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Using Blended Finance to Navigate the Pandemic: How an Innovative Funding Vehicle is Helping SMEs Survive COVID-19 and Advance the SDGs
Emerging economies' progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is behind schedule, and COVID-19 has set their efforts back even further. Margi Goelz at Georgetown University and Bridget Bradley at Tetra Tech discuss the value of blended finance in closing these countries' estimated $2.5 trillion annual SDG funding gap. They explore how an innovative blended finance facility has helped a Kenya-based energy company navigate the pandemic and contribute to the SDGs, and how this approach can support other small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Energy, Investing
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Getting Children Back to School: Lessons Learned from Uganda as it Ends the World’s Longest COVID-19 Shutdown
Uganda recently reopened schools after the world’s longest COVID-19 shutdown. Due to limited access to online education, most young people had not been learning for nearly two years – and officials estimate that roughly a third won't ever return to school. Atul Tandon and Andrew McCusker at Opportunity International explore the impact of pandemic closures on low-cost private schools in the country, discuss the particular risks of school closures for girls, and share three key lessons that can help schools successfully reopen and bring students back to the classroom.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Education
- Tags
- COVID-19, gender equality, youth
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Pandemic Sends 4.7 Million More People Into Extreme Poverty in South East Asia – Asian Development Bank
The pandemic added 4.7 million more people to Southeast Asia's most extreme poor in 2021, reversing gains made in fighting poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Analysis: How Drug Companies Are Sidestepping the WHO’s Technology Transfer Hub in Africa
Once the platform has been fully developed and tested in Cape Town, it will facilitate technology transfer to at least 12 low- and middle-income countries.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Analysis: COVID Has Intensified Gender Inequalities, Global Study Finds
Researchers find women hit harder by negative social and economic impacts of the pandemic than men.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
- Region
- Global
- Tags
- gender equality
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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
- COVID-19, energy access, PAYGO finance, solar
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$150 Million Asian Development Bank Loan to Support Green Recovery, Catalyze Financing Toward SDGs in Indonesia
The Asian Development Bank has approved a $150 million loan to support a facility aimed at accelerating Indonesia’s economic recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and catalyzing public and private funds to support green and bankable infrastructure projects.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance, Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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NextBillion’s 2022 Reader and Guest Writer Survey: Share Your Views and Help Shape Our Coverage
As an open forum for the development through enterprise sector, almost all of NextBillion's content is guest written. That's why it's important for us to check in periodically with our writers and readers, to get a better sense of how well our coverage is suiting your needs – and what we could do better. To that end, we've put together a brief, six-question survey, and we invite both writers and readers to share your views. Your input will be highly valuable as we work to highlight the businesses, innovations, debates and leaders that are shaping the sector.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Coronavirus, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Investing, NextBillion Originals, Technology, WASH
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