Publication database

The Centre for Impact Investing and Practices (“CIIP”), together with Accenture and Singapore Management University, developed this field report to achieve three objectives: to illustrate the on-the-ground conversations about impact investing and practices that we hope to engender; to raise awareness of the inspiring impact work that is already underway in Asia; and to convene more discussions on how we can collectively deliver more impact in Asia, for Asia. The report shares insights from in-depth interviews and discussions with investors and businesses. It features case studies on the impact journeys of regional players and puts forward preliminary ideas on how we can advance the impact ecosystem in Asia together.

The goal of this document is to provide the key principles of social investment in Asia, based on an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with a range of experts. Mapped across the life-cycle of a project, these are broad, high-level principles that work for investments encompassing the SDGs, with specific examples from areas of healthcare, gender, livelihoods and climate in Asia. For social investors looking to incorporate the SDG Impact Standards developed by UNDP12 in their work, the principles can serve as an accessible pathway to provide direction.

The Doing Good Index 2022 is the most comprehensive social impact index in Asia to date, highlighting the factors that drive or hinder private capital flowing towards social and economic challenges across 17 Asian economies. It provides a roadmap of the policies and practices that can unleash this capital by mitigating the trust deficit; leveraging local support; and facilitating cross-sector collaboration.

This report takes stock of the increasingly pluralistic landscape of agricultural small- and medium-sized enterprise (agri-SME) finance in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, with the aim to establish a new perspective on the market overall - sizing and segmenting the market in new ways, reflecting on the rapidly accelerating imperative around climate, and identifying new priorities for action.

The Frontiers of Inclusive Innovation Policy Forum was organized by ESCAP in collaboration with Digital Pathways at Oxford, the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN), the Honey Bee Network, and the Gujarat Grassroots Innovations Augmentation Network (GIAN). It gathered policy makers, experts and practitioners in digital transformation, inclusive innovation, and governance to explore best practices, remaining challenges, and further opportunities to promote inclusive technology and innovation policies.

Through in-depth conversations with 21 successful women social entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia, this report looks at the varying pathways to success, success factors and challenges that are specific to them, and outlines recommendations for business development services to better respond to the needs of women leading early-stage social enterprises in the region. The report also includes profiles of successful women social entrepreneurs in the region.