"This assessment was conducted by a mixed international-local team with youth participation, and is the first of a series of labor market assessments to be conducted under the Workforce Connections project. The methodology builds on standard approaches to understanding labor markets used in the past by USAID, other donors, governments, and private organizations, with the addition of a more focused economic analysis which makes it possible to generate deeper insight into the drivers of skills demand. Results from this and the other Workforce Connections assessments, and the tools used to generate them, will be shared and further refined through the project's Community of Practice over the coming year. The assessment also contains a summary of lessons learned about workforce development programming."

"The COVID-19 pandemic has launched the world into unprecedented turbulence and uncertainty. The micro, small and medium sized businesses (MSMEs) that underpin employment and growth in frontier economies have felt the impact on multiple dimensions. By extension, the capital providers that have invested in and financed these enterprises are equally challenged as they seek to support their portfolios in these uncertain times. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a dearth of capital for MSMEs in LatAm of nearly $1 trillion. COVID-19 has exacerbated this situation and has the potential to undermine many gains made in income and gender equality, growth and employment over the last years. The survey looked into who the impact-orientated capital providers are that finance MSMEs in LatAm; how they look at impact, in particular gender; what their portfolio of small businesses is; what the portfolio’s performance pre COVID was; what their financial and non-financial needs post-COVID look like; and whether any changes and opportunities are arising from the current situation?"

"The following case study offers a micro-level analysis of a social impact company in East Africa and their approach to measuring social impact. In this policy paper, Public Policy Fellow Jamie Van Leeuwen and Michael Feinberg analyze the case study of Staffable, a social impact company in Kampala, Uganda and their approach to measuring the efficacy of social impact. They provide policy recommendations on how philanthropists, investors, and non-governmental organizations can standardize performance metrics to measure social impact investing, as well as recommend investments in workforce development in order to reduce dependency."