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Agriculture and food security, democracy, human rights and governance, economic growth and trade, environment and global climate change, gender, and women’s empowerment. What sectors do you work in? Whatever they may be, in the quest to increase local efforts for a more resilient, prosperous, democratic, and inclusive world, there has never been a better time to focus on cooperatives! What is a Cooperative?

In this second installment of a four-part series on impact investing and finance for development, Autumn Gorman from USAID's Private Sector Engagement Hub discusses blended finance.

This blog, written by Dexis, was originally posted on Vikāra Institute's website.

To continue developing a deeper understanding of impact investing and finance for development, Autumn Gorman from USAID's Private Sector Engagement Hub discusses what is and what is not yet impact investing in this first installment of a four-part blog series.

By Mike Field, Vikāra Institute and Matt Ripley, The Good Economy

This post was authored by Jamie Gow, Sonali Master, Sweta Saxena, and Micaela Arthur.

Almost every family in the world will need care services for someone in their household at some point in their lives—whether that is childcare, elder care, disability services, or help with household chores.

Women’s labor force participation is a critical determinant of women’s economic empowerment, and yet, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that 606 million women around the world are not working or seeking employment because of unpaid care responsibilities.

This month Marketlinks will explore the care economy — a sector that is critical to economic growth, gender equality, and women’s economic empowerment.

Stockouts and shortages of quality-assured medical products — including those required to prevent maternal and child deaths, and combat and control infectious disease threats — are still common in many countries despite being critical for saving lives. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted global health supply chain vulnerabilities, including an overreliance on a small number of suppliers for key active pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as on a large concentration of pharmaceutical manufacturing in Asia.

Reflections from Katie Garcia, Deputy Director of USAID’s Private Sector Engagement Hub, and Kristin O’Planick, Market Systems Team Lead in USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security. There is a growing amount of convergence between PSE and MSD. For practitioners of either approach, there is value in learning more about the tools and techniques of the other to see how they can be useful in advancing the shared goal of transformational change.

INVEST and Dalberg developed a new guidance note to support USAID staff, providing a brief overview of how USAID can facilitate blended finance activities and ensure they achieve both additionality and human impact.

By Lauren Yang, USAID INVEST Communications People who join tech company Fulfillment Bridge rarely leave. Since day one, CEO and founder Kais Khadhraoui has established a flexible company culture, only requiring employees to work from Fulfillment Bridge’s office three days a week. Mondays and Fridays are free days, allowing team members to work from home, take short trips to see parents, or even do their work lying on a beach.

By Erin Magee, Regional Advisor, Latin America & the Caribbean, USAID/Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance For Diana Arismendy Schroeder, establishing a community-centered approach is critical when working in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

The private sector is a powerful force in driving economic growth, creating jobs, and boosting opportunities that improve the lives of people and communities worldwide. USAID has partnered with companies and investors to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges since its founding in 1960. 

This post is authored by Joseph Spanjers and Camille Parker from the Economics Team in the Center for Economics and Market Development and is part of a series of blogs focused on Youth Employment throughout September on

When Hurricane Dorian struck The Bahamas in 2019, USAID led and coordinated the U.S. Government’s disaster response efforts, deploying an elite disaster team and providing nearly $34 million in humanitarian assistance.

This post is written by Jane Lowicki-Zucca, Senior Youth Advisor, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, USAID. Welcome to Youth Employment Month featured jointly this September by Agrilinks and Marketlinks! 

Third in a series of five blogs on the factors that contribute to sustaining and scaling private sector partnerships from the Enduring Results Study 3.0

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stephen Leonelli is the Inclusive Development Hub’s LGBTQI+ Program Analyst. Mirna Garcia, summer intern for the LGBTQI+ portfolio, contributed to this article.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: M. Daniel Vazquez is a Senior Standards Specialist at the Center for Economics and Market Development in the Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation at USAID.

This August, Marketlinks explores effective programs, strategies, and approaches to ensuring that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex people and other people of diverse genders and sexualities (LGBTQI+) have the tools and opportunities to thrive in local and national economies! Around the world, stigma, discrimination, and exclusion prevent LGBTQI+ people from fully participating in the economy and from accessing social benefits systems.

By Kati Suominen, Founder and CEO, Nextrade Group and Techical Director, eTrade Alliance Ecommerce – the sale and purchase of goods and services online – is booming in developing countries and their export markets, opening new opportunities for developing country micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to grow their sales, export, diversify their markets, and create new jobs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Paul Fekete is a Senior International Trade Advisor at the Center for Economics and Market Development in the Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation at USAID.