Emerging economies such as Colombia, Philippines, and South Africa offer sophisticated financial sectors that historically failed to reach marginalized groups. In Colombia specifically, this left rural areas largely unbanked and excluded from the broader economy, after decades of war. In four years, USAID/Colombia’s Rural Finance Initiative (RFI) — implemented by Chemonics — has linked more…
This post originally appeared on Devex. Donor agencies, such as the United States Agency for International Development and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, have made private sector engagement, or PSE, a key element of their development strategies. Being more intentional about including the private sector in development is good news. Over the years,…
Access to financial services enables rural households to build financial security, start enterprises, and insure against risks. This access, in turn, generates secondary benefits, improving resilience, health, nutrition, and broad-based economic growth. In 2015, USAID launched the Rural Finance Initiative (RFI), implemented by Chemonics International, to provide technical assistance to financial institutions in Colombia so that they could identify profitable opportunities…
On Tuesday, November 12, Chemonics awarded two teams of young problem-solvers with funding and ongoing support to continue development of their innovative solutions for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Presented by Chemonics’ Executive Vice President Jamey Butcher, the award was part of the company’s commitment as Lead Scale Partner of the UNLEASH global innovation…
Estefania McPhaul is an economic growth and trade specialist with more than ten years of progressive experience managing complex economic growth projects for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, and the International Development Bank. Estefania currently serves as global practice lead of Chemonics’ Economic Growth and Trade (EGT) practice where…
This article originally appeared on the SEEP Network’s blog. In a large city, it probably would take you less than five minutes to find an ATM. In a small town, however, finding an ATM can be much more challenging. Imagine that you live in a small town torn by decades of armed conflict, and like…
Photo courtesy of USAID Colombia Human Rights Activity. This post originally appeared on Devex. When everyone is struggling to recover from violent conflict, singling out one community for assistance among many ethnic and religious identities can actually make matters worse. Yet, to heal the inter-community rifts that set the stage for conflict, targeted outreach to…
Rapid urbanization in developing countries is shifting demand for agricultural goods. Meanwhile, the digitization of value chains is generating more transparent information on the pricing and movement of goods. These changes within food systems open windows of opportunity for agripreneurship — that is, entrepreneurship in the agriculture sector — both on the farm and beyond…
How can we forge better partnerships to drive agricultural productivity, incomes, and nutrition? How can we use data to empower people and foster resilience? What are the best ways to engage the private sector to make financial services inclusive? Chemonics will discuss these questions and more at the 2019 Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP)…
To reach 50,000 farmers — 70 percent of them women — in 4.5 years, USAID’s Feed the Future Tajikistan Agriculture and Water Activity (TAWA) developed the nutrition-sensitive Farm to Fork capacity building program. The program, based in the Khatlon province of Tajikistan, particularly targeted women farmers of reproductive age or those with children under age…