Resource Library

Authored by Paul Newall, Senior Technical Director of Partnerships & Investment at ACDI/VOCA

The purpose of this technical brief is to help readers make connections about the relationship between climate change and conflict. It provides USAID’s definition of climate security, and highlights multiple ways in which climate change and conflict interact, and describes approaches for USAID programming.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) affirms that gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment are fundamental for the realization of human rights and key to effective and sustainable development outcomes. For societies to thrive, women and girls, men and boys, and gender-diverse individuals must have the agency, social support, and structures to make their own choices and live free from violence and abuse. They must have equal rights and opportunities, as well as equal and safe access to and control over resources.

The objective of the assessment is to provide a comprehensive diagnostic of the country’s ecommerce ecosystem, mainly highlighting strengths and weaknesses. The assessment will be centered around 5 key areas in e-commerce: Physical Connectivity (Infrastructure ecosystem), Finance and Payments (Access to finance and e-payments ecosystem), Governance (Policies, regulations, e-gov and statistics), Online Markets (Platforms, trade facilitation, logistics) and Enterprise (Entrepreneurship, incubators and accelerators, and skills).

EU Africa RISE has conducted an in-depth and comprehensive feasibility study for the establishment and focused strategic positioning of Mauritius as a regional pharmaceutical and biotechnology hub. This report was prepared in response to a request from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Mauritius Institute of Biotechnology with the support of the EU Delegation of Mauritius. The ambition is to make this sector a key pillar of the economy and there is enormous benefits to exploit the potential of Mauritius.

Although gender inequality in the workplace in Mauritius has roots in gender-biased conservative as well as patriarchal norms, values and culture, the issue of providing a psychologically safe workspace for women remains critical. Policymakers tend to focus on what is tangible, such as laws, policies and budgets. Yet, it is important not to neglect the invisible power of norms at the risk of missing a deeper understanding of social change.

Image This brief is written by Bronwyn Irwin for DAI with contributions from Daniella Maor.

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Catalytic funding is the provision of resources to an investment fund or vehicle designed to mitigate risk and improve the fund's overall viability to attract new investment for development goals. These intermediaries pool resources and distribute risks among investors and are a primary vehicle for blended finance. In many markets in which USAID is present, funds or financial vehicles capable of addressing USAID priorities are few in number and/or too small or inexperienced to make an impact at the needed scale.

This tool was developed to help facilitate an intentional, timely and systematic way to monitor the partnership's processes and reduce collaborative challenges that partners typically face in such engagements. This tool aims to provide a starting point for those involved in the partnership/ engagement to identify any 'red flags' or signs such as slowing down of the partnership processes, slow progress, frustration among partners. These are indications of 'collaborative inertia'.

This questionnaire was developed to regularly assess private sector partner’s partnering experience throughout the PSE Lifecycle. This survey can be used as a pulse check as it allows partners to self-assess whether they are having a positive or negative partnering experience at a moment-in-time, and should be followed up with constructive dialogue to address any issues identified from the survey results.

This design workbook should be used collaboratively among USAID, private sector partners, implementing partners and other stakeholders who might be involved in the PSE activities. The purpose of this workbook is to incorporate their perspectives and potentially help identify any assumptions, risks or unintended consequences that the private sector engagement activity could encounter.

These case studies are not written as success stories, which are more typical in international development. The purpose of these case studies is to showcase the complex, iterative processes that are typically used while exploring, formulating and implementing these partnerships. These case studies present the narrative story of the partnership from a process perspective, including different external events or internal changes that resulted in challenges or bottlenecks in the process and impacted the partnership's progress and planned outcomes.

This paper summarizes the key findings from the analysis of the Water Innovation Technologies (WIT) Program Household Loan Program (HLP) performance & economics and the main results from the economic evaluation.

With a legal identification - like a passport or a national ID card - women and girls have a wider range of economic opportunities. Without one, women generally remain in the informal sector without legal protection, access to formal financial services, government entrepreneurship programmes, or the ability to bid on public tenders. It is almost impossible to, for example, register a business or secure land tenure without proof of ID. However, with an ID in hand, women can secure work in the formal sector, register and grow their businesses, and secure property rights.

Bangladesh has developed significantly in the 50 years since its founding in 1971. It is now globally recognized as a rapidly growing economy with vast market potential. The United States, in the same period, has funded over $9.5 billion in support of Bangladesh’s development and has become Bangladesh’s largest trading partner.

Learning is at the heart of the process of economic development—it drives more competitive, resilient, and inclusive firms and systems. Yet learning is less frequently seen as a critical function within systems that can catalyze and quicken systems change and enable adaptation.

The World Trade Organization and World Bank’s report, The Role of Trade in Promoting Gender Equality, highlights there is a positive correlation among GDP, trade, investment, gender equality, and women’s economic empowerment. Greater gender equality improves economic returns in trade and investment and vice versa.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are popular targets of donor assistance; they form the majority of the business base and are significant drivers of both gross domestic product (GDP) and employment in many developing countries.

The USAID Women’s Economic Empowerment Community of Practice (USAID WEE CoP) developed this infographic to summarize evidence and recommended actions from a USAID landscaping study conducted on women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and government laws and regulations and business policies. 

This paper provides insights from a mapping exercise that looked at MSMEs’ investment needs and opportunities in the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and renewable energy (RE) sectors in Zimbabwe. The study, which was requested by the EU Delegation (EUD), made a number of recommendations that can be taken up by the EUD to attract investments that would have a long lasting impact on MSMEs, including by using guarantee facilities under the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+).

In the summer of 2021, the Solid Waste Management Division of the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change of Mauritius requested the assistance of Africa RISE to conduct a comprehensive technical and economic feasibility study for the establishment, operation and management of an end-of-life vehicle dismantling and parts recycling facility. The study was also to consider other options for end-of-life vehicles, and assess the changes that might be required in existing legislation and regulations.

For Food Enterprise Solutions (FES), every day is a day to support persons with disabilities. But on December 3rd, 2022, FES joined with the international community to celebrate International Day of Persons with Disabilities with the theme “Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world.” BD4FS and the Women’s Committee of the Senegalese Federation of Associations of Disabled Persons co-organized four training sessions for over 200 disabled women entrepreneurs in the Senegalese food sector.

The private sector plays an important role in reducing food loss and waste (FLW) because private companies are involved in all stages of the supply chain that generate food loss and waste. While larger food companies may have significant resources dedicated to making their supply chain more efficient and reducing waste, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have received relatively little attention despite their critical role in the food system. Therefore, it is important to understand the costs and benefits of addressing food loss among SMEs.