Blog

Technology is disrupting traditional labor markets and creating new work opportunities for youth and other marginalized groups. The emergence of platforms is changing the nature of the gig economy. Join USAID on August 4 for a webinar exploring this topic.

A growing class of platform workers and sellers are digitally savvy and literate, yet because they are largely from low-to-middle income communities they remain financially excluded and unable to reap the opportunities and mitigate the risks of platform work.

By Mark Wallace, Senior Technical Advisor 

This post was written by Gabriel Falk for USAID’s Trade and Competitiveness Activity (TCA).

By Alexander Riabov, Communications Specialist, DAI’s Digital Frontiers

By ILO PROSPECTS Lebanon

This blog was originally published on the USAID Medium. By Dragana Todosijevic, USAID CATALYZE Engines of Growth (EoG)

This month, the Market Corner sits down with Kristin Wilcox, Chief of Party for the USAID-funded CLEAR Activity and advocate for the global cooperative movement, to explore the appeal of cooperatives to millennial and Gen Z professionals. The month’s first installme

In vibrant financial ecosystems, Business Advisory Service Providers (BASPs) play a vital role in unlocking financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). BASPs are business consultants, lawyers, incubation hubs, accountants, and other intermediaries who support actors on the demand or supply side of capital during the transaction process. With the right capacity and experience to support SMEs and investors, they can accelerate and direct large volumes of investment.

In early 2022, the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) started to emerge from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, boasting rising industrial production, exports to the European Union (EU), increases in wages, and credit growth. The region is ripe for investment, but Russia’s war against Ukraine threatens this recovery, through higher energy and food costs, disruption in supply chains, and interruptions in trade.

USAID CATALYZE Peru increases small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and producer associations’ access to finance through an innovative Pay for Results (P4R) program, which helps financial institutions (FI) minimize their risk in lending while growing their portfolios in underserved regions in the Amazon. CATALYZE Peru has signed P4R agreements with 10 FIs, which have committed to mobilize USD24.1 million to the Amazonia region.

Pact’s longstanding livelihoods model, WORTH, is a critical tool for building financial access and incomes around the world. Since its inception in Nepal in 1998, WORTH has reached 1.14 million individuals, primarily women and girls, through 48,342 groups across 16 countries. To recognize and learn from this milestone, we recently conducted a formal review of 28 WORTH programs, 17 of which were funded by USAID.

This month, the Market Corner sits down with Kristin Wilcox, Chief of Party for the USAID Cooperative Development Program - Cooperative Leadership Engagement Advocacy and Research (CLEAR) Activity and advocate for the global cooperative movement, to explore the role of cooperatives in advancing locally led development and the barriers they face. This post was authored by Holly Lard Krueger.

This column was originally published on Abt Associates Perspectives Blog. 

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

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?

Food Enterprise Solutions recognizes that food safety is everyone’s business. And – that food safety is good for business!  Today, June 7, 2022, we are celebrating Food Safety Day 2022 to highlight the exciting work that the Feed the Future Business Drivers for Safety (BD4FS) project is doing with growing food businesses in Senegal to promote safer food handling and ultimately more successful businesses.

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.

By Alexander Riabov, Communications Specialist, DAI-Digital Frontiers 

This post was originally published on Medium. Toyota is a bustling town situated on one of Liberia’s main roadways that caters to commercial truckers and typical vehicle passengers who pass through en route to Liberia’s major cities or neighboring Cote d’Ivoire. Its location makes Totota an ideal trading hub.

This post was written by USAID Private Sector Engagement and was originally published on Exposure.

This post was originally published on Medium.

During the height of the COVID lockdown, beef farmers in South Africa working with the GENEX Cooperative Development Program (CDP) were faced with the complete shutdown of cattle auction sites due to COVID travel restrictions Which meant farmers were not able to sell their product on time. They were losing revenue and they were incurring extra expenses to feed cattle they earmarked for sale. At that moment, CDP mentors saw an opportunity.

This post was written by USAID Private Sector Engagement and was originally published on Exposure.