Blog

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are revolutionizing access to banking services and empowering millions of previously unbanked individuals. According to the latest data from the World Bank Findex, 73 percent of people in the region (excluding high-income countries) own a financial account—and the proliferation of digital financial services and financial technology (fintech) played an essential role in this growth.

Globally, women are 18 percent less likely than men to own a smartphone. This statistic illustrates— particularly in low-income, rural households— the ‘gender digital divide’ where women are less likely to be connected to the Internet and have access to important tools that could improve their lives.

Water is essential not only to health, but also to poverty reduction, food security, human rights and education. Despite the global target for clean water and sanitation through Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, 2 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water at home. 

Across Guatemala’s Alta Verapaz region, the USAID/Microsoft Airband Initiative partnered with New Sun Road to bridge the rural broadband gap and close the gender digital divide by establishing 10 Digital Community Centers and, in turn, 10 Women’s Leadership Committees (WLC) to run them. In this blog, WLC members share five key reflections and lessons learned from their involvement with the Digital Community Centers and the impact on their communities.

In international development, we often talk about how the private sector is a key ingredient to unlocking a resilient market system. The private sector can: provide an outlet for aggregated product; serve as a technical resource to build capacity and improve quality; offer access to financial capital; and drive sustainable relationships at origin. So, what happens when the private sector also becomes a direct implementer of one of USAID’s projects on the ground?

Since 1986, Equal Exchange has been partnering with cooperatives around the world through inclusive supply chains, offering better trade conditions and improved pricing all while building long-term relationships. It is through these relationships that the opportunity arose to dig deeper into the challenges these communities face to facilitate solutions that are designed and led by cooperatives in each unique context through the Cooperative Development Program, funded by USAID. 

This article first appeared in NCBA CLUSA’s Co-op Weekly Newsletter and has been updated for MarketLinks.

Despite the fact that Guatemala is an upper-middle-income country, almost 60 percent of the population lives in poverty. Agriculture is one of Guatemala’s main economic drivers; it has employed at least one in three Guatemalans since 2000; and in 2018, the agriculture value added was ten percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Nearly 75% of the Guatemalan population is employed through small- and medium enterprises, yet local laws restrict credit unions' abilities to provide loans to SMEs.

This post introduces USAID’s Creating Economic Opportunities project, which aims to help qualified people find jobs that give them the stability and prosperity they want for their families.

In Guatemala, USAID’s Creating Economic Opportunities project is working with the private sector and national and local authorities to strengthen economic growth and generate income and employment.

As we prioritize making market systems more competitive, resilient, and inclusive for smallholder farmers and other market actors, we must connect our support for these actors with support for the all-encompassing yet elusive enabling environment around them.

What drives youth involvement in agribusiness? A practitioner reflects.

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.

Two years ago, Trickle Up began its Microenterprise Opportunities for People with Disabilities program, with the support of USAID, to promote “inclusive development” in Guatemala.

Meet two participants of Trickle Up’s USAID-funded Microenterprise Program for People with Disabilities in Guatemala: Astrid Yesenia Ben Ramirez and Diego Ramírez Xicay.

Yesterday’s After Hours Seminar focusing on migrant-backed loans featured two speakers from William Davidson Institute (WDI), Khalid Al-Naif and Raul Reynoso and WOCCU’s Saul Wolf.