Publication database

To help PPPs with their scaling strategies in practice, PPPLab in cooperation with CIMMYT also developed a tool to strengthen strategies for scale. The tool was developed in 2017 on basis of ongoing research of both organizations on how development initiatives scale in practice. Several test runs with the tool have been carried out with project teams in the Netherlands, Mexico, India, Nepal and Kenya. The Scaling Scan helps you to analyse, reflect on, and sharpen your scaling ambition and approach. The tool consists of a self-assessment that helps you identifying the key challenges for the specific scaling situation and phase you are in.

According to the Startup India Action Plan, 2016, one of the major challenges is the failure of most startups during the initial five years due to lack of either funds or management skills. Therefore, developing a conducive environment becomes crucial to support start-ups during their initial years of operations. This handbook is an endeavour to provide insight on several models that could be explored to set up a fund to promote start-ups, contributions to which would qualify as CSR spend under the Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013.

This report provides case studies and lessons learned from seven Asian countries in five areas of innovative financing for development. Such innovative financing for development would benefit inclusive businesses as a new source of funding.

This guide addresses key questions on why and how businesses should develop new and innovative investment strategies and models in order to create impact. It discusses how profit and impact form a virtuous cycle where more positive outcomes can lead to more value for companies, which leads to the generation of even greater positive outcomes and organisational resilience.

This workbook has been conceived as a practical tool for innovators working in the agricultural sector to reach and effectively serve the untapped market of women smallholder farmers in emerging economies. The workbook reviews existing resources and tools for designing and marketing products, services, and technologies, provides a way to assess barriers and opportunities for reaching the missing market of women farmers, and recommends specific tools and processes for the entire business cycle, from product design to market entry, retention, and growth.

BIF engages with businesses either by first identifying a market in which to operate, and then finding appropriate companies with whom to work; or by identifying multinationals that are looking to innovate, and then introducing a programme to develop the market in which they are working. This report explores examples from both of these strands and distils learning from three countries.

The Global Knowledge Initiative (GKI) collaborated with MIT to examine the path to innovation adoption in the agricultural sector specifically, with case work in Tanzania. As a result of the research, GKI has launched an Improved Innovation Decision Making (IIDM) Toolset. The IIDM guide for practitioners is designed to aid organizations and individuals seeking to build the capacity of problem solvers to innovate and collaborate more effectively.

This report aims to help companies advance women’s economic empowerment in their operations and across their value chains in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on the economic, social, cultural, and political challenges facing women in the region and offers companies recommendations on how to promote women’s economic empowerment through their own actions and by enabling and influencing others.

This report is a toolkit and reference guide for mHealth VAS providers and partners, to help improve their services by making them more gender inclusive and to reach more female users. It focuses on the development process and provides additional resources.

Recent studies have suggested that open data policies could deliver significant economic benefits for both developed and developing countries. The African Development Bank has spearheaded the promotion and facilitation of open data policies in Africa. In 2012, when the implementation of the open data approach was still in its infancy in many countries, the Statistics Department of the African Development Bank launched the Africa Information Highway (AIH) initiative. This provided a data publishing platform for all its 54 African regional member countries. This paper was commissioned as a subsequent stage of this work.