Recently, Chemonics partnered with the University of Notre Dame (one of the partners in the creation of USAID’s Private Sector Engagement Evidence Gap Map) to conduct an in-depth survey of our development programs. The goal was to better understand how our projects are working with the private sector to achieve development impact — and, more…
Author’s Note: We drafted this blog post and scheduled it to publish before the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing protests for justice and reform. Our original intention was to highlight the importance of security sector reform (SSR) work for international development programs. We believe that the recent events in the United States related…
On Monday, October 7, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) hosted a panel discussion on private sector engagement, titled More than a Wallet: The Role of the Private Sector in Development. The panel explored the role of the private sector in development. The event featured Chemonics’ Middle East and North Africa Senior Vice…
Climate variability and change present both current and future risks to human health. The purpose of this report is to: Increase understanding of the influence of climate variability and change, specifically, rising temperatures on malaria exposure of populations in sub-Saharan Africa; and provide public health decision-makers and stakeholder practitioners with information to make decisions about…
This post originally appeared on IntraHealth International’s blog VITAL. A police officer sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks, “What have you lost?” “My keys,” the drunk man says, and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes, the officer asks if he is sure he lost…
Sustainable development requires attention to the multiple dimensions of economic, political, and social complexities, all of which interconnect. We know from our own experience that economic growth leads to changes in society and, thereby, corresponding changes in the relationships among government, private sector, social structures, and institutions. For example, increased international trade is likely to…
This activity was one of four winners of Chemonics’ recent Market Systems and Youth Enterprise Development Innovation Contest within the youth enterprise track. This post originally appeared on Marketlinks. When thousands of youth are migrating abroad to seek better employment opportunities, how do you provide a viable economic alternative to encourage them to stay, develop their skills,…
A recent article highlighted the staggering disparities that persist in maternal and neonatal outcomes in America. The disparities are in part because of societal and racial bias within the health-care system. In New York, black women are four times more likely than white women to die in childbirth. Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are life-threatening pregnancy-related conditions that are sixty percent more…
The development world is no stranger to human-centered design. Many of the basic principles — working with stakeholders to understand their needs, reframing core issues, taking a pilot-based approach to program design and refinement — have been part of the development discourse, in one form or another, for the last few decades. And as a formalized process, it’s…
Imagine you are in a neighborhood. In this neighborhood, there is a corner where young people gather every night to drink. We would call them “at-risk youth.” These are young guys who have dropped out of school, and the local priest decides that he is worried about them. The priest forms a basketball team that…
The adoption of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was a watershed moment for the world, not only because of the importance of the goals themselves, but also because of the inclusiveness of the process used to develop them. Because of that inclusiveness, the private sector is now speaking the same language as that…
Down-and-dirty politics and political roadblocks have thwarted the success of agricultural development projects for decades. To achieve greater success, we need to consider how we can better understand and break down such blocks. Whether we like it or not, international development efforts are inherently political. Within the agriculture sector, the relationships and power dynamics among…