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The Power of Results-Based Funding for Poverty Alleviation: What We Learned from Africa’s First-Ever Development Impact Bond – and What’s Next
Development impact bonds (DIBs) are an innovative, results-based funding model with the potential to reduce poverty and make aid more effective. To assess their impact, a randomized controlled trial was conducted on Africa's first-ever DIB for poverty alleviation, which supported a poverty graduation program implemented by Village Enterprise. Dianne Calvi at Village Enterprise and Brian Boland at the Delta Fund (one of the nine philanthropic investors in the DIB) discuss the results of this study, what they mean for the sector, and how results-based funding can evolve to maximize its impact.
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- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and Sustainable Energy for All Announce Expanded Partnership to Tackle Energy Poverty Worldwide
$50 million commitment will support the scale-up of the Universal Energy Facility and advancement of countries’ energy access and transition plans.
- Region
- Global
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Beyond Energy Efficiency: Key Trends and Pathways to Scale in the Solar Appliance Market
Solar appliance uptake is a key element of global energy access efforts. But according to Yasemin Erboy Ruff and Lauren Boucher at CLASP, no appliance is close to reaching market saturation, despite considerable gains in recent years. They share highlights from Efficiency for Access' 2021 Solar Appliance Technology Briefs, which characterize the market, trends and pathways to scale for 11 off-grid-appropriate solar appliances and enabling technologies, and explore what these findings mean for the solar appliance market and the customers it serves.
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- Energy, Environment, Technology
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Bringing Cooking Poverty off the SDG Sidelines: A New Study Takes a Fresh Look at the Clean Cooking Challenge
Dirty cooking negatively affects almost four billion people and kills over 4 million each year – more than tuberculosis, malaria and HIV-AIDS combined. As Phil LaRocco at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs argues, the issue is one of the largest unsolved public health and equality crises humanity has ever faced – and failing to address it will put the Sustainable Development Goals out of reach. He explores why previous and ongoing clean cooking efforts have failed, and outlines some potential solutions that could finally turn things around, based on a recent study out of Columbia University.
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- Energy, Environment, Impact Assessment
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Optimizing Results-Based Financing for Off-Grid Energy: Why Localization Can Provide a Pathway to More Effective Investment
Leading investors across the energy access sector have embraced results-based financing (RBF) as a key mechanism to unlock private capital for small-scale solar and mini-grid businesses, and to advance the world toward universal electrification. But according to Audrey Desiderato at SunFunder and Martijn Veen at SNV, the remote design and management of RBF programs increases the risk that these funds will exclude local actors and innovation. They share findings from a recent white paper exploring the need for more localization in results-based financing for off-grid energy.
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Improving the Outcomes-Readiness of Implementors – A Key Step Towards Scaling Results-Based Financing
With less than a decade left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the development financing gap has widened. According to Gagandeep Nanda at Dalberg and Dhun Davar and Sietse Wouters at UBS Optimus Foundation, results-based financing can provide a solution. But though organizations have high interest in participating in results-based financing, many are not ready to take on funding that is tied to outcomes instead of inputs and activities. They share five characteristics of effective outcomes-ready implementing organizations, and five ways these groups can be set up for success.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Clean Cooking is Heading for Failure: Why the Sector Needs a Real Strategy – Not Just a List of Ideas
Almost 4 billion people across 71 countries are impacted by inefficient, dirty cooking fuels. Yet as Phil LaRocco at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs points out, progress toward addressing this long-standing global crisis has stalled. He argues that the "Systems Strategy" proposed by the influential NGO the Clean Cooking Alliance and the global consulting firm Dalberg is not enough to change the sector’s current trajectory. Instead, he urges clean cooking stakeholders to embrace a coherent, ecosystem-wide strategy, outlining three potential alternative approaches.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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A Cutting Edge Solution to a Global Problem: Why PAYGO Electromagnetic Induction Stoves Will Become the Leading Clean Cooking Technology by 2030
Half of the global population lacks access to clean, modern cooking services, costing the world’s economy approximately $2.4 trillion each year due to the adverse impact of open-fire cooking on health, climate and gender equality. Lachlan Harris, lead engineer at ATEC*, explains why electromagnetic induction stoves are the best option to address this issue. He explores the advantages of this technology in terms of energy efficiency, safety and scalability — and discusses how a pay-as-you-go model can help solve the affordability challenge.