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Daring to Think Big: Why It’s Time to Scale Impact-Linked Finance
The 2030 deadline for reaching Sustainable Development Goal targets may sound far off, but for German-based impact advisory firm Roots of Impact, the “SDG financing abyss” is an urgent issue. Three of the organization's leaders say financing the SDGs will require new approaches to investing, including impact-linked finance – a merging of blended finance, impact investing and results-based finance. They lay out a blueprint for accelerating impact-related finance by incorporating outcome funds, utilizing technologies like blockchain and other strategies in this illuminating post.
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Digital Inclusion by Way of Backpack: A Q&A with Imcon International CEO Rob Loud
Internet access has the potential to transform livelihoods in a myriad of ways – and financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and education are just a few of the sectors that stand to benefit. However, despite growing global internet use, billions in rural, hard-to-reach areas still lack access, representing a massive missed opportunity. In this Q&A, Imcon International CEO Rob Loud shares how his company is partnering with governments and NGOs to increase connectivity in the last mile through an affordable, simple device – the humble backpack.
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- Education, Social Enterprise, Technology
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World Bank urges spending on ‘climate-friendly’ infrastructure
Spending an average of 4.5% of GDP on ‘climate-friendly’ infrastructure could help developing countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
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- Environment
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Don’t Fall for the World Bank’s Bold Claims About Financial Inclusion and the SDGs
"It sounds so simple: Everyone gets access to financial services and – presto – the foundations for the SGDs will be laid." That's the key message Phil Mader and Maren Duvendack took away from World Bank economist Leora Klapper's recent NextBillion post. But that rosy scenario, they say, bears no resemblance to reality. In fact, according to their exhaustive new review of existing research, the inconvenient truth is that financial inclusion is not accelerating progress toward the SDGs – and isn't even fundamental for attaining them.
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- Finance
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Is Financial Inclusion Really Impacting the SDGs? This New Research Approach Could Offer an Answer
There's growing discussion about how financial inclusion can impact the Sustainable Development Goals – including on NextBillion earlier this week. But according to Liz Larson at UNCDF and Daryl Collins at BFA, the evidence of a link between financial tools and development impacts has not been conclusive. They explore a new measurement framework that aims to take account of the breadth of all potential and proven connections between financial services and the SDGs – while also offering a method for substantiating those impacts.
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- Finance
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Major funds launch toolkit to help investors measure SDG impact
A dashboard developed by CISL's Investment Leaders Group, including PIMCO, Union Bancaire Privée and Zurich Insurance provides metrics to assess corporate social and environmental impact.
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- Impact Assessment, Investing
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The Global Findex Database Shows We Can’t Meet the SDGs Without Financial Inclusion
For nearly a decade, Leora Klapper has led the World Bank’s Global Findex database – a survey of how people in more than 150 countries access and use financial services. While academic studies continue to show how financial inclusion underpins and enables social progress, to create a financially inclusive world we need to continually measure the scope and depth of the problem, Klapper argues. That means asking: Who still needs accounts? Who has accounts, but doesn’t use them? And what more can we do to help?
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- Finance
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Viewpoint: Why impact investing can help solve the world’s problems
A lack of funding is impeding progress on the sustainable development goals, but private banks plug the gap.
- Categories
- Investing
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