Resource Library

This post introduces a resource from Gatsby Africa that looks at the role of finance in sector transformation.

The aim of this report is to establish the growth barriers faced by female entrepreneurs that hinder them growing from micro and small enterprises to medium and large-sized businesses.

Systemic change is often talked about, but poorly understood. Join us as we explore how four Feed the Future projects in Sub-Saharan Africa contributed to changes in the systems in which they worked, across varying market enabling environments and using a range of programmatic approaches.

The PAGE project worked with smallholder cocoa producers—most of whom were vulnerable, including war widows and youths—to address production-to-market transactions and develop competitive agricultural and rural enterprises using a market systems approach. This case study highlights the importance of the facilitation role of the development organization to ensure that stakeholder workshops take place. In the project, a national level stakeholder summit took place to address the constraints and opportunities of the national cocoa value chain in Sierra Leone.

The ProRENDA project implemented by World Vision Angola worked with producers and other value chain actors in the potato, onion, bean, and carrot value chains to increase annual incomes of smallholder farmers in the central highlands in Angola.

The USAID-Foras project is helping Iraqi businesses make smarter hiring choices through the Foras Jobs Portal.

In today’s digitally-connected society, it is possible for companies, nongovernmental organizations and government agencies alike to use social media and website analytics to gain unprecedented insight on their clientele. The Iraq Opportunities Project (USAID-Foras) is using data gleaned from its own online presence to learn more about its beneficiaries and help them to better achieve their goals.

A key challenge identified by companies currently operating in Iraq is a lack of basic skills in the Iraqi workforce. The Iraq Opportunities Project (USAID-Foras) brought together members of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the USAID Mission to Iraq (USAID/Iraq), and training and Corporate-Social Responsibility (CSR) experts from Dana Gas, Crescent Petroleum, Skilliance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Coca Cola, and Afren Energy at a roundtable in December 2013.

This is the presentation from a webinar where panelists representing VEGA's members discussed case study findings examining local capacity building and the impact of gender integration.

In two months, the Iraq Opportunities Project (USAID-Foras) has garnered 100,000 “Likes” on its Facebook page. By Liking the page, Facebook users are effectively subscribing to job announcements, training videos, and similar content that show up in their news feeds when USAID-Foras posts content. This achievement allows USAID-Foras to build on a direct channel to a crucial demographic—young, tech-literate Iraqis.

The Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR) is open for business, and U.S. companies are ready to invest in Iraq’s economic growth. On December 4, 2013, the USAID-Foras Project hosted a private sector meet-and-greet for companies based in Erbil to come together and discuss future investment opportunities. The meeting gave private sector companies a chance to network and discuss specific challenges and opportunities they face related to workforce development. Several U.S.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is growing at more than twice the pace of any other region. Although the overall rate of population expansion has been gradually declining for decades, the absolute number of working-age people will grow by approximately 14 million next year alone (Lam and Leibbrandt 2013). By 2030, when children born this year reach their 16th birthdays, the corresponding labor pool will have grown by 21 million people annually.

This report presents first-year findings from a multi-year study on account uptake and saving patterns and performance in youth savings accounts in four countries: Colombia, Ghana, Kenya and Nepal.

Recent development experiences indicate that smallholders can play a significant role in competitive value chains.

The information contained in this report represents the collective insights of 39 microfinance association leaders from 33 countries across Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

"Mentoring and Belonging" was presented under the Gender track at the 2013 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. Abigail Kaindu and Catherine Boyce from Camfed share how mentoring and coaching enhances young people’s economic participation.

DFID has been one of the leading agencies in Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P), a market systems approach that works with the private sector to catalyze changes in markets that benefit the poor. DFID’s flagship M4P project in Kenya is the Market Assistance Programme (MAP), managed by Mike Field, a recognized leader in value chain and M4P approaches. Field and his team are exploring innovative, scalable solutions in cross-cutting systems and specific value chains.

The Productive Safety Net Program Plus is utilizing a Graduation Pathway Model to help chronically food deficient households in Ethiopia to become food sufficient, and then ultimately to become both food sufficient and resilient.

The Agriculture for Children’s Empowerment (ACE) Project in Liberia is founded on the premise that increased household economic security will stimulate more consistent investments in children’s wellbeing.

This FIELD Brief illustrates the lessons learned through the application of technology to improve business models in two MEDA supported initiatives: mobile vouchers for agriculture in Zambia, and mobile vouchers for bed-net distribution in Tanzania.

A new CARE report looks at lessons from eight innovative projects to connect poor people to banks and financial institutions using mobile phones and other means.

The Tanzania Staples Value Chain Project – NAFAKA, implemented by ACDI/VOCA, is one of the 10 active Feed the Future projects in Tanzania. Chief of Party Lee Rosner discusses NAFAKA’s market-driven, value chain approach to addressing food security concerns in the country, sharing both the challenges and successes encountered during the project’s first year of implementation.

This FIELD Report presents a framework for how gender perspectives and behavior change impacts value chains upgrading.

The goal of this study is to enhance food security by identifying actions that could be taken to increase the competitiveness of food staple value chains and raise rural incomes in West Africa.

The Mali Rice Study provides recommendations for an upgrading strategy to enhance food security and the competitiveness of the rice value chain in Mali.