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November 13, 2023

Announcing Kiva’s Bold New Impact Strategy: The Nonprofit Microfinance Pioneer Shares its Refined Approach — And Unveils the Process Behind its Development

Both social enterprises and nonprofits need inspiring missions to thrive, and when those missions are coupled with well-crafted impact strategies, the change they seek to make is more likely to become reality. Kiva CEO Vishal Ghotge announces the pioneering microfinance nonprofit's latest impact strategy, explains how it will shape Kiva's next phase — and reveals the process behind its creation, so it can serve as a resource for other organizations.

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November 10, 2023

Assessing Last-Mile Distributors’ Business Performance and Impact: Using a Diagnostic Tool to Reveal Key Areas of Strength and Improvement

Running a company without business data is like driving a car without a dashboard. But it isn't always easy for an entrepreneur to determine which data is important to track, and how to use it to evaluate their business’ performance. Lucie Klarsfeld McGrath, Alice Magand and Chitraksh Sharma at Hystra share an auto-diagnostic tool they've used in their work with last-mile distributors, which enables companies to identify what's really driving value-creation and impact.

Sectors:

Technology

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November 8, 2023

How Fintech is Enabling Progress Toward the SDGs — And Why it’s Time for Investors to Double Down

Due to high interest rates and other macroeconomic challenges, there's been a global slowdown in venture capital funding to tech firms. David Grimaud at Bamboo Capital Partners explains how this lack of investment is impacting fintech companies in emerging markets, putting not only financial inclusion but other development priorities at risk. He explores how fintech innovators are advancing multiple SDGs, and how the investment community — especially impact-focused investors — can better support them.

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November 6, 2023

A New Approach to Philanthropy: Why the Sector Must Prioritize Systems Change — And How Funders Can Respond

As global development challenges like inequality and climate change worsen, philanthropy is increasingly focusing on systems change — i.e., efforts to address the complex root causes of societal problems, rather than simply addressing the problems themselves. Heather Grady at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) explores why this new focus requires a different approach to philanthropic giving, and shares key learnings from RPA's Shifting Systems Initiative that could be useful to the broader philanthropic community working on systems change.

Sectors:

Investing

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November 2, 2023

Scaling Climate Finance for Smallholder Agriculture: Lessons Learned from Partnering with Farmer-Allied Businesses

Small-scale agriculture supports the livelihoods of more than 600 million families and generates over 40% of jobs in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet as Elizabeth Teague at Root Capital points out, agricultural livelihoods are highly vulnerable to climate change, and smallholder farmers receive just 1.7% of global climate financing. She discusses how Root Capital is working with farmer-allied enterprises to help close this gap, sharing what they’ve learned about how to design and scale climate financing for smallholder communities.

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October 30, 2023

‘Build, Test, Respond’: How Lean Testing Enables Organizations to De-Risk Their Scaling Strategies — And Accelerate Their Impact

Both social enterprises and non-profits aspire to create an agile organizational culture that enables them to learn from failure. But according to Amy Ragsdale and Emma Colenbrander at Spring Impact, this is not always easy for organizations dealing with short-term funding cycles and cumbersome evaluation processes. They explore how lean testing can help social enterprises and non-profits optimize their strategy and unlock impact at scale, and share examples of organizations that are using this approach successfully.

Sectors:

Social Enterprise

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October 27, 2023

A Hidden Risk — And Opportunity — in Clean Energy: Why the Energy Transition Cannot Happen Unless it Addresses Women’s Unpaid Care Work

In advance of the first-ever International Day of Care and Support, Kate Grantham at FemDev Consulting and Carolina Robino and Flaubert Mbiekop at the International Development Research Centre highlight the interconnections between unpaid care work and the global transition to clean energy. They argue that this transition will falter unless it addresses women's heavy and unequal responsibility for unpaid care work — reducing women’s clean energy contributions, and possibly reinforcing existing gender inequalities in the process.

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October 25, 2023

From Trash Barriers to ‘Sky Latrines’: Leveraging Entrepreneurship to Address WASH-Related Challenges in Cambodia’s Floating Villages

Cambodia faces a number of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)-related challenges — particularly in the floating villages and dense lakeside communities around the Mekong River. As Simon Crittle at iDE explains, these waterways are heavily contaminated, causing residents to suffer from waterborne diseases. He explores how iDE is addressing these issues by helping local community members create and monetize waste-management solutions — providing livelihoods for women entrepreneurs in the process.

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Guest Articles.

Assessing Last-Mile Distributors’ Business Performance and Impact: Using a Diagnostic Tool to Reveal Key Areas of Strength and Improvement

How Fintech is Enabling Progress Toward the SDGs — And Why it’s Time for Investors to Double Down

A New Approach to Philanthropy: Why the Sector Must Prioritize Systems Change — And How Funders Can Respond

Scaling Climate Finance for Smallholder Agriculture: Lessons Learned from Partnering with Farmer-Allied Businesses

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