USAID/Mexico’s Virtual Co-Creation Series.

USAID’s Mission in Mexico understands that the most effective and long-term solutions should be informed by a variety of organizations and people. USAID Mexico decided that using a co-creation process — a participatory approach to problem-solving that brings people together to design a solution with mutually shared benefits and value — through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) — was the best strategy to identify viable solutions.

In the Kyrgyz Republic, traditional state-owned clinics and hospitals offer outdated equipment, a lack of well-trained doctors, and inconsistent quality. A surge in COVID-19 cases has overwhelmed the government-run health system in the country.

In many countries, social norms and laws restrict women’s ability to control property, so female entrepreneurs are often unable to obtain the real estate needed to satisfy traditional collateral requirements for loans. Asset-based lending (ABL) allows businesses to use their company’s moveable assets — such as equipment, vehicles, livestock, and inventory — as pledged collateral. Recently, INVEST and USAID have been exploring the intersection of ABL and women’s access to finance in Colombia.

As global health supply chains expand and become more complex, the information systems that are used to manage them need to mature along with them. USAID’s Supply Chain Information System Maturity Model helps countries evaluate their supply chain systems’ capabilities holistically, enabling informed decision-making and timely delivery of health commodities.

Indonesian women’s roles in agriculture tend to be less visible and are frequently overlooked by agricultural input companies, government extension workers and even development programs. Unsurprisingly, gender considerations are largely absent from agricultural marketing activities and direct sales agent (DSA) models. To understand and address this gap, PRISMA conducted research on 10 agricultural sector partners and their respective DSA programs.