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Press Release: ECOWAS Signs 15 Grant Agreements Worth €1.3 Million to Promote Training and Capacity Building on Agroecology in Members States
The general objective is to build an environmentally friendly system that will sustain and increase agricultural productivity and create resilience in West Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: ENGIE Partners With CarbonClear to Finance the Access to Energy Challenge in Africa Through the Voluntary Carbon Market
A landmark partnership was signed today to foster the sustainable development and access to energy financing in Africa through the Voluntary Carbon Markets.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Africa Mobile Networks Secures $20 Million Loan for Rural Push
This latest financial backing follows a $36 million private equity investment from a consortium led by South African private equity firm Metier in 2021.
- Categories
- Technology, Telecommunications
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Avanti Finance Secures $24 Million Equity Funding From Rabo Partnerships, IDH Farmfit Fund
The funds will provide support for the company to provide affordable and localised credit products for smallholder farmers in India.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Can Pay-As-You-Go Help Clean Up Clean Cooking?
Since 2015, the global focus on clean cooking has grown substantially, bringing more funding, research and attention from policymakers to the sector. But according to Tash Perros at the University of Liverpool, Iwona Bisaga at Loughborough University and Julia Tomei at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, progress remains slow, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. They examine some of the reasons behind the inertia that is plaguing clean cooking access, and explore whether pay-as-you-go business models could catalyze progress.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Technology
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Press Release: A $7 Million Gift from MacKenzie Scott Will Help Village Enterprise End Extreme Poverty for 20 Million People in Africa
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, Village Enterprise is thrilled to announce a gift of $7 million from MacKenzie Scott.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Health Care, Technology
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Outgrowing the Flower Pot: Why Just Selling Productive Equipment to Smallholder Farmers is Not Enough
A new wave of companies are bringing equipment powered by renewable, decentralized energy to smallholders, and these devices can significantly boost farmers' yields and product quality. But as Daniel Waldron, Christopher Emmott, Priyanka Dudeja, Paraag Sabhlok and Chris Wayne at Acumen explain, just like a tree growing in a flower pot, this new growth can become a burden if it has nowhere to go. They argue that productive equipment must be combined with market access interventions to truly benefit smallholders, and highlight two innovative companies that are demonstrating the impact of this approach.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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Bringing Agricultural Insurance to Climate-Vulnerable Farmers: A Unique Pilot Program in Nepal Shows How to Unlock the Benefits of Index-Based Insurance for Smallholders
Nepal's topography and climatic conditions make it uniquely prone to natural disasters. As Maria Perdomo at UNCDF explains, these disasters threaten the country's economic development, and smallholder farmers and rural women are disproportionately affected. She discusses a UNCDF pilot program that brought agricultural insurance coverage to Nepali smallholders, and shares learnings from the program that could inform efforts to deliver insurance to farmers in other climate-vulnerable countries in Asia and beyond.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Finance
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