Practical Options to Accelerate Private Power Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

This technical brief discusses the challenges in finding equitable, practical ways to accelerate and sustain power sector reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa, which also learn from public-private transactions. One way is to provide additional technical and capacity support to the public sector in combination with market development programs that match investors to new business opportunities. This…

News: Chemonics Joins Major Energy Stakeholders at Annual Africa Energy Forum

As the energy sector continues to develop and advance throughout Africa, opportunities abound for growth, sustainability, and innovation. To explore these opportunities using a development lens, Chemonics joins key stakeholders from June 7 to 9 in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the annual Africa Energy Forum. The Africa Energy Forum is the global investment meeting for Africa’s power,…

Banking on Tourism in Jordan

Every year, millions of travelers from across the world are drawn to Jordan’s beautiful attractions. Visitors explore the pre-historic city of Petra, float in the Dead Sea, and hike in the Wadi Rum desert. However, despite efforts to strengthen perceptions of its tourism, Jordan’s competitiveness in the industry has suffered since 2012, in large part due…

3 Questions with Robert Anyang: Feeding the Next Generation in Uganda

Youth engagement in agriculture is an important component of many agricultural development programs. Why is it so important to reach youth? Firstly, the current population that’s engaged in agriculture in Uganda has an average age of around 65 years old. As that population stops farming in the next five to 10 years, who will feed…

3 Questions with Michelle Gardner: The Future of Global Health

What innovation in the health sector are you most excited about right now? First, I think it’s important to define “innovation,” as I think it has become an overused and misunderstood term. I side with the view which USAID and others in development and humanitarian assistance have put forth. That is, innovation is something —…

Storm Warnings in Mozambique

Two days before a large snowstorm hits an American city, supermarkets are often overrun with customers purchasing items to help them prepare for the storm. Millions of Americans learn about incoming dangerous weather events through mobile phone weather apps, weather websites, radios, and televisions. But in many developing countries, where access to the Internet is…

Market Development at the Nexus between Public and Private Sectors

The Sustainable Development Goals established an agenda for transforming the world in which we live. SDG1 sets for the ultimate objective for the global community: to end poverty in all of its forms by 2030. The remaining 16 SDGs identify critically interlinked objectives which are both necessary and sufficient to achieve this objective. They clearly…

3 Questions with Lilian Likicho and Isaiah Oliver: Trends in Youth Development

This year’s Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit challenged participants to think about achieving and scaling results in youth development over the next decade, while including youth in the process. From your perspective, what does the next decade hold for youth in development? Isaiah: From my perspective, the greatest challenge facing youth is a lack of…

Harnessing Technology to Protect Forests and Biodiversity in the Philippines

With more than 20,000 species of plants and animals native to the country, the Philippines is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. Much of this biodiversity is contained in natural forest areas, but these once-lush forests and their biodiversity are degrading at an alarming rate. Over time, the country has lost approximately…

Why “Family Planning” Is a Useful Concept

I used to deride the term “family planning.” I saw it as a sort of euphemism used to skirt around controversial aspects of in sexual and reproductive health. The term particularly bothered me when used in regard to adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) because it seemed like an attempt to hide the fact that,…

Strengthening the Moldovan Wine Sector from Grape to Glass

The wine sector holds a unique distinction in Moldova: Wine is one of the only products exported with its full value chain completed in-country. From grape to glass, wine is produced, processed, and packaged in the small eastern European country, an approach that has cemented the sector’s role in economic growth and job creation. As…

3 Questions with Doina Nistor About Building Transformational Partnerships

Q: CEED had success using USAID’s Global Development Alliance (GDA) model in Moldova’s information technology (IT) sector. Can you describe the transformational partnership you formed with Microsoft and IBM, and the impact you expect it to have on the local IT sector? We engaged in an innovative partnership with Microsoft and IBM to create an…