Publication database

This paper argues that to promote inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction, gender must be integrated into market systems development (MSD) approaches. It provides a gender and market development framework and recommendations at the intervention and the program level.

The microinsurance sector has grown to 500 million in 2012 due to the successes of many schemes. However, for every scheme that has succeeded, many more have struggled to reach scale, become viable or provide client value, and some have failed altogether. Research paper #42, titled “Learning from others’ mistakes” identifies the most common challenges that are likely to cause a scheme to fail using the experience of 12 cases.

This report discusses the importance of small businesses in poverty reduction, income equality and competitiveness, and the approach of Swiss Contact in small and medium sized enterprises (SME) promotion.

“Can health microinsurance (HMI) schemes achieve sustainability?” As with many seemingly simple questions, there is no simple answer. The answer to this question is of interest to a variety of parties. Insurance providers seek to understand if there is a viable business case for offering an HMI product. Health-care providers and pharmaceutical companies are interested in whether or not HMI can be a means for broadening coverage. Donors and other funding organizations want to know if HMI is a viable investment as a means to improve health-care access, health outcomes and financial protection for the low-income population. Governments consider how to use HMI schemes as a step towards universal health coverage.

This paper seeks to answer this simple yet crucial question based on the experiences of five schemes in South Asia.

This report discusses functions and characteristics of multi-stakeholder initiatives, collaborations between a company and other firms, governments, civil society organisations, local communities and/or smallholders to achieve more inclusive business frameworks along the whole of their value chain. It analyses the role of stakeholders, governance models and approaches to evaluate their effectiveness, while providing five successful examples.

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.

This report covers some of the human rights risks faced by businesses who operate global value chains. Through a series of interviews it outlines the opportunities for responsible business practices and some of the barriers to addressing human rights concerns and offers ten recommendations for how businesses can work with other stakeholders to reduce the risk of human rights abuses.

Being able to design and implement insurance public-private partnerships (PPPs) in insurance requires a long-term vision and a good understanding between partners. This paper presents ten recommendations, based on the experiences of four cases from Colombia, India, Mexico, and Peru, which aim to help both governments and the insurance industry to establish successful PPPs.

Given their limited capacities to cope, low income people can experience major setbacks when hit by even seemingly small shocks and can experience serious losses of wealth and welfare when big shocks strike. And merely the spectre of shocks can lead to underinvestment that makes even a smooth climb out of poverty take much longer than it otherwise might. This paper explores how low income respondents in the Kenya Financial Diaries think about, experience, and prepare for risks in their lives. 

The Inclusive Business Agenda was developed to formulate a strategic research, innovation and action agenda for engaging Swedish organisations with the needs and opportunities of the BoP. The Agenda recommends a comprehensive delivery approach based around 9 workstreams and 6 sectors. In addition to supporting Swedish business both large and small, it is envisioned that this approach will change the prevailing way Sweden does business with the developing world.