Publication database

What if world-leading organizations teamed up to develop, experiment with, and scale technology and business solutions to global poverty? This report is a reflection of the Practical Impact Alliance (PIA)’s journey and what MIT D-Lab learned from building and supporting the PIA network. The insights are also relevant for other intrapreneurs, practitioners, and network operators seeking to drive innovation, build capacity or foster collective action in the inclusive business or international development sectors.

Cargill and CARE’s 50-year partnership offers insights and lessons for anyone looking to build an effective and long- term partnership. This Briefing Paper describes how the partnership has evolved from a primarily philanthropic relationship to one that, especially over the past 10 years, has genuinely drawn on the capabilities, skills and resources of the two partners.

This report reiterates the need for impact investors to raise and direct new capital to help meet the SDGs by 2030 and showcases how select impact investors are taking action. This compendium of five case studies describes how the goals can be woven into the various stages of the investment cycle, as well as investors’ motivations for doing so, advice for other investors, and outlook for the industry. Each case study also provides an example of an investment that contributes to the SDGs. 

This compendium brings together 15 practical examples of how individual companies and/or multi-stakeholder initiatives are aiming to address human rights impacts and, at the same time, are showing great promise in delivering meaningful contributions to the SDGs. The report is organized around four issue areas, illustrating how they connect to the SDGs: forced labor, living wages, gender equality and land rights.

CGAP set out to examine pathways to inclusive payment ecosystems in two Sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania and Ghana, to learn from their experiences. While this analysis could have highlighted the experiences of any number of countries that have succeeded in developing inclusive payment ecosystems, the Tanzanian and Ghanaian experiences hold unique and complementary lessons.

What lies behind a successful customer-centric organization? This case study looks at the process by which customer centricity has evolved and has been shaped over time within AMK, a Cambodian microfinance institution (MFI). It shows the crucial role that leadership and upper management play in building and sustaining a customer-centric culture and practice. 

This case study gives advice to impact investors and investees on new and emerging methods to strengthen their impact measurement practices. The case tracks the WDI team as it pilot-tested a new impact measurement framework with three social enterprises in Nicaragua, Brazil and Peru. The case also provides recommendations to improve the impact measurement practices of investors, as well as the enterprises they support.

This case study reviews the IWCA's evolution, mission and involvement in empowering women in the international coffee community and industry. It discusses topics including rights over wealth and assets; visibility and advancement; and skills and knowledge.

When Pioneer Insurance started offering insurance for low-income households in 2007, it had one distribution partner – CARD MRI. Today, after ten years, Pioneer’s joint-venture with CARD MRI - CARD Pioneer Microinsurance – works with almost 100 institutional partners, has issued more than 18 million policies in 2016, and generated Php 936 million pesos (USD 19 million) of premiums. Pioneer Microinsurance is currently one of the biggest commercial microinsurance provider in the Philippines.

The initiative 'Driving Impact Venture Action' (DIVA) was launched in 2015 as a not-for-profit entity that develops inclusive business ideas and transforms them into investable ventures. Therefore, DIVA encouraged co-investments with corporations to overcome the pioneer gap and ultimately bring an impact venture to scale. Its experience to date suggests that there is great potential, but one gap still remains to be bridged.