Category: Private Sector Engagement

The Unique Challenges of Investing in Agriculture

Agriculture and trade & finance have a necessary but strained relationship. This is not surprising since trade and finance are dynamic, short-cycle, growth-oriented ventures, whereas farming the land to produce food, fiber, and fuel is arduous labor that requires patience in return for incremental gains. In farming, the next drought, pest outbreak or bad harvest […]

Highlighting an Article: “Is sustainable vanilla the flavor of the month?”

Time for another quick entry here to spread the word about a recent article on sustainable vanilla production, from GreenBiz.com, entitled “Is sustainable vanilla the flavor of the month?” The article takes a quick look at some of the key issues in vanilla production: eliminating child labor, traceability, and price volatility. Given the low volumes purchased […]

Market Systems Development in Ghana

According to USAID, ‘Market Systems Development is a body of international knowledge, guidelines, good practices and lessons learned that provide a more effective, sustainable, and beneficial way for poor people to develop their capacities and improve their lives. Indeed, Market Systems Development has proven a critically important tool for working with markets to better serve the needs of […]

New USAID Report on Private Sector’s Role in Sustainability and Scale: 5 key takeaways from the Enduring Results Study

The recently released Enduring Results Study 3.0 led by CRS takes on a task that few projects have the luxury of doing – it takes a retrospective look at project outcomes two years after funding has ended to evaluate drivers of sustainability and scale. Drawn from 29 USAID partnerships with the private sector, the ERS 3.0 is […]