A new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) finds that: “the renewable power added in 2022 reduced the fuel bill of the electricity sector worldwide. New capacity added since 2000 reduced the electricity sector fuel bill in 2022 by at least USD 520 billion.” IRENA’s Director-General, Francesco La Camera, said: “There is no…(Read more)
On July 8, 2023, 13 Ghanaian young professionals graduated from the Young Impact Associates program, a one-year professional development and leadership program in monitoring, evaluation, and learning, funded by the Mastercard Foundation. In announcing the graduation-which was held at Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studie sin Wa in Ghana’s Upper West…(Read more)
Aspen Institute VP Maureen Conway, blogging on July 4, 2023, American Independence Day, argues that “America cannot truly be the Land of the Free until we liberate its working people and enable them to enjoy the fruits of their labor. This can only be accomplished by improving the quality of their jobs.” She points to…(Read more)
Singapore-based SWEEF Capital has published a Practitioner’s Manual to accompany its groundbreaking Gender ROI Assessment Tool. “Increasing numbers of organizations, government bodies, industry advocates and investors are engaging in frank conversations about barriers preventing women’s full participation in many activities, including access to capital and meaningful career pathways,” writes the gender-lens investment firm. “The new…(Read more)
Writing in Project Syndicate, Mariana Mazzucato of University College London and James Anderson of Bloomberg Philanthropies introduce their project to develop a new public sector index of the capabilities of cities to solve critical challenges. “What critical skills, processes, and structures”, the authors write, “will a given municipality need in order to detect emergent issues…(Read more)
The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global Gender Gap Report is out and progress toward gender parity in the economy is slow. The top ranked countries are almost all small nations. As the report observes, “no country has yet achieved full gender parity, although the top nine countries (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua,…(Read more)
One of the concrete wins for the Global South at the Macron-Motley Climate Finance in late June 2023 in Pairs was the announcement by the European Union and other development partners of a Euro 2.5 B Just Energy Partnership for Senegal. “This partnership will help accelerate the deployment of renewable energies, so as to increase…(Read more)
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women has released the report of its Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation on the theme of gender equality in the digital age. The consultation was convened by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in…(Read more)
Global Affairs Canada has released a new report entitled A Journey of Purpose: Learning to Scale Gender Change in Canadian Climate Finance in Developing Economies. Authored by Dr. Edward Jackson for the Department’s Climate Finance Division, the discussion paper examines Canada’s USD 3B long-term debt portfolio with multilateral banks and funds aimed at financing major…(Read more)
At the blog of the American Evaluation Association, AEA 365, evaluation consultant Sylva Ferretti has contributed a two-part reflection on working with AI in evaluation, particularly ChatGPT. Overall, she finds this AI tool to be useful, additive, and even progressive in her practice in the field of international development and humanitarian assistance. ChatGPT is, especially, able…(Read more)
