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Microlinks partnered with Making Cents International to provide coverage of this year's Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. Watch video interviews, view photos or read one of the blog post recaps.

During the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference, Markus Goldstein, Senior Economist at the World Bank, spoke with Microlinks about an adolescent girls' empowerment project in Uganda implemented by BRAC and the World Bank.

Highlights from the panel, “Exploring the Intersection of Adolescent Girls’ Reproductive Health and Economic Empowerment.”

While technology is keys to the opportunities for youth in the modern workforce – it’s more than this. Youth and women need 21st century skills, personal empowerment and behavior changes to be the driving force in the new economies.

The Adolescent Girls’ Advocacy & Leadership Initiative builds the capacity of civil society leaders with the goal of helping them to speak out with one voice on the critical issues affecting adolescent girls in their countries.

African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) is an outreach, education, and engagement initiative that targets African women entrepreneurs to promote business growth, increase trade both regionally and to U.S. markets through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Peter Kasprowicz of Credit Suisse and Elisabeth Rhyne of the Center for Financial Inclusion have recently completed an examination of global demographic trends and their implications for financial inclusion.

How can development practitioners and the private sector effectively implement interventions that break down social barriers and empower women in agricultural value chains?

The Rizal Commercial and Banking Co. (RCBC), one of the largest commercial banks in the Philippines, has introduced an SME business loan program which gives women the opportunity to increase their financial capacity and meet the growing demands of their business.

On April 18, MasterCard helped Pro Mujer open their latest center in Mexico City’s Milpa Alta neighborhood and in celebration of Pro Mujer President and CEO Rosario Pérez blogged about igniting the entrepreneurial spirit of women.

This summary covers three main points: the recent strategy refresh of the FSP team, the findings of research on Domestic Remittances in 11 African Countries, and how policy makers and market players might use these findings.

Trickle Up's blog addresses how African participants in savings groups build solidarity amongst each another.

Semhar Araia, founder and Executive Director of the Diaspora African Women's Network, shares her story of her involvement in the Horn of Africa diaspora.

What one almost never expects is the dance that Malian mothers do to support their families during this time.

Muhammad Siddiquee of CARE provides key takeaways from his presentation during Breakfast Seminar #64, "Understanding the Intangibles: Trust, Risk, Leadership, and Transparency in Value Chain Partnerships." In this video, he discusses the importance of understanding the intangibles in value chain partnerships, particularly when influencing behavior changes and scale-up interventions.

Three practitioners spoke openly about the challenges and lessons their organizations have experienced in advancing youth-inclusive financial services.

Visiting an Ugandan village with Ronald Mutebi, a dynamic entrepreneur and co-founder of Sun Tek Consults, one of 14 winners of the USAID- and Western Union-funded African Diaspora Marketplace.

During the kick-off workshop to launch the Mentoring for Value Chain Impact program, a group of mentors and mentees spent a day in field in rural Rwanda and visited USAID’s Post Harvest Handling and Shortage (PHHS) program.

Jennefer Sebstad provides key takeaways from her presentation at USAID Breakfast Seminar #61, "Behavior Change Perspectives on Gender and Value Chain Development." Jennefer Sebstad, an independent consultant working with ACDI/VOCA, has over 30 years of work experience as a researcher, evaluator, program designer, and donor in the areas of microfinance and enterprise development in developing countries with an emphasis on women, young people, and vulnerable groups.  

In their research on the Ghanaian citrus and the Kenyan sweet potato value chains, Jennefer Sebstad and Cristina Manfre were focused on the barriers and development constraints that especially prevent women from upgrading.

With the support of WE-ACT, Rwandan women learned about establishing, managing and running a formal business cooperative, which they named Ineza.

Written by Holly Pickett for The New York Times. Business groups are taking an interest in Egyptian entrepreneurs like Yasmine el-Mehairy, left, and Zeinab Samir, who started a site for Arab women.

Gulnara Shamshieva of Bai-Tushum and Partners discusses the difficult task of responsible microfinance and how her organization has been improving social performance management.

Relative to men, women are pursuing lower opportunity activities, with their enterprises more likely to be smaller, informal, and in low value-added lines of business.