Blog

Numerous efforts are underway to integrate mobile payment systems in Bangladesh as a way to provide cost-effective access to resources in an effort to reduce poverty.

On January 24, 2014, Vital Voices Global Partnership hosted Dr. Ruta Aidis for a presentation on and discussion of the Gender GEDI Index.

Kurt Dassel and Harvey Koh who both presented at the MPEP Seminar titled, "Overcoming Barriers to Scale to Reach the Poor," gave their key takeaways.

New models often face barriers to growth due to a lack of understanding of how, where, or when to grow. These businesses benefit from greater support and funding and often become commercially viable.

Designers, engineers, and innovators from around the world were challenged to envision fresh, creative designs that could benefit low-income households in developing countries, leading to entries from 13 countries.

LEO seeks to support missions and implementers in improving the performance of market systems to generate growth, and to structure that growth in such a way that it is inclusive of women and the extreme poor.

The conference brought together a small group of policymakers, development practitioners and thought leaders from around the world to explore models of aid that allow for the pursuit of complex, adaptive, flexible program design.

Interview with Meaza Ashenafi, Chairperson of Enat Bank.

At the Cracking the Nut Africa conference, the focus will be on discussing challenges surrounding rural livelihoods and food security and finding real solutions.

With only 19.5 banks and microfinance branches for every 100,000 people, there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to increasing access to formal financial services.

This year’s Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference, hosted by Making Cents International, had two main spotlights, the "Power of Technology” and “Opportunities for Rural Youth.”

On September 10, an incredibly honest and substantive breakout session on empowering adolescent girls through microfranchising was led by Barri Shorey of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Owen Ozier from the World Bank and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) during Day One of Making Cents’ 2013 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference in Washington, DC.

At the 2013 Making Cents: Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference during the session titled, “Life Skills and Youth Economic Outcomes: Where’s the Proof?” Daniel Oliver, Director of Learning and Evaluation at the International Youth Foundation, posed the central question: “Many of us think life skills are important, but are they worth the investment?

On September 17, Microlinks and Tetra Tech sponsored a special presentation by EWB's Amir Allana to speak about the building blocks of learning organizations and how to enable flexible, adaptive development programming.

Microlinks partnered with Making Cents International to provide coverage of the 2013 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. Watch video interviews, view photos or read one of the blog post recaps.

Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE) and Sector3 Social Venture Group have partnered in Peru to implement the Women Entrepreneurs Leading Development project (WELD).

The Pakistan Firms Project is helping increase the profitability and incomes of small- and medium­-sized enterprises in vulnerable areas.

The USAID Kenya Dairy Sector Competitiveness Program (KDSCP).

With a gender lens, investors evaluate their portfolios for the many ways that their investment choices are helping -- or not -- to right historical inequities and fuel positive change.

WEAmericas connects women to economic growth and business opportunities and brings together the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

Watch attendees of USAID's Private Sector Engagement Training talk about what USAID can bring to the private sector to address real private sector issues.

Recent recognition of the impact of infrastructure on growth and trade is leading to increasing focus on investment in the power sector, such as the Power Africa Initiative. But that investment requires the right legal and regulatory framework.

Tim Sturgeon shares how developing country SMEs have successfully leveraged their participation in global value chains to upgrade their capabilities and access export markets.

Panelists Jay Banjade (Independent Consultant), Radha Rajkotia (International Rescue Committee), and Margie Brand (EcoVentures International) share cases from the field on expanding livelihood opportunities for the extreme poor through private sector engagement. This follows a session entitled, "PSE at the Bottom of the Pyramid" at the recent USAID/E3 Engaging the Power of the Private Sector for Development training course.

More than 126 million women entrepreneurs were starting or running new businesses in 67 economies in 2012, according to the GEM 2012 Women's Report, the most comprehensive research ever conducted about the entrepreneurial activity of women across the globe.