Modern secured transaction laws increase the availability of credit and reduce its cost, by ensuring that lenders can collect debt and enforce their rights in movable property collateral through a timely and inexpensive process. From a global perspective, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is significantly behind in pursuing and operationalizing reforms to…
People often give me puzzled looks when I try to describe my job here, and I don’t blame them. Since 2015 I have worked on an international development program that supports the Philippines’ shift from a cash-based economy to a cash-light economy, which will improve the livelihoods of Filipinos by getting more people involved in…
The USAID Program for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Development, a five-year initiative (October 2011 – December 2016) carried out by Chemonics International, sought to improve the access of micro, small, and medium enterprises to business development services; increase their productivity and competitiveness; and expand their operations into local and export markets. Over five years,…
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…
What is financial inclusion? Financial inclusion seeks to increase the number of individuals who are able to access formal financial services, with a focus on providing access to marginalized populations such as youth or women. According to the World Bank, almost 40 percent of the adults in the world do not use formal financial services,…
How can inclusive markets combat poverty and provide opportunities for all people to prosper? During the SEEP Network 2016 Conference, global stakeholders explore how to broaden the reach of markets into new contexts and to new populations. Chemonics is proud to share its experience working in Uganda and Jordan, where digital technologies and innovative approaches to…
This post originally appeared on SEEP’s blog. Chemonics is a proud member of SEEP. Have you ever wondered if there is a better way to expand and deepen financial inclusion? Have you tried forming innovative partnerships or using digital technology? Financial inclusion is a building block of strong economies throughout the world. However, in many…
When I was a Peace Corps volunteer, I worked with female artisans in Morocco and witnessed firsthand the barriers they faced in economic development. Poor education, which prevented many from completing paperwork; low self-confidence or hope for a better future; lack of capital to invest in business licenses, equipment, and training; and a lack of…
With the unprecedented rise of new payment technologies comes a growing appreciation of new methods to create, store, and transfer value through alternative forms of financing that take advantage of a hyper-connected world of mobile and social platforms. This is particularly true in Africa, where mobile money is at the heart of enabling a cashless…
According to USAID’s recently released “Guide to the Use of Digital Financial Services in Agriculture,” there are an estimated 1.5 billion smallholder farmers worldwide producing approximately 80 percent of the global food supply, who together face an estimated $430 billion shortfall in critical financial services that are needed to support production. In Uganda, where smallholder…
Following the success of USAID’s Economic Policy Reform and Competitiveness (EPRC) project, the government of Mongolia agreed to continue its ambitious reform agenda through support and partnership with USAID. In June 2011, Chemonics International began implementing the $14 million follow-on project, Business Plus Initiative (BPI). BPI was designed to improve Mongolia’s business enabling environment, build…