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The Impact of COVID-19 as Seen in Solar Payment Data – and How One Off-Grid Energy Company is Responding
Since COVID-19 began, the energy company Bboxx has been monitoring payment trends among its 250,000+ pay-as-you-go solar customers in 12 emerging markets. Analysts at Bboxx assess the data from four African countries, exploring what it says about the pandemic's impact on solar electricity users – and about how to support these customers during the crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy
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Africa’s Student Housing Crisis: An Overlooked Need Offers a Major Opportunity for Impact Investors
As COVID-19 spreads across Africa, universities are shutting their doors in unprecedented numbers. But for many African students, home is not an ideal learning environment. According to Abayomi Onasanya at Student Accomod8, that's one reason impact investors should focus on a long-overlooked goal: student housing. He explores how campus housing can make higher education more accessible to millions of young Africans.
- Tags
- housing, impact investing, youth
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Leading a Social Impact Organization During COVID-19: Eight Ways to Navigate the Current Crisis
Leading a social impact-focused organization during a crisis like COVID-19 isn't easy. Alex Counts, the founder of Grameen Foundation and author of two recent books on mission-driven leadership, shares some of the top lessons he has learned from his decades in the sector, to help leaders guide their non-profits and social enterprises through this time of national and global crisis.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Social Enterprise
- Tags
- COVID-19, nonprofits
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Why It’s Time for Africa to Adopt a Regional Digital Financial Identity
Over 1 billion people globally lack any form of officially recognized identification. According to Nkosinathi Ncube at FinMark Trust, this is a significant obstacle to financial inclusion and other development efforts – but overcoming it is no easy task. He explores some of the challenges to expanding access to formal identity in Africa, and explains why an effective solution will require regional action.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Building Back Better: How the COVID-19 Crisis Could Lead to an Integration of Health Care and Finance
Since COVID-19 started, the health care world has been talking about finance, trying to lessen the economic damage of lockdowns. And the financial world has been talking about health, launching new products that address the challenges of the pandemic. Chris Wolff explores how the two industries can use their combined response to rebuild in a way that leaves the world in a better place than it was before.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Health Care, Technology
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Cash Transfers in the U.S. are Exploding: Here’s How to Make them Effective, During COVID-19 and Beyond
The U.S., like over 130 countries around the world, has deployed direct cash transfers to mitigate the hardships of COVID-19. But as Sheida Isabel Elmi and Rachel Black at the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program point out, many U.S. households were financially insecure even before the pandemic began. They argue that cash transfers should be an ongoing response to these vulnerabilities, and share research on how to leverage these programs for the fullest benefit.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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A New Test for Old Technology: How COVID-19 is Sparking Innovation in PayGo Financing for Biodigesters
Biodigesters transform animal manure into high-quality fertilizer and biogas, replacing the need for wood-burning cooking stoves – and PayGo financing enables smallholders to afford them. But as Laura Harwig at Feed the Future explains, COVID-19 has made it harder for farmers to make their payments. She explores how the biodigester company ATEC* has adapted its PayGo model to help farmers weather these challenges.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Technology
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India Needs More Non-Profit Unicorns: Here’s How Transparency and Disclosure Standards Can Help Build Them
India's non-profits are tackling huge social challenges, but they're facing a persistent problem: inadequate funding. According to Varad Pande and Rahul Bhide at Omidyar Network, this issue is driven in part by a lack of disclosure standards detailing the information non-profits should share about their impact. They explore how simple yet robust standards could boost transparency and increase trust among donors, bringing more capital and talent into the sector.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment
