Writing on Labour Day 2021, Aspen Institute Vice President Maureen Conway argues that, in America,: “Business leaders have choices, and they can choose to improve the quality of work. It’s time for employers to build better business models – ensuring workers are treated with respect and that they receive the pay, benefits, and workplace protections they deserve.”…(Read more)
Category: News
On Becoming an Anti-Human-Trafficking Advocate
Writing in Women in Foreign Policy, Senior Associate of the firm, Kizzann Sammy, shares her journey in international development from an early focus on poverty reduction to her current strong commitment to anti-human-trafficking advocacy. To her readers, she writes: “I encourage you to find a space for your voice in this area of human security…(Read more)
Is the ESG Trend Bypassing Most of the Capital Market?
Writing in Canada’s Globe and Mail, thought leaders Christopher Pinney and Ed Waitzer argue that governments must act in quickly and decisively to institute effective incentives and disincentives to move to accountable net-zero strategies large companies financed by debt and operating outside regulated stock exchanges. “There is no historical precedent for the market coordination of…(Read more)
Designing Evaluations of Blended Finance Instruments
A new OECD working paper takes a pluralist and pragmatic approach to the design of evaluations of blended finance instruments at the front-end of the results chain–particularly related to mobilization and leverage, additionality, and concessionality–and for downstream results, as well. Prepared by a team from DEval, the German Institute for Development Evaluation, and drawing on…(Read more)
Stopping the Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate Bill in Ghana
After months of an anti-LGBTQ+ hate campaign in Ghana, the country’s Parliament is debating a bill that would severely criminalize not only the LGBTQ+ community but also anyone who advocates for their rights. The LGBTQ+ community in Ghana is tiny and is not a threat to any institutional interest, but hyper-conservative political and religious ideologues…(Read more)
ODI on DFI Investments in Gender, Climate, Impact Harmonization
UK’s Overseas Development Institute published a new collection of essays entitled “The Catalytic Effects of DFI Investment in Gender Equality, Climate Action, and the Harmonisation of Impact Standards, edited by Samantha Attridge
Ted Jackson Wins RIA Individual Leadership Award
On June 7, 2021, at its annual conference, the Responsible Investment Association announced the winners of its 2021 awards competition. Ted Jackson, President of E.T. Jackson and Associates Ltd., received the RIA Individual Leadership Award in recognition of the quality and innovation of the firm’s evaluation in 2019-2020 of the Convergence Blended Finance Platform. “A…(Read more)
Mastercard Foundation Announces $1.3B for African Centres for Disease Control
On June 8, 2021, The Mastercard Foundation, with current assets of nearly $40B, announced it would deploy $1.3B over the next three years to support the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to expand the availability of affordable vaccines on the continent and bolster Africa’s response to the pandemic. The Foundation notes…(Read more)
“Water is life”: Sulley Gariba, 1958-2021
“Water is life,” he often said. On April 27, 2021, our dear friend and colleague, Dr. Sulley Gariba, passed away due to complications from Covid-19. Diplomat, philanthropy executive, policy advisor, evaluator and mentor, Dr. Gariba catalyzed innovation for impact in everything he did. The tributes to his excellence and leadership have flowed in, like cascading,…(Read more)
OECD-UNDP Impact Standards for Financing Sustainable Development
On May 26, 2021, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Development Program launched their new joint Impact Standards for Financing Sustainable Development. These standards focus on strategy, management approach, transparency and governance and can be applied to development finance, bonds, private equity funds, and enterprises. For the full standards report,…(Read more)