Publication database

The report “Catalysing Change 2022” tells the story of the movement over the last two years and highlights the seven lessons of growing “catalytic networks”. This report is written for those who are looking to organise collectively for change, in particular, those who are seeking to exchange a competitive mindset for a collaborative one. It is designed to support leaders from all sectors – NGOs, non-profit organisations, social enterprises, businesses, government agencies, media and civil society – to work together to accelerate progress on the SDGs.

Since 2013, the G4AW programme has been supporting 25 partnerships in 15 countries in Africa and South-East Asia that have taken up the challenge to develop digital solutions, using satellite and geodata to improve food and income security at smallholder food producer level. The major lessons learned from the programme (about 8 years) are summarized in this new lessons learned publication. It focuses on the business-related decisions and the steps taken to move towards a sustainable business model and scale to other services and regions.

UNDP ‘s Ecosystem Development Approach provides a tried-and-tested methodology for bringing stakeholders together around a shared objective. Pilots in Lesotho, Senegal and Uganda show that the approach effectively enables collaboration, e.g. for more inclusive tourism, access to energy or mobile money, even beyond the end of the program. We documented the pilots and insights – so others can replicate the approach.

This report explores how governments can benefit from collaborating with systemic social entrepreneurs, and the measures they can take to foster that collaboration. For each of these measures, this report outlines concrete recommendations and provides real-life examples of changes that governments around the world have implemented.

In recent years, there has been growing interest and funding dedicated to technical assistance designed to strengthen the commercial and development impact of businesses in developing markets. However, relatively little is known about the nature and effectiveness of these initiatives. Designed to address this knowledge gap, this paper focuses on efforts by development finance institutions (DFIs) to provide technical assistance to agribusinesses, which receive 30% of all TA. The input for this analysis was obtained through primary and secondary research, including interviews with 11 DFIs. The feedback from DFIs was that they expect the provision of inclusive TA in agriculture to rise. However, to catalyse greater resource allocation towards inclusive TA, respondents agreed the evidence case needs to be clear both in terms of commercial and development impact.

The authors aim to catalyze a competitive marketplace of companies providing smallholder farmers with a choice of affordable, inclusive and high-quality services. For this they are building a common understanding of the key barriers and opportunities for providing smallholders tailored, high-quality services at scale, coupled with advice, technical assistance and de-risking finance to pilot new business models and partnerships.

Grow Asia is a unique multi-stakeholder partnership platform that brings together farmers, governments, the private sector, NGOs and other stakeholders in Southeast Asia to lift the productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability of smallholder agriculture in the region. This report outlines goals and key activities of Grow Asia in 2019.

So far, large companies have mainly developed - or ‘built’ - new inclusive business initiatives inside their existing business. This paper explores when buying inclusive business externally - through Corporate Impact Venturing (CIV) - makes sense. It also explains how CIV can be set up, and which partners can provide support. The outlook provides recommendations on how to further facilitate investments into inclusive businesses.

This report addresses the opportunity for the private sector to play a role in developing digital payment systems. It highlights various sectors where these opportunities are largely untapped and where global companies can leverage their networks to help bring consumers into the digital economy.