The timing, approach, and pace of land reform and collective farm restructuring throughout the former Soviet republics has varied dramatically – and in many places is still ongoing. Whether government chose to privatize land, guarantee land use rights, or keep the status quo of state ownership, land and access to it remains critical for millions…
This week, hundreds of the world’s leading land rights scholars, practitioners, and governors will convene in our nation’s capital for the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference. The theme of this year’s conference is “Scaling up Responsible Land Governance,” and conference-goers will join forces to develop clear pathways for “working at scale, mainstreaming innovations, and…
A little more than five years ago, Sidi Bouzid fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight. When he was unable to pay a bribe to be allowed to sell fruit from a wheelbarrow, a local policewoman reportedly slapped him, spat at him, confiscated his scales, and threw his cart aside, ruining the merchandise he had…
The business case for promoting in women’s economic empowerment is clear. According to a recent McKinsey Global Institute Report, expanding and improving women’s economic participation can add as much as $12 trillion to $28 trillion to the global GDP by 2025. In addition, as studies consistently affirm, an investment in a woman’s economic empowerment is…
This document aims to help development professionals design trade capacity-building programs that respond to the clear-cut case for equalizing economic conditions for men and women. To assist development professionals in identifying appropriate areas for interventions, this paper gives an overview of the complex issues related to gender and trade, presented in five parts: Setting the…
This post was originally published by the Better Than Cash Alliance and is cross-posted with permission. Chemonics is a proud member of the alliance. On a recent trip to Uganda, where I assessed Chemonics’ implementation of mobile money solutions, I was encouraged to see mobile money initiatives on the rise, from cardless ATM withdrawals and…
A $350 billion gap sits squarely between today’s reality and the potential of impact investing. Why is it so difficult for investors to identify the right opportunities that achieve both social change and a return on capital? How can the development community serve as the intermediary between social entrepreneurs who provide essential services and the…
As the 2015 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision allowed lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI)* couples to legally marry, 76 countries continue to uphold laws making homosexual conduct illegal, and at least five countries find execution a reasonable punishment for same-sex acts. Internationally, cultural acts of violence against the LGBTI community are vastly underreported…
For months we have been talking about and planning for the “post-2015 era.” Now it is just around the corner, with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ready to be adopted in September. While discussion thus far has been oriented on the agreement and its parameters, focus is now shifting to the means of implementation. With the…
Internet connectivity is to us what the internal combustion engine, the printing press, or the compass were to previous generations. It continues to revolutionize our world at an astonishing rate. For the 75 million unemployed youth between the ages of 15 and 24, it offers a means to prosperity and a better life through provision…
September 22, Members Day of the annual 2014 SEEP Conference, marked the launch of the SEEP Network’s Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Working Group. Throughout my career with Chemonics, I have spent the majority of my time focusing on issues surrounding women’s access to capital, business development services and SME development, particularly in conflict zones such…
The count of African countries supposedly increased by one in June, when a Virginia man planted a flag in the disputed territory of Bir Tawil and claimed himself king of “North Sudan.” He based his claim on the doctrine of terra nullius, “land not under the sovereignty of any state.” The news article was something…