Blog

Helen Bradbury calls for a gender data revolution to help counteract indifference.

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.

What evidence is there to prove that economic strengthening models work? This post explores a few areas that have seen promising practices for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).

Here are some of Wade's favorite reads on women's economic empowerment and gender equality from the past 15 months.

Learn more about USAID/Senegal’s Projet Croissance Economique (PCE), which targets smallholders involved in rice, maize, and millet value chains.

Jason Wolfe, Senior Technical Advisor for the PEPFAR program, interviews Andrew Meaux and Barri Shorey from the IRC.

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.

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 SEEP 2014 conference, a panel on the ‘Big Data’ Revolution discussed ways to use new sources of information to adapt service delivery and improve approaches to inclusive market development.

Where are the women entrepreneurs in Pakistan? Women entrepreneurs in Pakistan lead cutting-edge, innovative businesses – but there are far too few of them.

"Financial inclusion." This phrase has been found in several recent reports. But what does “financial inclusion" truly mean? More important, what does it mean for women who constitute nearly half of the global population?

A new report by Babson College on the Goldman Sachs "10,000 Women" initiative has found that training and education for women entrepreneurs positively affect emerging economies by increasing revenues and creating jobs.

Richard Kohl from the Center for Large Scale Social Change presented findings from interviews with USAID’s recommendations and observations tracked closely with lessons learned at Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation (FTF-PI).

The Community-Owned Finance Institution (COFI), is a Sharia-complaint Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO), established under the Kenya Drylands Livestock Development Program (KDLDP), funded by USAID and implemented by CNFA.

Equity-based crowdfunding emerges as a promising opportunity to empower female entrepreneurship and to emancipate investment.

Women’s World Banking (WWB) finally closed its first private equity fund to invest in microfinance enterprises that support women.

About 63 percent of women in the non-agricultural labor force are self-employed in the informal sector in Africa, more than twice the worldwide rate, according to World Bank data.

USAID press release: Entrepreneurship plays a significant role in driving economic growth and job creation.

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...

We know that part of the solution to tackling extreme poverty is helping micro and small enterprises and entrepreneurs access the financing they need to grow their businesses. USAID has long been a champion of facilitating this access...

Jacqueline told me her story about the 15 remarkable years of USAID’s microfinance achievements in Uganda.

The story of how the agency, together with its partners, transformed development assistance is remarkable; one that can teach about an agency operating at its finest and about the kinds of investments needed.

Part Two of the interview with Kimanthi Mutua, CEO of the K-REP Group and a leading proponent of financial inclusion in Africa, reflecting on the future of microfinance in Africa.