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Optimism, Confusion and Soul-Searching: The Financial Inclusion Compass 2019 Reveals a Sector at an Inflection Point
It's not your imagination: Financial inclusion is getting more complex. As Sam Mendelson at e-MFP points out, the sector expands in depth and breadth each year – from new products and players to increased expectations of impact. To cut through the confusion, e-MFP publishes The Financial Inclusion Compass, a report based on a broad survey of stakeholders, who share their views on the sector’s present and future. He discusses some highlights from the 2019 report.
- Categories
- Finance
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Press Release: New Investments and Research Indicate Multi-Trillion Dollar Market for Climate Restoration Through Carbon-Capture
"Together, we must rapidly deploy natural and technological solutions to remove gigatons of carbon dioxide from our air, restore ocean ecosystems, and preserve Arctic ice, while dramatically reducing emissions and adapting to climate change impacts," said Dr. Khagram. "Climate restoration is the critical third pillar of climate action alongside climate mitigation and adaptation."
- Categories
- Environment
- Tags
- climate change, research
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Press Release: New RCT Reveals That Liberia Significantly Improves Primary School Learning Outcomes in Three Years
A new independent three year study released today shows that Liberia’s innovative public private partnership (PPP) – the Liberian Education Advancement Program (LEAP) – has significantly improved learning outcomes for children across the country.
- Categories
- Education, Impact Assessment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Do Surveys Fall Short? Solving the Challenge of Predicting Mini-Grid Energy Usage in Africa
Half of Africa’s population is living without electricity, and mini-grids could connect at least 100 million of these 600 million people. But mini-grid developers struggle to profitably serve these potential customers, due in part to the difficulty of accurately forecasting their electricity demand. Analysts at CrossBoundary explore why this process is so complex and prone to inaccuracy, why surveying customers is often ineffective – and what can be done about it.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Tags
- data, energy access, off-grid energy, research
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Three Key Sessions from Three Days of Discussion at European Microfinance Week
European Microfinance Week is always a whirlwind of activity and insights, and this year was no exception. As a media partner at the event, NextBillion covered some of the key sessions. Here we highlight three of them, one from each day of the event – starting with Friday's must-see plenary, which was streamed live and can now be viewed in a video embedded in this article.
- Categories
- Finance
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How Can We Stop Losing Our Minds?: Producing a Legacy From Development Projects, Not Just a Document
Have you ever run, funded or been part of a development project? Have you ever thought: “We should definitely share what we learned?” But then someone wrote a report and that was the end of that. Gavin Starks, the founder of dgen.net, argues that shouldn’t be the end, but the beginning. The power of an open approach to development has many benefits, he says. Done well, it changes the way people collaborate during projects — and helps them produce a legacy, not just a document.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Smallholders as Customers, Not Pupils: Making the Case for Good Agricultural Practices
Good agricultural practices offer smallholders the promise of improved food safety, food quality and environmental stewardship. But they also bring the risks of implementing costly new methods and standards. To overcome farmers' reluctance to adopt these practices, Ben Fowler of MarketShare Associates and Clara Yoon at MEDA write that agricultural organizations should adopt a customer-centric approach – treating smallholders as customers rather than beneficiaries of know-how.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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From Early Adopters to Tech Laggards: Understanding Off-Grid Energy Customers
The team at 60 Decibels recently set out to understand the motivations of customers served by off-grid energy firms in Africa. Researchers quizzed customers in Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia about their attitudes and behaviours toward new products to find out who were the early innovators, early adopters or tech laggards. Kat Harrison and Hassan Nasser of 60 Decibels explain the research and how firms can convert ambivalent customers into product ambassadors.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Impact Assessment, Technology
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