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.

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Enhancing Government Effectiveness - DIBs, a Valuable Tool for a Much Broader Agenda

April 21, 2022
By Avnish Gungadurdoss and Ben Stephens Development Impact Bonds have an emerging record of improving impact by enabling results-oriented delivery, even in the most difficult circumstances. However, to drive sustained impact at transformative scale, we must migrate the results-oriented practices of DIBs to the heart of development spending by aid-agencies and governments alike.

Finance: An Indispensable Driver of Economic Growth

April 20, 2022

Author(s):

Lawrence Camp
Finance is currently front and center in the development community - and it should be.  Finance is an indispensable driver of economic growth, the source of human prosperity, and essential to accomplishing USAID’s development objectives. 

The Market Corner: Elevating Environmental and Social Justice Returns on Investment

April 13, 2022
This month, the Market Corner sits down with two impact investing experts, Sana Kapadia from GenderSmart Investing and Rory Moses, an independent consultant most recently with the G7 Impact Taskforce and previously Associate Director at Palladium Impact Capital. In this month’s first installment of the series, the Market Corner examines where the impact investing field is headed, and the role that systems thinking can play in accelerating that journey.

Welcome to Impact Investing Month on Marketlinks!

April 4, 2022
This post is authored by Gatsby Africa, Lawrence Camp, and Autumn Gorman. This April is about developing a deeper understanding of impact investing and finance for development - and how the development community can facilitate and channel that capital. We look forward to engaging and hearing from you, the Marketlinks community, throughout the month.

Questions & Answers with Innovators: A Market Systems Approach to Child Care and Education to Achieve Sustainability

March 24, 2022
Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest levels of access to education and learning outcomes in the world, according to the Business of Education in Africa report. Taking into account a tremendous financing gap that has only grown since the COVID-19 pandemic started, viable solutions to address this gap through expanded public and private investment are urgently needed.

Women Entrepreneurs in Lebanon: Breaking Gender Barriers

March 15, 2022

Author(s):

Corus International
USAID’s $1.5 million Women’s Global Development Prosperity: Expanding Women’s Labor Force in Lebanon (EWLFL) Project (2020 – 2023) identifies women business owners or entrepreneurs. The Lutheran World Relief-led project enables women to enhance their skills, and affords opportunities to benefit from mentoring relationships and support networks.

Post-Event Resources: Promoting Gender Equity Through Finance

March 15, 2022

Author(s):

USAID Private-Sector Engagement (PSE)
On February 24, 2022, the USAID Private Sector Engagement (PSE) Hub hosted a webinar in its Mobilizing Finance for Development (MF4D) series. The post-event resources include key event highlights and answers from the moderated Q&A.

Optimally Financing Medical Products to Ensure Affordable, Equitable Access

March 3, 2022
The affordability of safe and effective medicines is a critical determinant of equitable access. The share of total health expenditures on pharmaceutical products is extremely variable in the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, ranging from 6% (Denmark) to 34% (Bulgaria). However, obtaining accurate information about the affordability of medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is often complex and challenging, and the information remains incomplete.

WomenConnect Challenge Blog Series: Strategy 5 — Developing Community Support

February 22, 2022

Author(s):

Innovation, Technology, and Research Hub
This blog is part of the WomenConnect Challenge Blog Series: Introducing Strategies for Closing the Gender Digital Divide. USAID’s WomenConnect Challenge (WCC) is a global call for solutions to improve women’s participation in everyday life by meaningfully changing the ways women access and use technology.

Opening doors for Honduran youth: supporting new agribusiness ventures

February 22, 2022

Author(s):

Corus International
Climate change and food insecurity are severely impacting rural livelihoods in Honduras and increasing rates of migration out of the country. With more than 28% of youth not in education, employment or training, too many Honduran young women and men face dismal economic prospects. Lutheran World Relief is committed to building the next generation’s hope for a stable and prosperous life within Honduras. 

The Market Corner: Working at the Nexus of Health and the Environment

February 14, 2022

Author(s):

Marketlinks Team
For the second installment of the Market Corner blog series, Holly Lard Krueger speaks with sustainable development expert and primary care clinician Liz Willetts about the interconnectedness of our health and environmental systems, the voice missing from global policy decision-making tables, and the true cost of that lack of representation. Access February’s first installment here.

Women to Lean On: Financing For Women, By Women

February 10, 2022
Biljana Stanisavljva started her small business in Serbia in 2011, growing wheat and corn as a smallholder farmer. She wants to grow her business, but like many agricultural entrepreneurs, she finds it very challenging to obtain funds for her expansion plans. And as a woman, she faces additional challenges. Even after a decade as a registered business owner, she still has to rely on her husband for most business decisions.