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Wrap-Around Services Are Changing the Face of Microfinance – For the Better: New Research Shows the Impact of Going Beyond Credit
While loans have always been at the heart of microfinance, credit alone is often not enough to create meaningful impact. To address this, many providers offer additional wrap-around services — from training and health support to savings, insurance and payment solutions — aimed at increasing the impact of their loans. Devin Olmack at 60 Decibels shares findings from 60 Decibels' 2023 Microfinance Index, based on conversations with over 32,000 borrowers across 32 countries, that show the increasing need for a spectrum of services that go beyond microcredit.
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- Finance
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Understanding Digital Public Infrastructure: What it Means — and Why it Matters — to Businesses and Governments in Emerging Markets
In recent months, there has been an outpouring of media coverage and analysis on the topic of digital public infrastructure (DPI). David Porteous, Priya Vora, Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi and Peter Rabley explore the ongoing efforts to develop a shared understanding of what DPI means, and how it can impact global digital development. They urge DPI stakeholders to look beyond narrow, government-centered use cases and existing digital systems to envision next-generation applications based on public and private sector collaboration.
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- Finance, Technology
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Using AI to Transform Impact Measurement: Overcoming Language Barriers in Global Development Research
Language and cultural barriers often create a “listening divide” between the providers and beneficiaries of global development programs. According to Daryl Collins and Pravarakya Reddy Battula at Decodis, these barriers make it difficult to develop effective anti-poverty solutions — and artificial intelligence (AI) can play a key role in addressing them. They discuss how Decodis is using AI technology to facilitate survey data collection and analysis in its poverty alleviation research, and highlight the role human intelligence must still play in guiding these efforts.
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- Technology
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Progress in Bridging the Digital Divide: Key Mobile Industry Innovations that are Bringing Internet Access to Developing Countries
More than a third of the world’s population have never used the internet, and closing this digital divide is an increasingly urgent global development priority. But as Andy McLean at Analog Devices explains, there’s more to the digital divide than a simple lack of internet access, as the problem is driven by other factors like affordability, users’ knowledge and skillsets, and access to electricity and reliable identification. He explores how the mobile industry is innovating to address this multifaceted challenge in developing countries.
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- Technology, Telecommunications
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The Overlapping Impacts of Off-Grid Solar: Four Ways Innovative Funding Can Enable the Sector to Advance Global Climate and Poverty Goals
How can the off-grid solar sector achieve its energy access and climate-related goals? Laura Fortes and Drew Corbyn at GOGLA argue that there’s one clear answer to that question: more and better finance. They discuss four ways innovative funding models can enable the sector to rapidly and radically accelerate progress toward universal energy access and other development goals.
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- Energy, Environment, Investing, Technology
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Strengthening the Front Lines in the Fight Against Climate Change: A Call for Investment in Coastal Communities’ Resilience
This week, both the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Summit and Climate Week NYC are happening in New York, at the end of the hottest summer on record. As Florian Kemmerich at Palladium and Bamboo Capital Partners points out, there are good reasons for the alignment between the two events and the growing urgency of the discussion — particularly in a coastal city like New York. He explores how coastal communities bear the brunt of escalating climate impacts, and how investing in their climate resilience can support progress toward the other SDGs.
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- Environment, Investing
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Looking Back, Looking Forward: Exploring NextBillion’s New Features and Updated Design, As We Approach Our Third Decade Online
Yesterday, NextBillion launched the latest phase of our ongoing site redesign. Since this redesign represents one of the most significant shifts of the site’s features and functionality in our almost 20-year history, we wanted to explain the thinking behind these changes, and explore how our new design reflects both NextBillion’s ongoing evolution, and the evolution of the broader “impact media” space.
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- Social Enterprise
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A Pivotal Moment to Invest in Africa: How Impact Investing Can Transform the Continent’s Healthcare Value Chain
The global impact investment market is estimated to be worth US $1.16 trillion, but less than 2% of these investments are channeled to Africa’s health markets. Abiodun Awosusi at the Ivey Business School argues that this should not be the case, as the continent offers uniquely valuable opportunities for health businesses and the investors that support them. He explores the overlapping trends that are driving these opportunities, and shares some ways investors and other stakeholders can get involved.
- Categories
- Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise