NextBillion - A WDI Publication

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• News
  Viewpoint: How the digital finance revolution can drive sustainable development

  A new task force convened by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will consider how these two topics might best intersect: how the digital revolution in financing could be shaped not only to minimise potential harms, but in ways that could help advance the SDGs’ inspiring vision.

• Blog Post
  Quick Wins for Digital Agriculture: Why Digitizing Aggregation Centers is a Fast Path to Long-Term Impact for Smallholders

  Discussion of digital agriculture innovation often focuses on buzzworthy technologies like the internet of things, artificial intelligence and blockchain. But though these technologies will eventually define the future of the sector, Ananth R Gudipati at the World Food Programme and Paul Kweheria at Mercy Corps say we should start with the basics – getting farmer organizations and SMEs to use digital tech to streamline their operations. They share insights from a digital platform developed by the Farm to Market Alliance that’s doing just that.

• Dennis Garrity

• Blog Post
  Enabling the Business of Recycling: How Innovative Public-Private Partnerships Help to Build Sustainable Cities

  Conversations around environmental sustainability often reduce the issue to a false dichotomy: better policies vs. better business practices. But in fact, leveraging both the government and business sectors can provide unique benefits, say Jorge Noguera at Mastercard and Caleb Shreve at Global Fairness Initiative. They explore the impact of an innovative public-private partnership linking city governments in Peru with a network of waste-pickers to deliver recycling services to households and businesses.

• Jorge Noguera

• News
  Task force on digital financing of UN SDGs launched

  “We have already seen how technology has helped expand financial inclusion — itself an important goal — by 1.2 billion people in just six years,” said Guterres. 

• Blog Post
  The Superplatforms are Coming … And They Will Transform Financial Inclusion

  With their big brands, big budgets and big data, superplatforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba already know more about most banks’ customers than the banks themselves. As these internet giants make increasing inroads into financial services, what are the implications for low-income customers – and their existing providers? David Porteous of BFA and Olga Morawcynski of MasterCard Foundation explore how these platforms are reshaping the face of financial inclusion around the world.
  

• Blog Post
  Gender Discrimination Drives Income Inequality: How Impact Investors Can Respond

  Investors have increasingly begun to realize that income inequality is one of the most urgent socioeconomic challenges of our time. But while the problem has many causes, few stand out as significantly as gender discrimination. In light of a new report on how investors can respond to income inequality, William Burckart, Michael Musuraca and Steve Lydenberg explore the high cost of gender discrimination – and share some of the ways investors are addressing the issue.