Decades of armed conflict in Colombia have left many people in poverty and without equal financial opportunities. Those living in rural areas and working in agriculture have struggled to obtain financial services — such as credit, savings, and insurance and payment services. This limitation compromises the ability of micro-, small-, and medium-sized agricultural producers and…
Colombia’s 52-year conflict has debilitated some its rural areas, where the topography is difficult, the road infrastructure minimal, and the state presence weak. Negligible state presence in these areas has allowed illegally armed groups to form and narco-trafficking activities to proliferate, afflicting populations with high levels of poverty and violence. In the absence of effective,…
In many low- and middle-income countries, health systems face shortages of qualified health workers, and decision-makers lack the data and tools needed to optimize existing resources.
An effective criminal justice system indiscriminately provides citizens with access to justice, promotes equality and demonstrates impartiality, maintains timely and efficient processes, combats the impunity of human rights violators, fosters citizens’ independence and responsibility, and earns the public’s trust. In the Dominican Republic, 20 years of justice reform and modernization efforts have led to some…
Tourism is an industry with the capability to transform international development. Tourism is the largest service industry globally, accounting for nearly 10 percent of global GDP. Nearly 293 million jobs, or one in eleven jobs around the world, are within the tourism sector. Tourism is currently featured in three of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),…
Around the world, mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters support the resiliency of their communities in the face of adversity and inequality. As a member of the business development team in the East and Southern Africa Division at Chemonics, I’m exposed to the cross-cutting interventions designed to support women throughout our work across all technical areas.…
Why is social inclusion important for the development of Indonesia? Indonesia is a big country with some of the greatest diversity in the world. Government development programs have made significant progress on several parameters, such as human development as well as gender development indexes. Women and girls have better access to education, health facilities, and…
USAID’s recent Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality Workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, brought together nearly 100 men and women dedicated to advancing women’s economic empowerment and equality throughout Africa and beyond. Over a period of two and a half days, we discussed USAID’s new draft Framework to Promote Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality, listened to…
Often, the success of nationally funded programs hinges on budget allocation. “Show me the money,” is a saying that reflects this reality, meaning that what gets funded gets done. Below, we will walk through the principles of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB), which highlights the budget design stage as a critical opportunity for intervention. This post will…
More people live in cities now than at any point in history. As identified in Sustainable Development Goal 11 and highlighted in the New Urban Agenda formulated out of the Habitat III Conference last year, our challenge is to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. Goal 11 and the New Urban…
After setting the global development agenda in 2000 with the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations highlighted the need to focus on enhancing economic growth through sustainable and meaningful work in its 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Today, the UN calls for the “promotion of inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for…
Corruption drains resources for social programming, limits citizens’ confidence in public institutions and in their own political efficacy, and lines the pockets of unscrupulous politicians. It can stunt economic growth for the entire country, meaning that no one escapes its impacts. However, some groups are more vulnerable than others to the adverse impacts of corruption.…