NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Description

The Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2026 marks a significant milestone as we celebrate the Asian Development Bank’s 60th anniversary while addressing the most pressing challenges in clean energy transition.

ACEF 2026 signifies a crucial milestone in the institution’s energy engagement in Asia and the Pacific. The forum reflects ADB’s updated Energy Policy in 2025 and responds to the region’s growing demand for clean energy solutions that are secure, resilient, and inclusive. It takes place against a backdrop of economic uncertainty in Asia and the Pacific, with regional growth projected to slow to 4.0% in 2026. At the same time, persistent energy access gaps continue to affect more than 400 million people, while rising geopolitical and trade tensions add further pressure on economies across the region.

ACEF serves as a regional platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and the promotion of practical clean energy solutions that go beyond conventional transition models. The forum will bring together a diverse range of stakeholders including governments, private sector actors, academia, financial institutions, NGOs, and development partners to collectively address the region’s pressing energy challenges and emerging opportunities.

• Universal Health Coverage: Primary Health Care & Community Health Systems
• Lifelong Wellness: Chronic Conditions, Mental Health & Aging
• One Health & Climate Resilience: Nutrition and Food Security
• Digital Transformation of Health Systems: Public Digital Infrastructure, Data, AI & Interoperability
• Health Equity: Youth, Women & the Health Workforce
• HealthTech Entrepreneurship: Financing, Governing & Scaling HealthTech Innovation

The Africa Healthtech Summit Canada – AHTSx Canada will bring together leaders across health, innovation, policy, and investment. It’s a great opportunity for individuals working in global health, market-based solutions, or health innovation in emerging markets.

Professionals in impact measurement and management (IMM) come from a variety of professional backgrounds, some getting into IMM from a field-building or standard setting role, some from consulting, and others from Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL). A recent survey of IMM professionals within the impact investing industry provided evidence of these varying career paths – in fact, over 35% of respondents came to IMM with a background in MEL role. The survey also showed high levels of job satisfaction overall, but an eagerness for more growth opportunities, climate expertise, and data skills. In particular, those with a MEL background reported lower job satisfaction and weaker internal influence within their organizations.

Join this webinar featuring co-researchers Genevieve Edens, who got her IMM start at a social enterprise and a field-building organization, and Caitlin Rosser, who studied M&E in grad school and then got her IMM start through internal promotion, to unpack the data and offer insights into critical questions facing IMM professionals today. We will discuss MEL as an entry point into IMM, and how MEL skills and experience translate into an impact investing job. We will focus on what survey respondents said about career trajectory, technical expertise and data skills, and internal leadership.

Your link to the people, ideas and solutions driving South Africa’s infrastructure delivery.

About South Africa Infrastructure Expo
South Africa Infrastructure Expo is an innovative event dedicated to advancing the infrastructure industry in South Africa. As an essential part of the country’s transformation goals, this event aims to encourage conversation, collaboration, and innovation in the critical field of infrastructure development. With the South African infrastructure market valued at $193 billion, the event serves as a timely platform to address the nation’s infrastructure needs and opportunities, aligning with the objectives of the National Development Plan 2030 and the National Infrastructure Plan 2050.

At the South Africa Infrastructure Expo, our aim is clear: to provide a dynamic platform for industry stakeholders to exchange ideas, showcase innovations, and forge partnerships that shape the nation’s infrastructure development.

GGSF Gender-Smart Action Lab is a one-day interactive gathering for people working across finance and impact who are ready to roll up their sleeves, challenge a few assumptions, and learn from each other around a simple idea: Finance can work better for women, and figuring out how should be practical and collaborative.

Why does it matter

Since its launch in February 2009, the Fund has played a pivotal role in driving economic development in emerging markets by providing development finance to micro-enterprises and low-income households through partner financial intermediaries (PFIs). Reflecting the dynamic changes in the microfinance sector, the Fund enhanced its mission from the 1st of January 2024, with a renewed focus on gender-smart financial services

Mission

The GGSF, a  $500 million blended finance fund, addresses the funding gap faced by underserved women and women-led business in developing markets. Through gender-smart financial services and technical support, it promotes livelihoods, gender equality, and women’s leadership.

Time: 9am – 5pm CEST

When communities are excluded from the decisions that impact them and shape where capital flows, equity remains an aspirational principle rather than a lived practice. Across impact investing, social finance, philanthropy, and the broader social purpose sector, practitioners are increasingly asking: How do we move beyond intention to embed equity into decision-making in meaningful, consistent, and accountable ways?

Join us for a practical conversation about how participatory approaches can strengthen governance, due diligence, and capital allocation; and how these practices drive stronger gender equality, social equity, and organizational outcomes.

The session will leverage the Social Equity Lens Investing (SELI) Coding System, Canada’s national framework for social equity and gender lens investing developed by the Government of Canada through the Social Finance Fund. Participants will learn how the SELI framework can be used both as a taxonomy to classify social equity and gender lens investments, and as a practical roadmap for advancing equity outcomes progressively.

This session is designed for practitioners across impact investing, philanthropy, social finance, foundations, community finance, and social purpose. Participants will leave with practical insights, examples, and considerations for integrating participatory and equity-centered approaches into investment, funding, and organizational decision-making.

Your Host & Moderator:
Laura Groggel, Principal Consultant, Kore Global
Joanne Norris, Board Director, Social Venture Partners Vancouver

Panelists:
Filsan Farah, Chair, Realize Capital Partner’s Sector Advisory Committee
Omar Goodgame, Youth Engagement Coordinator, EveryMind Mental Health Services
Jeraldine Marshall, Director of Finance, NEDC

To learn more about our speakers, visit: https://koreglobal.org/kgrcp-webinar/

Time: 12:30 PM

Welcome investors, DFIs, and FIEC members!
We hope to see you all this year at the 2026 SIWG/FIEC Meeting in Amsterdam, held on June 10-12th. This three-day event will be a lively interaction between debt and equity investors. Session topics will include:

How debt and equity investing can complement each other for greater impact
Managing client protection across the investment lifecycle
Adapting sustainable finance regulation to investing in emerging markets
Investing for systemic impact
… and more!

The activities of the SIWG are funded by the generous contributions of the Government of Luxembourg (Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs – Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs and Ministry of Finance), as well as SPTF annual membership fees.