Publication database

The focus of the tool is providing instructions, recommendations and examples to help analyse value chains for poverty reduction. The VCAT is primarily aimed at providers of digital financial services seeking to develop a better rural growth strategy, including mobile operators and other non-MNO mobile money providers. The tool would also be useful for AgTech companies and other digital agriculture implementers working to digitise the last mile.

The booklet highlights the importance of impact measurement and management (IMM) in small and growing business support, drawing on stories from members of ANDE South Africa's Metrics Learning Lab. It highlights their measurement approaches, impact successes and their learnings in impact measurement. The booklet also shares conversations that have been taking place at the Metrics Learning Lab to encourage further dialogue in the sector and foster a greater commitment to IMM amongst SGB support organizations.

GlobeScan and Business Call to Action (BCtA) partnered to launch the 2018 State of Inclusive Business Survey to help advance core business activities that are inclusive of low-income populations and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report provides practical insights for companies on inclusive business, and identifies drivers of inclusive business motives and likelihood to commit. Stakeholders who took part in this study are all from BCtA’s own database of members and contacts, as well as GlobeScan’s community of sustainability professionals.

World Hope International provides low-cost greenhouses to farmers in Sierra Leone and Mozambique. This report encompasses the monitoring and evaluation of the greenhouses installed in Mozambique’s Gaza and Maputo provinces. With the greenhouses, farmers can grow crops faster and all year round, using less water and fewer seeds. Crops and seedlings grown in the greenhouses are of better quality and have greater chances for survival, because the greenhouses protect the plants from weather variations and pests. Farmers had an overall positive attitude towards the greenhouses and 87 percent of those interviewed plan to continue using them.

This publications shares lessons learnt from the implementation of 10 global Challenge Funds supported by Sida. It reviewed Sida’s rationale and underlying assumptions for the use of this modality in development cooperation, and identified best practices for Challenge Fund design and management. The experience from the 10 Challenge Funds is that intensively managed funds, with a more hands-on approach, had a greater degree of success in ensuring sustainable development outcomes than the lighter touch funds.

The report intends to provide companies with critical insights and practical guidance on how inclusive business can play a more significant role in making women’s economic empowerment a reality. It lists seven areas of action that have potential for significant long-term economic benefits for both businesses and the global economy. 

The road to scaled impact is a nonlinear, complicated journey. Along the way, organizations have to overcome many challenges and roadblocks. The Scaling Pathways Theme Studies series dives into five topics, bringing to light lessons learned by successful social enterprises who have navigated challenges on the road to scaled impact. This document lays out key strategies and advice for ventures that are exploring, or already engaging in, government partnerships. 

The Bhungroo system helps smallholder farmers harvest rainwater throughout the monsoon season so they can use it during the dry season. This report details monitoring and evaluation of the recent installation of 52 Bhungroo systems among the poorest smallholder farmers of Harij in Gujarat’s Patan district.

This report from GOGLA brings positive news that households using small scale-solar power in East Africa are reporting a rise in economic activity, with improvement in income and job opportunities. It demonstrates the economic benefits of off-grid solar power in the developing world. Nearly 60% of off-grid solar owners undertake more economic activity within just three months of using a solar home system as they work longer, start businesses or get a new job.

The third major report from GALI examines the ability of accelerators to drive funds into participating ventures and explores which programmatic choices correspond with superior outcomes. The report shows that in a sample of 52 accelerators, the average flow of incremental funds into participating ventures is significantly greater than the average that flows into rejected ventures. In the majority (but not all) of these programs, this difference exceeds the reported cost of running the program. These superior funding outcomes are accomplished in different ways; many programs are most effective at stimulating revenue growth, while others are best at increasing the supply of outside equity investment. Given these differences in program efficacy and different paths to funding success, we then examine how specific program choices correspond with the ability to drive funds into participating ventures.