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Can diasporas really serve as bridges to global markets for their countries of origin? A closer look at tourism and trade during the fifth Diaspora Engagement Seminar seems to imply exactly that. Dr. Manuel Orozco from the Inter-American Dialogue and Dr. Gaynelle Henderson-Bailey, President of Henderson Travel Service, were featured in this month’s seminar titled, "Heritage Tourism and Nostalgia Trade.”

Maria Stephens, Senior Technical Advisor at USAID, introduces the new Mobile Financial Services Seminar Series from the USAID Microenterprise Development office.

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.

Key takeaways from Milford Bateman

SEEP published a paper that highlights key themes important to industry leaders and will help form the learning agenda for a initiative called STEP UP: Strengthening The Economic Potential of the Ultra Poor.

This article summarized the main arguments both for and against the further push to implement mobile technologies for poverty reduction.

Geoff Chalmers interviews Greta Greathouse about her presentation during the session, "Value Chain Financing" session at the USAID Learning Event, "Meeting the Challenges of Value Chain Development" on February 7-8, 2012.

To say the debate between Milford Bateman and David Roodman was contentious would be an understatement. Those of us from the Center for Financial Inclusion who attended the debate have been all a-buzz ever since.

Eric Sarriot of ICF's CEDARS discusses lessons learned about how health systems may be relevant to the world of food security and value chain interventions.

Curtis Hundley of DAI discusses strategies for improving the competitiveness of enterprises, promoting a healthy business enabling environment, and facilitating public-private partnerships from DAI's MSME Project in Cambodia.

By promoting competitive processes that inject funds directly into the hands of small entrepreneurs, IFAD’s Rural Microenterprise Assets Programme is funding innovation, peace and sustainable development in the Colombian countryside.

Maria Stephens of USAID and Dr. Vivian Dzokoto of Virginia Commonwealth University share their key takeaways from the EPS Seminar #6, "Barriers to Mobile Money Transfer Uptake in Ghana." In this video, the two presenters discuss the cultural underpinnings of emerging payment systems uptake and considerations for public-private partnerships in the development of financial services.

David Baguma, Executive Director of the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU), speaks of the history of SEEP and recognizes the early stages of microfinance.

Pro Mujer surpassed its 2009-2013 CGI “Breaking the Cycle of Poverty” Commitment to reach 350,000 – one year ahead of schedule. This video showcases their Commitment in action.

Global and national policymakers have made it a priority to advance financial inclusion. To make real progress, CGAP believes the field has 10 priorities over the next 5 years.

USAID/Mozambique engaged in programming, assessing, and leading critical climate change technical assistance activities that support low-emission development strategies (LEDS), building climate change resilience, and strengthening local capacity.

This post summarizes key themes and takeaways from the 2019 Cracking the Nut conference held in Dakar, Senegal from October 14-15.

The AVANSE Program—the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future program in Northern Haiti (2013–2019)—shows the value of integrating political economy analysis (PEA) in agricultural programming.

Using a decentralized water treatment and distribution system, Jim Chu, the founder and CEO of dloHaiti, is bringing safe, affordable water to thousands on the island. Chu recently participated in diaspora engagement roadshows hosted by USAID INVEST, which encouraged members of the Haitian diaspora to invest in the country’s private sector. Jim Chu loves flying. The Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor began paragliding in 1993. Over the last two decades, he’s participated in the sport all around the world.

The Feed the Future Malawi Ag Diversification Activity worked with partners to develop an input bundle and a loan package to help farmers increase their soybean and groundnut yields.

A constraint to raising agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of commercial availability of high-quality seed of improved modern crop varieties. Stakeholders have made a great effort to develop regional variety catalogs to increase the supply of high-quality seed.

At the 2019 SEEP Annual Conference, five finalists delivered seven-minute pitches sharing new approaches to solve a problem and build resilience. The audience voted and selected one winner. Find out which project was selected to win a hypothetical million dollars.

With 30% of children under five years old stunted, there are critical vitamin and mineral deficiencies among the poor population in Haiti.

Nine projects are funded by NWO-WOTRO to strengthen the Netherlands-CGIAR research partnership on generating insights that contribute to improving seed systems in focus regions within Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa.

The vast majority of food grown in Africa is by smallholder farmers. Implementing these four recommendations will speed up the process of putting improved seed in the hands of Africa’s food growers permanently.