Tag: GFD

Policy

Increasing impact through partnerships

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By Francesco Starace, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of ENEL SpA

Learn more about this timely topic at the upcoming
Global Forum on Development on 5 April 2017
Register today to attend

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A view from the community of Ollagüe

Planet Earth is changing, evolving, with such speed and disruption that humans have been forced to question many of the things that used to be taken for granted. This is due in great part to the digitalisation of a world that is ever more interconnected, and therefore increasingly complex.

Whilst this complexity and change might bring about some discomfort initially, it is important not to fight it. It is inevitable, and it must happen. It is much better that humankind embraces it. Doing so means being willing to open up to new ideas, to the potential of new technology, and to listen to what people want and need.
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Development Matters
Africa, SDGs

Encouraging entrepreneurship in Africa is vital to achieving the Global Goals

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By Dr. Amy Jadesimi, CEO, LADOL


Learn more about this timely topic at the upcoming
Global Forum on Development on 5 April 2017
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Amy-JadesimiNext week, the OECD Global Forum on Development will convene in Paris to discuss the critical role the private sector must play in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs or Global Goals). Private sector funding, innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable business models can rapidly reorient the global economy towards achieving prosperity through business models that align with the goals.

Here’s what we know: At least USD 12 trillion could be added to the global economy by 2030 if the private sector embraces sustainable business models in the1 four key development areas of energy and materials, health and well-being, food and agriculture, and cities. Embracing sustainable business models in other sectors will push this figure even higher. This level of private sector engagement could create 380 million new jobs, primarily in low income, high growth countries.
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Development Matters
Gender, Women and Girls, SDGs

How we all benefit when women have access to finance

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By Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO, Women’s World Banking

Learn more about this timely topic at the upcoming
Global Forum on Development on 5 April 2017.
Register today to attend!

shutterstock_453468400The International Finance Corporation estimates that approximately 65% of women-led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies are either unserved or underserved financially 1. For a women entrepreneur, this means the odds are already stacked against the growth potential of her business. Giving women access to credit and other financial tools will not only help those businesses, it will also help us achieve critical Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This gap in access to capital for women-led SMEs exists despite significant contributions by these businesses to gross domestic product and employment. Women-owned businesses account for approximately 40% of the world’s 340 million informal micro, small and medium enterprises and one-third of the 40 million formal SMEs 2. A projected 112 million female business owners also employ at least one other person in their business 3.

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Development Matters4 Comments
Africa, Development finance

The Global Goals’ Business Opportunity in Africa

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By Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Chair, Business & Sustainable Development Commission, former UNDP Administrator and Ex-UN Deputy Secretary-General, and UK Minister of State for Africa, Asia and the United Nations

Learn more about this timely topic at the upcoming
Global Forum on Development on 5 April 2017.
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Lord-Mark-Malloch-BrownA critical transition from a heavy reliance on international public development finance to locally generated private sector solutions to development problems is underway. Earlier this year, the Business & Sustainable Development Commission launched its flagship report, Better Business, Better World, which makes the case for why the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer the private sector a growth strategy that opens new market value and helps solve significant social and environmental challenges at the same time. The Commission shows how sustainable business models could unlock economic opportunities across 60 “hot spots” worth up to USD 12 trillion and increase employment by up to 380 million jobs by 2030. In Africa alone, sustainable business models could open up an economic prize of at least USD 1.1 trillion and create over 85 million new jobs by 2030.
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Development Matters3 Comments
Gender, Women and Girls, Policy, Shifting wealth

The Online Platform, Trade, MSMEs and Women: Lessons from eBay towards user-driven economic empowerment

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By Hanne Melin, Director and Head of eBay Public Policy Lab for Europe, Middle East and Africa

Learn more about this timely topic at the upcoming
Global Forum on Development on 5 April 2017.
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Innovation-womenIrrespective of where in the world we look, we find micro and small businesses leveraging an online platform business strategy to engage in commerce on a global scale. That’s been the finding of the eBay Public Policy Lab and a team of economists at Sidley Austin LLP who have worked together since 2011 studying the trade patterns of enterprises using the eBay marketplace.

The economic opportunities cannot be overestimated.

Indeed, trade participation is linked to increased productivity and greater probability of firm survival. This, in turn, contributes to more prosperous communities. Nevertheless, micro and small firms remain underrepresented in world trade, despite them dominating most countries’ enterprise population. Moreover, developing countries’ role in world trade is still understated, not to mention the small firms in those countries.

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Development Matters
Building resilience, SDGs

The SDGs, Domestic Resource Mobilisation and the Poor

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By Nora Lustig, Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics, Director of the Commitment to Equity Institute at Tulane University, nonresident senior fellow of the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue, and non-resident senior research fellow at UNU-WIDER 1

Learn more about this timely topic at the upcoming
Global Forum on Development on 5 April 2017.
Register today to attend!

E_SDG goals_icons-individual-rgb-01Countries around the world committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  However, achieving some of the SDGs could happen at the expense of the overarching goal of reducing poverty, at least in the short-run.2  One key factor to achieving the SDGs will be the availability of fiscal resources to deliver the floors in social protection, social services and infrastructure embedded in the SDGs. A significant portion of these resources is expected to come from taxes in developing countries themselves, complemented by transfers from the countries that are better off.3 In developing countries, however, raising additional taxes domestically for infrastructure, protecting the environment and social services may leave a significant portion of the poor with less cash to buy food and other essential goods.  Continue reading “The SDGs, Domestic Resource Mobilisation and the Poor”

Development Matters