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Solving the Credit Impasse: How Big Data and AI are Generating Funding Opportunities for Smallholder Farmers in Africa
Smallholder farmers provide over 80% of the food in much of the developing world, making a major contribution to poverty reduction and food security. Yet as Iftin Fatah at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation points out, in Africa, less than 3% of total bank lending goes to the sector – even though it accounts for about 70% of all employment and over 40% of GDP. She explores some innovative, tech-driven solutions to this perennial problem.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Overcoming an Outdated Narrative: Why Investors Need to Recognize Africa’s True Potential
Many Western people have an outdated view of Africa, defined by senseless wars, poverty and disease. As Cameron Khosrowshahi and Emily Langhorne at USAID INVEST point out, this worldview even permeates the financial sector, causing investors to overemphasize risks and overlook opportunities that could benefit both investors and African nations. They provide a necessary corrective in this article, urging institutional investors in particular to embrace these opportunities.
- Categories
- Investing
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Responding to COVID-19 in the Developing World
The mass social distancing strategy being used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the United States and Europe doesn’t easily translate to a developing country like Bangladesh, which lacks the capacity to impose restrictions or provide a social safety net for the unemployed. We talked with Yale SOM development economist Mushfiq Mobarak about how he is repurposing his research infrastructure in Bangladesh to gather information and test approaches to spreading public health messages.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- Region
- South Asia
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Moving Past Traditional Philanthropy: A Q&A with Enterprise Development Pioneer Frank Giustra
Earlier this year, the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership announced that it was spinning off from the Clinton Foundation, where it had been an initiative since its founding in 2007. The independent organization, now called Acceso, works to build businesses and connect them to the broader marketplace – particularly in Latin America. Its founder, Frank Giustra, discusses its new focus and ongoing work in this Q&A.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Press Release: COVID-19: Data for a Resilient Africa
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) have unveiled an initiative to strengthen Africa’s data ecosystems in the face of COVID-19.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- data, global development
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BlackRock Unveils Impact Fund With COVID-19 Focus
The portfolio focuses on a broad spread of themes including access to quality education and affordable housing, and developing healthcare innovation to help with societal challenges such as the current Covid-19 pandemic which has caused over 130,000 deaths worldwide at the time of writing.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Investing
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The SDGs Are Falling Short on African Poverty: SME Investment Could be a Game Changer
Though the UN's first Sustainable Development Goal aims to eradicate poverty, this goal is not on track to be met – particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where projections indicate that over 23% of the population will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030. Trevor Hambayi argues that there's a clear need to look past the UN's favored strategies of addressing poverty through government and NGOs, and to focus instead on unlocking the potential of Africa's small and medium enterprises.
- Categories
- Finance
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Cash Transfers Lead the Social Assistance Response to COVID-19
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries are using cash transfers — a tool that can be fast and support local economies. The humanitarian sector has used this tactic for years to ensure that communities living through crises don’t slip into deep poverty.
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa