"This paper presents the preliminary results of our ongoing study of corrective policy intervention in cluster-based industrial development. At the center of this study is a field experiment that we are conducting in a knitwear cluster in Ha Noi (previously Ha Tay) and a rolled steal cluster in Bac Ninh in Vietnam. In these clusters, we conducted baseline surveys of firms from April to July 2010 and then provided classroom training programs for entrepreneurs in June to August of the same year. The evaluation of the training impacts is expected to reveal whether entrepreneurs in clusters possess basic knowledge of management before the training, what characterizes the entrepreneurs who are more willing and able to absorb new knowledge, whether the training can change entrepreneurs' attitudes toward learning management knowledge, how much entrepreneurs can learn from a short-period training program, and whether the benefit of the training program exceeds its cost, among others."

"Technology entrepreneurship rarely succeeds in isolation; increasingly, it occurs in interconnected networks of business partners and other organizations. For entrepreneurs lacking access to an established business ecosystem, incubators and accelerators provide a possible support mechanism for access to partners and resources. Yet, these relatively recent approaches to supporting entrepreneurship are still evolving. Therefore, it can be challenging for entrepreneurs to assess these mechanisms and to make insightful decisions on whether or not to join an incubator or accelerator, and which incubator or accelerator best meets their needs. In this article, five key factors that entrepreneurs should take into consideration about incubators and accelerators are offered. Insights are drawn from two surveys of managers and users of incubators and accelerators. An understanding of these five key success factors (stage of venture, fit with incubator's mission, selection and graduation policies, services provided, and network of partners) and potential pitfalls will help entrepreneurs confidently enter into a relationship with an incubator or accelerator."

"The International Development Working Group brought together development practitioners and investors to explore the ways in which the changing landscape of development is creating new opportunities for effective partnerships to drive improvement in social outcomes. The Working Group assessed how impact investment can help to further drive economic development and improvement on social issues in developing countries. Working Group members agree that there is an opportunity for impact investment, in conjunction with public, private and philanthropic capital, to bring greater effectiveness, innovation, accountability and scale to address some of the world's toughest challenges. The group presents in this report its key recommendations on some proposed joint initiatives to advance the impact investing market for the benefit of the world's poor populations."

"The International Organization for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE) curates a list of local evaluation associations by country."

"Understanding what works to improve youth labour market outcomes is of paramount importance and a development priority for all countries and regions. Youth represent a vast potential for inclusive growth and development. If they are given the opportunity to build appropriate skills and access decent employment, they can help to accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and engage in meaningful work that benefits them, their families and society as a whole. Unfortunately, decent jobs are not a feasible prospect for all young women and men. Today, over 73 million young people are unemployed worldwide. Youth unemployment stands at a much higher level than the average unemployment rate for adults, in some cases over three times as high. Moreover, two out of five young people in the labour force are either working but poor or unemployed. The youth employment challenge is therefore not only about job creation, but also - and especially - about enhancing the quality of jobs for youth."

"This resource gives an overview and non-technical introduction to randomized evaluations. Randomized evaluations can be used to measure impact in policy research: to date, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) affiliated researchers have conducted more than 1,000 randomized evaluations studying policies in ten thematic sectors in more than 80 countries. This resource highlights work from a variety of contexts, including studies on youth unemployment in Chicago, a subsidized rice program in Indonesia, and a conditional cash transfer in Mexico. It includes guidance on when randomized evaluations can be most useful, and also discusses when they might not be the right choice as an evaluation method."

"A lot has been written about the relationship between entrepreneurship and regional development in the past years. However, do we have conclusive empirical evidence for justification of this relationship? Policymakers expect from entrepreneurship positive impact on country's wealth and employment. Nevertheless, several scholars have argued that the impact of entrepreneurship might be even negative, especially, when the institutions are not working well. This might be a case of developing countries.

We empirically tested the relationship between the established business ownership rate (obtained from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) and a set of country's economic indicators (Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income, and Human Development Index). Obtained estimates support a hypothesis assuming a negative influence of entrepreneurship on regional development of developing countries (represented by GDP and GNI). Nevertheless, we failed to prove any impact of entrepreneurship on HDI. These findings have crucial implications for both policymakers and researchers."

"Impact investment is a strategy to align the power of private markets to the social and environmental development needs of society at-large. From 2012-13, the Rockefeller Foundation, through its Impact Investing initiative, funded research in five Sub-Saharan African countries with the aim of understanding the barriers for impact investing across Africa, as well as recommending national policies to encourage the growth of the industry. This report synthesises the findings of that work, presents three frameworks, and examines the potential of impact investing as a 'strategy of choice' for African policymakers."

"From launching a fund to exiting investments, this handbook provides an introduction to equity investment throughout Africa. The handbook presents a panorama of SGB investment in Africa, introduces equity investment methodology, and suggests a roadmap for launching an investment vehicle targeting African SGBs."

"ANGIN Team is glad to share some of the latest insights on this investing in impact landscape in Indonesia. For the first report of this kind, our research and investment team analyzed hundreds of transactions and deep dived into investor case studies to extract some of the key trends shaping the market."