Blog

Why are there such stark discrepancies between official statistics and specialized market research on wage labor? FAO's Bernd Mueller explains.

Did you miss the March 24th Microlinks seminar on markets systems development and resilience? Catch up on the highlights by reading this post and then add your comments or questions!

Do access to capital and business training effectively support microenterprises? USAID economist Anastasia de Santos takes a closer look at the data.

Let's be sure that we're not trading one vulnerability for another. Mercy Corps' Keith Proctor explains.

FHI 360’s Workforce Connections presented a set of open-source tools developed during a labor market assessment in Zimbabwe.

Ruth Campbell of ACDI/VOCA unpacks some of the characteristics of resilient market systems.

How does one make sense of a messy and chaotic agricultural small and medium enterprise landscape? Check out these insights from Malawi.

Researchers from Duke's Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness presented three case studies on public-private partnerships.

In this post, Whitney Dubinsky of USAID comments on the indisputable need for data on women's economic empowerment.

Nisha Singh introduces SEEP's Women’s Economic Empowerment Working Group.

In this post, Dr. Samson Radeny reviews where we are today with caregiver community-based microfinance.

IPA outlines several studies that test the impact of financial programs on youth.

Jeanne Downing explores her interest in two market systems design activities: the analysis of the problem upfront and dynamic programming.

For me, one of the big attractions of the value chain framework is the boxes: crisp blue boxes neatly lined up in rows. It makes economic development look so orderly and clearly defined.

Community-based, savings-led microfinance for children and youth is a promising new approach toward addressing the needs of the most vulnerable kids in poor countries. What could it mean?

Welcome! In this blog space, we will assess learning and generate new ideas around inclusive market systems.

To find solutions for reductions in global poverty and hunger, it is important to check assumptions and ensure we learn and adapt. The SEEP 2014 conference provided a space for people to reflect and ask the difficult questions.

On September 22–25, 2014, over 70 contributing organizations came together at the SEEP Annual Conference to leverage their collective knowledge around the theme “Scaling Impact in Inclusive Market Systems.”

Within the Feed the Future initiative, there is a lot of interest in achieving strong, positive results at scale.

Blog post by Elebthel Gebrehiwot, FIELD-Support intern, FHI 360 According to the World Economic Forum, in Tunisia, 40% of university graduates are unemployed compared to 24% of non-graduates. This suggests that youth graduating from university are lacking “21st century workplace skills,” such as digital literacy, inventive thinking, and effective communication. Many other countries are facing a similar problem. So how do we bridge the gap between unemployed or under employed youth, new job opportunities, and the right skill sets?

The Independent Evaluation Group describes lessons on how well the World Bank Group is promoting inclusive growth, in particular for private sector development.

At the 2014 SEEP Annual Conference, held September 22-25 in Arlington, VA, Sharon D'Onofrio, Executive Director of The SEEP Network, recaps the success of the conference. In attendance were nearly 550 individuals from 60 countries and 211 organizations. In the following interview with D'Onofrio, she describes the importance of this year’s theme on scaling impact in inclusive market systems.

After nine years, the FIELD-Support LWA comes to a close with a two-day conference devoted to advancing the field of development.

The SME Survey 2014, an annual study of factors behind the success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, has found that a small business owned by a woman has a better chance of being profitable than one run by a man.

It has been a pleasure to read this blog series on microfinance. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories and experiences on the evolution of the microfinance field. USAID is fortunate to have partnered with the best and brightest...