"In this document, the Platform on Sustainable Finance proposes a structure for a social taxonomy within the present EU legislative environment on sustainable finance and sustainable governance. This environment currently consists of:
(i) the existing legislation and proposed initiatives on the EU taxonomy; (ii) the proposed corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD); (iii) the Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation; and (iv) the sustainable corporate-governance (SCG) initiative. Although all these pieces of legislation influence this report, the focus of this work was above all on the present structure of the environmental taxonomy, a point which was even more stressed when public feedback highlighted that market participants expected a common structure for social and environment"

"The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) launched the Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund (AWEF) in 2019 with support from the Visa Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The overall goal of AWEF-funded projects is to address the gender financing gap for women-owned small and growing businesses (SGBs) in developing economies. The first round of grantmaking, AWEF Asia, funded eight entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) in Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Pakistan, and India, as well as programs serving the region as a whole. This report summarizes the lessons learned from these grants."

"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."

"In 2021, ACT Foundation Research Team set out to capture the landscape of technology adoption for African non-profits. We surveyed over 400 social impact professionals to understand the current state of technology adoption within their organizations and to assess their digital readiness. In this report, we explored the digital investment landscape and investigated the barriers to greater technology adoption. We also attempted to identify areas of support needs across the sector."

"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?"

"This report reveals the state of social enterprises in Nigeria. It is based on desk research, interviews with key stakeholders and a survey distributed to social enterprises from a diverse range of industries and sectors across the county. The findings are timely. Governments and communities are looking to minimize the economic and social damage caused by Covid-19 and, in the longer term, see the pandemic as an opportunity to rebuild economies on a fairer, more inclusive footing. As businesses that combine positive social and environmental impact with financial sustainability, social enterprises have a vital role to play."

“O relatório “Investimentos de Impacto no Brasil – 2020”, realizado pela ANDE em parceria com a Aliança pelos Investimentos e Negócios de Impacto, o Instituto Clima e Sociedade, a Fundação Grupo Boticário e com apoio da Wright Capital, captura as características do setor de investimento de impacto no Brasil no ano de 2020, com base em uma amostra de 38 investidores de impacto ativos na região. O relatório fornece uma visão geral sobre onde e como o capital está sendo alocado e identifica os desafios que o ecossistema enfrenta, além de abordar temáticas como equidade de gênero, avaliação de riscos e oportunidades climáticas para o portfólio e mensuração de emissões de gases de efeito estufa associadas ao portfólio. Coordenação e análise Pipe.Labo”

"Women-led and women-owned businesses continue to be a largely untapped resource for economic growth in emerging economies. There is promising data, highlighted in this report, for the opportunity to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystems supporting women in emerging economies, despite the negative impacts of the pandemic. This report underscores the potential for women’s businesses, especially startup businesses and high-growth entrepreneurs, and emphasizes the need to fill critical gaps in access to financing, technology, social networks and training. "

"India has been slow to get its act together on climate change and it was only in 2021, at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, that we agreed to pursue a goal of net zero emissions as a country. Private investment is crucial to meeting India’s climate goals and while progress was made this year, this is much more to be done. This report, The State of Climate Finance in India 2022, is our second annual stock-taking of India and its climate action priorities. We review the progress in climate action from an Indian perspective, and focus on what it means for the world of climate finance. We invite readers of this report to draw from the insights and the findings of this report to advance their climate action aims, and also invite you all to reach out to us to connect and engage in mainstream climate finance in India and the region."

"This study demonstrates how investors can begin comparing investments based on impact, not only highlighting impact performance across this sample of investments but also exploring investors’ contribution to that impact in terms of the progress so far in tackling climate change. Fundamentally, this research is intended to cultivate the suite of impact analytic tools to come, such as impact performance benchmarks, ratings, and indices. Its specific findings highlight the tremendous need for further research to enhance the industry’s insights into impact performance and its drivers, enabling evidence-based decision-making. Ultimately, through this research and related efforts, the GIIN seeks to enable investors to optimize for impact at each stage of the investment process, accelerating progress toward global goals."