In development, we are constantly improving our ability to do meaningful work and becoming more demand-driven in our approaches. While some improvements are disruptive technologies like digital financial services, others are simple changes to the way we operate. One of the topics from the recent SEEP Women’s Economic Empowerment Global Learning Forum that really resonated…
I’ve had the honor of hiring a lot of people during my career at Chemonics. In the last few years while serving as senior vice president for our West and Central Africa and Haiti business unit, and now as senior vice president for Human Resources, I’ve made it a practice to have the final interview…
It makes intuitive sense at many levels: power and politics matter. We know this to be true in our own hometowns, organizations, or governments: different formal and informal alliances, power imbalances, and motivators — stemming from kinship or affinity, party politics, economic interests, cultural ties, race and gender relations, and other informal systems — determine…
Why is social inclusion important for the development of Kosovo? Kosovo declared its independence in 2008 and as a new country has made significant progress towards consolidating its institutions. Social inclusion is a particularly important element to consider during the development and consolidation of the new country’s institutions and systems in order to ensure long-term…
As the world witnesses the largest displacement of individuals in human history, we must advocate for these communities, especially on World Refugee Day. But while most of us sympathize with the plight of refugees, there are three common misconceptions about today’s refugee crisis that impact sustainable refugee empowerment. For those looking to support refugees in…
What are the biggest risks if cities in Mozambique do not become more resilient? It would be a catastrophe. Right now, we’re starting to see the impact of extreme climate events, and we know they will get worse. Even minor-seeming weather events can cause significant problems. For example, it rained lot in the city of…
SA-LED supports the design and implementation of municipal low-emissions development (LED) projects. What does a successful project life cycle look like and what obstacles do municipalities face during implementation? During the project life cycle, we look at two main dividends: greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and development impact. That’s what separates SA-LED’s work from other approaches…
Private investment in sub-Saharan Africa’s power sector is critical to regional economic growth. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for electricity access will require some $800 billion in investment from now until 2030. Taking no action will thwart economic growth by 2-5 percent per annum. Reducing the risks of investment is therefore key to unlocking…
This post originally appeared on The Atlantic Council. Many governance experts see decentralization as a potential model to mitigate political and sectarian challenges in Syria, Libya, and Iraq and improve livelihoods in those countries by restoring basic services to local populations. But in countries with a long history of absolute control, central government officials frequently…
By 2030, global food producers will need to feed an estimated 8.3 billion people, reflecting an increase of about 1 billion from the world’s population in 2015. Nearly one-third of the world’s current population, or approximately 2.5 billion people, depend on agriculture for their livelihood. However, increasingly frequent severe weather events caused by climate change…
The livelihoods of rural households in Tajikistan are highly dependent on agricultural production, yet farmers are not able to produce enough food to meet their own needs. It is sadly ironic that in an area dominated by farming, malnutrition among children is common and also causes many health problems for women of reproductive age. Farmers…
This blog post originally appeared on Climatelinks. Thanks to aggressive interventions in recent decades, remarkable progress has been made across sub-Saharan Africa in reducing child mortality, malaria deaths, and stunting rates, and improving overall health. But these gains may be lost as climate and weather variability put more people at risk of infection and death…