Working the System for Improved Water and Sanitation Services

Prompted by winter storm Uri, Texans experienced one of the largest blackouts in U.S. history last February. Loss of power, coupled with pump failures and burst pipes, led to a boil-water notice for more than 14 million residents. Many died of hypothermia and carbon-monoxide poisoning while trying to stay warm. CBS News reported the storm…

Going the Extra Mile to Reach the Last Mile

Two supply chain experts, Bongisiwe Mosekoa and Fikreslassie Alemu, share strategies they’ve applied in Eswatini and Ethiopia to address social factors and systems challenges behind medical commodity uptake, implement inclusive delivery practices for last mile distribution, and ensure sustained health outcomes for everyone, including underserved populations such as people living with HIV/AIDS, youth, pastoralists and…

3 Questions with Jaclyn Grace on Engaging Elites to Resolve Conflict

Chemonics’ recently published toolkit offers peacebuilders a practical guide to applying “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” (EBPD) theory to their activities. Through her work delivering stabilization programming in Mali, Jaclyn Grace co-authored the toolkit. She explains how EBPD theory helps development practitioners see localized conflicts in a new light. 1. What is Elite Bargains and Political Deals…

3 Questions With Grace Adeya on PMI’s Impact in the Fight to End Malaria

The U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) is a significant contributor in the global quest to end malaria. Since its launch in 2005, PMI has conducted malaria prevention and treatment programs in 24 malaria-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Over the past five years, the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management…

Is Private Sector Engagement In Health Supply Chains in LMICs the Most Recent Panacea?

Governments, NGOs, and civil society organizations are examples of entities that have made significant investments in reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of “[achieving] universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services, and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.” Even with these…

Stop Evidencing Complex Results with Just Numbers and Embrace Narrative

‘Complexity’ is a term that we have heard a lot over the last year. The degradation of our climate is a complex crisis. COVID-19 is a complex issue. Everything feels complex currently. ‘Systems’ is equally vogue. Whether talking about doughnut economies or how education impacts resilience, acknowledging that everything operates within fluctuating, interrelated systems is…

Digitizing the Agricultural Value Chain

This post originally appeared on MarketLinks. Over the past few decades, we’ve all heard variations of the same refrain: the future is digital. However, digital’s promise is hard to realize in many contexts given the technology infrastructure required for success. This goes beyond broadband internet availability and access to include cultural norms and other factors…

What Is Needed to Mobilize Commercial Finance for the Water Sector?

The projections of the financing needed for water infrastructure range from $6.7 trillion by 2030 to $22.6 trillion by 2050. These estimates do not include investments needed for water resources, irrigation, or energy. Further, the World Bank has estimated that to deliver universal access to safe water and sanitation services under the Sustainable Development Goals…

How to Stop Zoom Zone-Out: Lessons from VukaNow

The role of USAID’s VukaNow Activity is to catalyze learning and share information and best practices to enhance collaborative efforts to combat wildlife crime in southern Africa. This work requires many in-person meetings and workshops. In 2020, VukaNow, along with partner CollaborateUp, was organizing a critical learning event in Botswana, planned for mid-March. Just a…

Where in the World Are Those Private Sector Partners?

As the countries of West and Central Africa struggle with ongoing health challenges such as a recent Ebola outbreak, one of the highest HIV/AIDS burdens in the world, and a fractured health infrastructure, many actors in the health supply chain remain unaware of what organizations and private companies already exist to provide valuable global health supply chain services…