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Press Release: DFC Financing up to US $1 Billion for Gavi COVID-19 Vaccine and Ancillary Supply Purchase and Delivery
The White House announced that US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Gavi have partnered to create the COVAX Rapid Financing Facility.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
- Region
- Global
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Africa CDC Urges COVID-19 Vaccine Buyers to Order From South Africa’s Aspen
Africa’s top public health body urged all those purchasing COVID-19 vaccines for the continent to place orders with South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare APNJ.J.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- COVID-19, manufacturing, vaccines
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The Overlooked Needs of India’s SMEs: Why Knowledge, Emotional and Relationship Capital are Key to their Pandemic Recovery and Long-Term Competitiveness
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India – and around the world – have been harshly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Samir Sathe at Wadhwani Advantage, these enterprises will need new sources of competitive advantage – including knowledge, emotional and relationship capital – if they hope to recover and grow. He explains why these alternative forms of capital are essential to running a small business, and explores how current learning and development efforts are falling short in meeting SMEs' unique needs.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
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Protecting Clients in a Crisis: Five Lessons BRAC Learned While Re-Engineering its Microlending Strategy During COVID-19
COVID-19 has had a harsh impact on small businesses and the people who depend on them – and this impact has also affected their lending institutions. As Sahed Shams Azad at BRAC Microfinance explains, pandemic-related business closures have prevented many borrowers from making repayments, disrupting their lives – and BRAC Microfinance's nearly billion-dollar monthly lending cycle. He explores the dramatic adjustments the organization has made to its operations in response to this crisis, and how it has protected its clients' best interests throughout the process.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Finance
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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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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
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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, Social Enterprise, Technology, WASH
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