This blog was originally published by Foreign Policy magazine. Corrupt governance systems are a threat to democracy. They deprive people of much-needed public resources and services, weaken trust in institutions, distort decision-making in the interest of the few, and lead to deep citizen disengagement and apathy. Moreover, corruption disproportionately impacts groups that already tend to hold…
Deforestation in the Colombian Amazon has increased in recent years, with illicit economic activities and unsustainable agricultural practices damaging the natural environment and threatening biodiversity. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated things further, with the isolation of vulnerable indigenous communities and reduced access to markets providing a backdrop for increased land grabbing and environmental crime. As deforestation…
Some highlights of the learning event were a pause and reflect group dynamic in which the participants were able to evaluate the implementation of Sembrando Oportunidades and share their suggestions of improvements that can be made, and the presentation of the Alliance for Root Causes and Opportunities Activity proposals to increase the activity’s reach.
This post originally appeared on Fast Company on April 17, 2023. We have the money and ingenuity to solve the world’s greatest challenges. What we need most right now is to unlock the massive capital needed to harness both the entrepreneurial potential in frontier and emerging economies and relevant technology that will provide the breadth of…
Chemonics is proud to launch the inaugural Evidence and Learning for Scale Research Awards, a competitive process in which we sought out research proposals from 88 of our donor-funded projects around the world to help address critical cross-sectoral topics. For 2023, we selected two winning proposals aligned with the priority topic of social behavior change…
As of 2021, Colombia was the 18th largest gold producer globally and the third largest in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, more than 80% of the country’s gold is illegally mined, resulting in detrimental environmental and social effects, including deforestation, landscape disruption, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and food insecurity. Although the artisanal and small-scale…
This report is a retrospective analysis of the implementation of political economy analyses (PEAs) solicited by USAID to assess whether PEAs are an effective tool to increase the impact of development programs. PEAs are commonly used within thinking and working politically (TWP) approaches, which seek to significantly improve development impact by understanding and responding to…
Chemonics is committed to confronting the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across its global operations. Today, Chemonics announces that it has joined the Business Ambition for 1.5°C Campaign and has committed to setting emissions reduction targets in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Chemonics joins the world’s largest and fastest-growing…
The Digital Development Awards (“the Digis”) recognize and celebrate USAID projects and activities that support inclusive development through digital technology. This year, the USAID Colombia Rural Finance Initiative (RFI) implemented by Chemonics was selected as one of five Digi recipients for developing a mobile phone-based system for rural smallholders and urban-based, low-income groups to conduct…