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The Global Development Sector Is Focused On Gender-Based Violence: Investors Should Be Too
In September, the U.N. adopted a resolution condemning all forms of sexual and gender-based violence (GBV), reflecting a growing recognition of the profound consequences of this global problem. But as Josh Dobiac at Milliman Financial Risk Management and Alana Kolundzija at Collective Impact argue, global development organizations aren't the only ones who should play a role in addressing GBV. They explore how investment decisions can impact GBV, and make the case for tackling this issue through socially responsible investing.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Bringing a Gender Lens to Technical Assistance: New Research Reveals the Benefits and Costs of Gender-Smart TA to SMEs and Investors
There’s growing momentum behind gender lens strategies in impact investing. But according to Yaquta Kanchwala Fatehi at the William Davidson Institute and Lisa Willems and Ladé Araba at the AlphaMundi Foundation, investors tend to apply a gender lens to their investing and pipeline development activities – but not to technical assistance and other types of post-investment support. They share findings from a recent study from the Gender-Smart Enterprise Assistance Research Coalition (G-SEARCh) consortium, which explores the business case for gender-smart technical assistance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Designing an Impact Measurement Strategy: What’s Your North Star?
As impact investing evolves, there are a growing number of impact measurement solutions available to investors and the ecosystem at large. But as Shruti Goel at Upaya Social Ventures and Sachi Shenoy at Calidris explain, the deluge of impact measurement data, frameworks and methods can be confusing. They share some key lessons Upaya has learned in its 11 years of supporting impactful entrepreneurs, and explore how investors can develop a robust measurement strategy that helps them understand the breadth and depth of their impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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From Impact Investing to ‘Impact-First’ Investing: Seven Ways Investors Can Take a Holistic Lifecycle Approach to Impact
Impact investing is playing a growing role in addressing many complex societal problems. But as Varad Pande and Twinkle Malhan at Omidyar Network India point out, one of the critiques of the sector is that its approach to impact is not holistic – i.e., many investors' focus on impact stops after a fund's strategy has been set and its deals have been vetted. To address this issue, they propose a more holistic approach to creating impact across the lifecycle of each investment – from sourcing higher-impact deals, to supporting investees' efforts to sustain and increase their impact.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
- Tags
- impact investing
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Why Social Enterprises Struggle to Measure Impact – And What Impact Investors Can Do About It
Impact investors typically rely on output measurements, such as total capital invested or number of people served, to assess their impact. But it's harder for investors and their investees to sustainably capture outcome data that assesses actual improvements in customers' lives. Spencer MacColl at Kiva shares data from Kiva's annual impact measurement survey, which reflects the current measurement practices and challenges of the microfinance institutions and other social enterprises Kiva supports. He explores the lessons these findings offer to impact investors and others who are working to design more effective measurement practices.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Redefining ‘Business as Usual’: Three Ways to Overcome Barriers to ESG and Climate Finance
Climate change imposes significant costs on the economy, and addressing the crisis is key to businesses’ long-term success and viability. But as Roger-Mark De Souza at Pact explains, despite the growing urgency of the need, the business case for moving toward sustainability – and the fact that up to 80-90% of investors want to invest in socially and environmentally friendly ways – actual green investing hovers at just 10%. He explores the reasons for the gap between investor interest and action, and proposes three ways to address it.
- Categories
- Environment, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Reaching Informal Savings Groups with Formal Financial Products: A Study’s Unexpected Findings Reveal the Challenges of Digitizing Transactions
Formalizing the financial activities of informal savings groups has long been a priority in financial inclusion. Since 2015, the Savings at the Frontier program has worked to deepen the relationships between these groups and formal financial service providers, on the assumption that this would lead group members to open individual accounts and reap the benefits of digital transactions. But as Raksha Vasudevan explains, the results of a program evaluation have challenged these assumptions. She explores these findings, and their implications for efforts to digitize informal savings groups.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment, Technology
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Understanding COVID-19’s Impact on PAYGo Solar: Data From a Pioneering Study Reveals Key Insights About the Sector’s Financial Sustainability
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on PAYGo solar, causing up to 23 million people and 600,000 enterprises to miss out on improved energy access. Drew Corbyn at GOGLA, Bill Gallery at IFC and Roan Borst at Triple Jump share the results of a first-of-its-kind study that measured the impact of the crisis on the sector’s financial performance, based on data collected from 13 PAYGo solar companies. They discuss what these findings mean for the industry as it works to emerge from the pandemic’s ongoing disruptions.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Finance, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- energy access, solar
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