Publication database

This report briefly explains the approach of shared value, including factors and principles which are necessary for the successful inclusion of poor people into a company's value chain. Various business cases from different sectors and countries are presented and the diverse process steps from value chain analysis to project formulation, project implementation, impact measurement and scaling are examined.

As the social entrepreneurship field evolves to include innovative profit- and impact-generating models, new types of finance and assistance that support these innovative leaders must also emerge. To shed more light on the types of support and financing needed this study provides a look into how and from where self-identified social entrepreneurs are capitalizing their businesses at the earliest stages and what type of financing and investment-readiness support they need to get to the next level.

This paper examines the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to companies' business activities. It sets out many significant opportunities for all companies to play a role in the achievement of the SDGs.

This study quantifies the cost and time benefits of a large and diversified investment “portfolio” of emergency preparedness interventions undertaken by UNICEF and WFP in 2014 with support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). A return on investment model is applied to 49 emergency preparedness investments in three pilot countries: Chad, Pakistan and Madagascar, and investments span across four main operational areas logistics, procurement, staffing and partnerships/ external contracting.

This report deals with tracking the number of poor people who benefit from the impact investments that are made in businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through the DFID Impact Fund. It discusses assumptions and definitions that are needed to track benefits to low-income people resulting from impact investment and briefly outlines the approach of the DFID Impact Programme in relation to used definitions and assumptions.

This paper focuses on synthesizing the lessons from Acumen’s and Root Capital’s experiences - it discusses learnings covering both technical (data quality) and operational (ease of implementation) considerations. It also highlights some of the current limitations of implementing such measurement initiatives, and provides case studies to illustrate.

This review assesses how well the UK Department for International Development (DFID) is working with and through businesses to achieve a range of development objectives that benefit the poor, with objectives including economic growth, human development, environmental sustainability and humanitarian assistance. It also outlines DFID’s engagement with British and overseas businesses that are themselves contributing as partners in development, not as contractors.

This report provides insights into some of Africa’s key development challenges – such as energy access and climate resilience, and private sector development in fragile and conflict affected states – and how AECF funded businesses are addressing these challenges. It analyses the impact of the AECF portfolio, and it reflects on the 10 lessons learned from running an enterprise challenge fund.

This report discussions a set of randomized experiments that shed light on how markets and information influence household decisions to adopt nutritional innovations.

This report presents findings from interviews with 21 impact investors and related desk research on current impact assessment practices. It outlines 68 case studies featuring real examples of how investors address specific question in their assessment methodologies.