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From Haiti to China: 5 Pilots Begin to Reveal Digital Credit’s Uneven Impact
Demand for digital credit is growing in emerging markets, sparking opportunities for providers – and critical questions about its impact on low-income borrowers. CEGA's Digital Credit Observatory awarded five short-term pilot grants to studies in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, India and China, which provided some intriguing answers. Alexandra Wall, Natasha Beale and Carson Christiano of CEGA explore some of the studies' takeaways.
- Categories
- Finance, Impact Assessment
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This $118 million mutual fund pays companies in carbon credits
What does the growth of a smallholder milk farm in Kenya have to do with the success of institutional investor SAP? The Livelihoods Carbon Fund, a newly launched impact investment fund, ties global sustainable economic development to emissions reduction from Danone, SAP, Schneider Electric and five other corporations. Launched Dec. 11 — just before the International Climate Summit in Paris — the fund aims to reach about a $118 million investment in ecosystem restoration, agroforestry and renewable energy projects next year in Africa, Asia and Latin America, which will avoid or sequester up to 25 million tons of CO2 over 20 years.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The path to empowering and profiting off India’s next wave of online users
The Omidyar Network’s latest report offers entrepreneurs valuable tips on how to access India’s next gigantic wave of online users.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Microloans: Boon or bane for Cambodia’s rural poor?
Microfinance evokes both wariness and optimism here in the Cambodian countryside, where low incomes and savings mean farmers often borrow small sums at high interest rates to fertilize their plots.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Indian State to partner with Yunus for poverty eradication
The Yunus Social Business (YSB) is an initiative that creates and empowers social businesses to solve social problems.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- South Asia
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Development aid in Africa is flowing to the rich in urban areas and not the poor
In his paper published this month, Ryan C. Briggs, an assistant professor at the department of political science, shows that there are spatial differences in the degree to which aid reaches the poor in Africa. Briggs examined the data by dividing the African continent’s map—including North Africa and the islands—into 10,572 cells after which he aggregated aid projects, population, and poverty levels into each cell.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Milestone in Innovative Finance: Exploring the First-Ever Outcome-Based DIB for Poverty Alleviation in Africa
The graduation approach to poverty alleviation has been effective in helping raise incomes and savings over the long term. But traditional funding models don't provide enough flexibility or performance incentives to boost this impact, since funding is typically tied to activities rather than outcomes. To address this challenge, Village Enterprise and Instiglio have partnered with USAID and DFID to launch the first-ever outcome-based development impact bond for poverty alleviation in Africa.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise
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There’s No App to Fix Farming – A Lifelong Smallholder Shares What Social Business is Getting Wrong
When it comes to farming, the social business world is getting it all wrong, says Gaita Kariuki, a lifelong smallholder and CEO of Selina Wamucii, a Kenya-based fresh produce startup. From overselling the impact of off-grid solar and access to loans, to underestimating the importance of middlemen, he says much of the social business sector's approach to agriculture makes little sense to smallholders.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Social Enterprise
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