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In many countries, social norms and laws restrict women’s ability to control property, so female entrepreneurs are often unable to obtain the real estate needed to satisfy traditional collateral requirements for loans. Asset-based lending (ABL) allows businesses to use their company’s moveable assets — such as equipment, vehicles, livestock, and inventory — as pledged collateral. Recently, INVEST and USAID have been exploring the intersection of ABL and women’s access to finance in Colombia.

In the Kyrgyz Republic, traditional state-owned clinics and hospitals offer outdated equipment, a lack of well-trained doctors, and inconsistent quality. A surge in COVID-19 cases has overwhelmed the government-run health system in the country.

USAID’s Mission in Mexico understands that the most effective and long-term solutions should be informed by a variety of organizations and people. USAID Mexico decided that using a co-creation process — a participatory approach to problem-solving that brings people together to design a solution with mutually shared benefits and value — through a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) — was the best strategy to identify viable solutions.

By Emily Langhorne, INVEST Communications Specialist This is the second blog post in USAID/Mexico’s Virtual Co-Creation Series.

By Emily Langhorne, INVEST Communications Specialist This is the third blog post in USAID/Mexico’s Virtual Co-Creation Series. 

By Emily Langhorne, INVEST Communications Specialist This is the final post of USAID/Mexico’s four-part series on hosting virtual co-creation workshops.

This post was originally posted on CARE's website here.

Companies across Africa are using digital technologies to solve health care challenges. American investment can help them improve their products and reach larger customer bases. With USAID assistance in support of Prosper Africa, Field Intelligence — a U.S.-led, Nigerian-based healthcare technology enterprise focused on strengthening the pharmacy supply chain in Nigeria and Kenya —closed its first round of fundraising. This financing will support the scaling-up of company’s Shelf Life service, which helps local pharmacies manage their inventory and avoid stockouts.

COVID-19 has caused major disruptions to health systems, economies, and lives all around the world. Among these, national lockdowns, interruptions of cross-border flows of goods and people, and lack of access to markets and distribution channels pose particular challenges to businesses. In response, firms have adapted their business models to sell their products and services online, identified new distributors and buyers, and quickly adjusted their service offerings.

Experts from USAID and RTI discuss how agricultural market systems – both domestically and globally – can be a driver of resilience, buffering us from the ripple effects of shocks and stresses such as the ongoing pandemic.

In humanitarian response, agencies can provide needed resources in kind to affected families-- or, as is increasingly becoming the norm, through cash transfers or with vouchers.

The term “enabling environment” often conjures a singular focus on policies, laws, and regulations. These formal rules are important and necessary, but they alone are an incomplete picture of the market system. The Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security (EEFS) project recognizes this, and takes a broader view of the enabling environment which holistically considers the incentives and barriers for market actors operating in complex systems.

As investors search out bankable opportunities within green growth sectors, they would do well to look to Sub-Saharan Africa, where renewable natural capital assets account for a higher share of total wealth than in any other region.

What kind of companies pay their median workers more, give more to charity, emit fewer carbon emissions — and have a 56 percent higher total shareholder return over the past five years than other companies? Just companies. And JUST 100 companies.

Banks in Bangladesh are exploring agent banking and digital services as ways of coping with COVID-19 restrictions, expanding financial inclusion to those in need, and preventing the gap in microfinancing from widening further.

On the outskirts of Johannesburg, in the eastern part of Soweto Township, lies South Africa’s most famous street. Vilakazi Street, once home to former South African President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is the only street in the world to have housed two Nobel Prize winners.

This month, Marketlinks is exploring health markets. Throughout November, we will take a deep look into the topic and its relation to other relevant subject areas, like health financing, inclusive health access, and digital technology in health markets

Although the Sahel and West Africa are experiencing rapid economic growth, there are still many threats to the region's food security. In this region, the prevalence of undernourishment has increased from 10.4% in 2010 to 15.1% in 2017 according to the FAO.

The global call for access to quality education for all by 2030 comes with a hefty price tag. To meet this target, we need $40 billion in additional funding every year for primary and secondary education alone. To begin closing this gap, new approaches to mobilizing more resources will be imperative, since development agencies and philanthropic organizations do not have the funds to fill the gap on their own.

On November 12, Marketlinks hosted a webinar discussing two innovative finance interventions that are mobilizing private capital in agricultural finance through an approach that combines market incentives and technical assistance. 

This month, Marketlinks is exploring the topic of Finanical Inclusion. Throughout December, we will take a deep dive into the topic and its relation to other relevant subject areas.

Thanks to a program made possible by the USAID Forests and Deltas Program (VFD), implemented by Winrock International, every six months Koren Gren receives five million Vietnamese dong [USD $213] for his forest protection work — an arrangement that promotes forest conservation and reduces poverty, especially among Vietnam’s poorest ethnic communities.

USAID’s “Journey to Self-Reliance” prioritizes programmes that build a country’s ability to plan, finance, and implement locally-owned solutions to solve its own development challenges.

This month, our theme is Marketlinks 2021! Throughout January, we will be highlighting relevant policies, projects, initiatives, tools, and other innovations in the sector that have either recently launched or will be launching in 2021. 

On December 10, USAID’s Sashi Jayatileke and Wade Channell hosted Joe Heim of Dopkins & Company and Bar Pereg of Deloitte for a discussion on Movable Property Lending, an inclusive finance tool that has recently been introduced to many USAID presence countries. The panel discussed the specific barriers to uptake for movable property lending, approaches that enable financial institutions to overcome these barriers, and broader lessons learned for the development community.