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Building Smarter Data Practices in Entrepreneurship Support Ecosystems: How Entrepreneurs, Investors and Other Stakeholders Can Drive Systemic Change
Entrepreneurship support ecosystems include a diverse range of actors, from incubators and accelerators to policymakers, impact investors and other funders. But though strengthening these ecosystems is a growing priority in emerging markets, monitoring, evaluation and learning remains a persistent challenge, due in part to a lack of data sharing. Heather Esper at the William Davidson Institute and Keith Obade and Moses Waweru at Villgro Africa explore the reasons various stakeholders collect data, the obstacles that keep this data fragmented and underutilized, and the ways these ecosystems can improve their data practices.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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Africa to Be Hit Hard as UK Foreign Aid Cuts Revealed
A Foreign Office report and impact assessment show the biggest cuts this year will come in Africa, with less spent on women's health and water sanitation with increased risks, it says, of disease and death.
- Categories
- Finance, Health Care, WASH
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Measuring Systems Change in Agricultural Finance in Africa: Practical Metrics and Guidance for Detecting and Tracking Real Change
Despite employing 65-70% of the region's population and contributing 20-40% of national GDPs, Africa's agriculture sector receives less than 3% of its overall commercial credit — and in some countries, that share hasn't changed for decades. But according to Carla Legros, a consultant and strategist in agricultural and inclusive finance, that doesn't necessarily mean that progress has stalled. She proposes a set of metrics for assessing whether systems change is actually happening in the continent's agricultural finance sector.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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Press Release: 60 Decibels Study Finds Loans to Savings Groups Contribute to Stronger Financial Resilience in Africa
Through VisionFund’s Finance Accelerating Savings Group Transformation (FAST) programme, the study has demonstrated that access to capital combined with financial education can help businesses grow.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Evidential: A New Experiment Engine for the Social Sector
Jointly developed by The Agency Fund and IDinsight to enable rigorous, real-time learning.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Global
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Report: UNICEF and Partners Bring Child-Lens Investing to the Forefront of Global Financial Inclusion
The four organizations, along with a cohort of impact investors and financial services companies, have collaborated to embed the child-lens impact assessment approach into the 2025 Microfinance Index (MFI Index), the world's largest financial inclusion study grounded in customer voice.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care
- Region
- Global
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To Truly Innovate, WASH Funders Need to Get Their Hands Dirty: Key Learnings from Five Years of Pioneering Impact-Linked Finance in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
The water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector faces a funding gap of around US $138 billion per year if it hopes to reach SDG 6’s goal of universal WASH access by 2030. According to Arnaud Alt and Annemarie Mastenbroek at Aqua for All, and Christina Moehrle, to address this shortfall, funders need to develop more hands-on financing approaches, working closely with entrepreneurs and organizations to better understand their context, challenges and needs. They explain why Impact-Linked Finance (ILF) represents one such approach, and share two key lessons from Aqua for All's "ILF for WASH" program.
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Demystifying Impact Measurement and Management Using a Systems Lens: Four Jargon-Free Webinars from Glocal Evaluation Week 2025
Want to start collecting relevant impact data on your business — or improve your existing impact measurement and management (IMM) practices? Applying a systems lens to these efforts can offer great value, and though the concept of systems thinking can seem intimidating, it’s actually quite straightforward. The William Davidson Institute will host four free public webinars June 2-5, which will explain core principles of IMM using a systems lens. Presented in jargon-free terms, the webinars will discuss real-world applications for businesses and other organizations working in areas ranging from healthcare and energy to entrepreneurship and empowerment.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Investing, Social Enterprise
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