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August 8, 2022

Why Social Enterprises Struggle to Measure Impact – And What Impact Investors Can Do About It

Impact investors typically rely on output measurements, such as total capital invested or number of people served, to assess their impact. But it's harder for investors and their investees to sustainably capture outcome data that assesses actual improvements in customers' lives. Spencer MacColl at Kiva shares data from Kiva's annual impact measurement survey, which reflects the current measurement practices and challenges of the microfinance institutions and other social enterprises Kiva supports. He explores the lessons these findings offer to impact investors and others who are working to design more effective measurement practices.

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August 1, 2022

Accomplishing the Impossible: Lessons on Scaling From BRAC Founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed

Countless books and articles have addressed the challenges of going to scale in the development sector — yet a systematic approach to scaling remains out of reach. However, as Scott MacMillan at BRAC USA explains, BRAC founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed was arguably more successful than anyone at scaling effective poverty programs. He shares insights from his new book on Abed's life and work, which sheds light on how BRAC has created and scaled programs to an extent that no other nonprofit or social enterprise has managed to achieve.

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July 27, 2022

To Tax or Not to Tax Mobile Money: The Impact on Digital Financial Services in Africa and Beyond

Mobile money is widely seen as a promising engine for global development. But governments in Africa are also increasingly viewing it as a lucrative source of tax revenue. With critics raising concerns about the impact of taxing mobile money and other digital financial services, Adrienne Lees and Phil Mader at the Institute of Development Studies explore whether existing research can inform any confident predictions about the effects of these taxes on providers, customers and the broader financial inclusion sector.

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July 25, 2022

The Power of Litigation Funding: How Social Enterprises and Other Small Businesses Can Use it to Defend Their Legal Rights – And Access Capital

Social enterprises and other small businesses are often at a disadvantage when disputes arise with larger companies – particularly in the international context, where the option of going to local courts is not always available. Patrick Miller at P Miller Legal Services explores how commercial litigation funding can address this issue, by enabling these enterprises to access skilled international counsel funded by external investors who receive a proportion of any eventual award. He discusses the benefits this approach can offer to both small businesses and investors.

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July 20, 2022

The Power of Results-Based Funding for Poverty Alleviation: What We Learned from Africa’s First-Ever Development Impact Bond – and What’s Next

Development impact bonds (DIBs) are an innovative, results-based funding model with the potential to reduce poverty and make aid more effective. To assess their impact, a randomized controlled trial was conducted on Africa's first-ever DIB for poverty alleviation, which supported a poverty graduation program implemented by Village Enterprise. Dianne Calvi at Village Enterprise and Brian Boland at the Delta Fund (one of the nine philanthropic investors in the DIB) discuss the results of this study, what they mean for the sector, and how results-based funding can evolve to maximize its impact.

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July 18, 2022

A Portfolio Approach to ESG and CSR: Why Supporting Social Entrepreneurship Accelerators Makes Sense for Corporate Funders

Many corporations seek to support social enterprises as a way to meet their environmental, social and governance (ESG) or corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals. But as Brigit Helms at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship explains, corporations often find it challenging to identify and engage with these enterprises one at a time, and instead prefer to work with social enterprise accelerators. She shares insights from a recent Miller Center white paper that attempts to quantify the benefits corporate partners can obtain from supporting these accelerators.

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July 13, 2022

Bringing the Digital Media Revolution to Africa: How Innovative Local Publications are Positioning Themselves for Rapid Growth

In Africa, legacy media outlets – both foreign and domestic – are often criticized for being politically biased and racially tone-deaf, while overlooking topics of critical importance to the public. But according to Tomiwa Aladekomo at Big Cabal Media, a new generation of digital publications are highlighting the issues and perspectives that legacy publishers have avoided. He explores how these innovators are navigating the inherent difficulties facing the media industry in Africa, while linking the journalistic strengths of traditional media to the youthful energy and global reach of social media.

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July 11, 2022

Fonio as a Cash Crop: How an Ancient Grain Can Provide a Solution for Food Security in West Africa – And a Model for Biodiverse Agriculture Around the World

Globally, most people rely on a handful of staple crops – namely, rice, corn and wheat – for sustenance. Pierre Thiam and Philip Teverow at Yolélé argue that, with the escalating risks of volatile geopolitics and climate change, this dependence makes humanity unacceptably vulnerable. They explain why the world must turn to biodiverse crops to achieve lasting food security in the face of these challenges, and explore the benefits of one such crop in particular: fonio, an ancient West African grain that can offer farmers not only subsistence, but a livelihood.

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Agriculture

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Guest Articles.

To Tax or Not to Tax Mobile Money: The Impact on Digital Financial Services in Africa and Beyond

The Power of Results-Based Funding for Poverty Alleviation: What We Learned from Africa’s First-Ever Development Impact Bond – and What’s Next

Bringing the Digital Media Revolution to Africa: How Innovative Local Publications are Positioning Themselves for Rapid Growth

Fonio as a Cash Crop: How an Ancient Grain Can Provide a Solution for Food Security in West Africa – And a Model for Biodiverse Agriculture Around the World

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