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Filling the Water Access Funding Gap: Three Lessons to Maximize the Impact of Innovative Finance
More than two billion people still live without access to safe drinking water, but global funding to meet their water needs is severely lacking. As Lauren Cuscuna of Safe Water Network explains, innovative financing mechanisms can help fill the gap – but blended finance transactions in the water sector are lower than in other industries. She shares three key lessons Safe Water Network has learned while implementing innovative financing approaches to meet the long-term needs of the local water enterprises it works with in Ghana and India.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment, Technology, WASH
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African Development Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund Provides More Than $7.3 Million for Youth Jobs and Skills
Launched in November 2017, the Fund promotes the creation of sustainable jobs for young Africans by equipping youth and women-led startups, as well as micro, small and medium enterprises with the skills, financial support and enabling environments to run bankable businesses.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- innovation
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Innovation in Action: Lessons From Healthcare Innovators That Rapidly Pivoted To Respond to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced health-focused social enterprises to adjust their methods and priorities, shifting their modes of patient engagement and even developing entirely new programs. Innovations in Healthcare, a nonprofit housed at Duke University, studied a group of health innovators working in low- and middle-income countries to understand these shifts. Victoria Hsiung, Sowmya Rajan and Katie Flowers share insights from a recent white paper analyzing how these organizations have adapted, assessing four groups' choices and exploring the lessons learned.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care, Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Press Release: Bboxx To Bring Clean Energy to 2 Million People in Burkina Faso With Geocoton Advens Group Joint Venture
Bboxx, a next generation utility, is partnering via a first-of-a-kind joint venture with Geocoton Advens Group as part of Bboxx’s market entry into Burkina Faso.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Viewpoint: The Emerging Market Grind: How ‘Doing More With Less’ Leads To More Resilient, Scalable Startups
Sebastián Vidal discusses why startups that want to become profitable and enduring, fast, should consider starting up in emerging markets.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Global
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Below the Tip of the Iceberg: Why Systems Change is the Key to Scaling Innovations and Solving Development Challenges
In recent years there has been an increased focus on systems change in the development sector, in response to growing awareness of how underlying systemic causes are perpetuating many global challenges. María Boa-Alvarado at CIMMYT, Lennart Woltering at One CGIAR and Marcos Sanjuán at CRS-El Salvador discuss the benefits of this approach, as applied to the issue of land degradation in Central America. They explore how their organizations are using a systems thinking tool, the iceberg model, to better understand the root causes of this problem – and to provide lasting solutions.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Technology
- Tags
- innovation, scale, systems change
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10 Financial Literacy Solutions Receive Grants, Support From Nationwide Innovation Challenge
Ten financial literacy innovations were awarded grants and support from PhilDev Foundation and Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. (CLFI) to boost financial literacy in underserved communities in the Philippines.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- South Asia
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Analysis: Despite Coronavirus, Healthcare Investment Continues to Grow in Africa
Investment in Africa's healthcare sector is crucial as private provision accounts for approximately half of healthcare goods and services delivered. The private sector often fills gaps left by public services, according to research by the IFC.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- innovation