"The objective of the study was to rigorously evaluate SME programs in four Latin American countries Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru to gain insights into whether SME programs work, which programs perform better than others, and why. This report should be of interest to country governments, policymakers with responsibilities for SMEs, local researchers and the private sector in the region, as well as World Bank staff and bilateral donors."

"This paper investigates the impact of investment in human capital (off-the-job training in short term) on productivity of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method with dynamic approach. The paper employs the data from two surveys on the SMEs in Vietnam in the year of 2009 and 2011 that provide detailed information about training and firm characteristics. The results found that training has significantly positive impact on the productivity of household business, but there is no evidence on the impact of training on productivity of the firms in formal sector in the short run; and there is no evidence on the impact of training activities on productivity in the medium run (one-or-two-year after training) for both household business and formal enterprises. Besides, qualitative approach shall be conducted to provide more description on training efficiencies in some specific cases."

"This report is the first follow-up to the impact evaluation of the Kyrgyzstan Women's Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises (WLSME) activity commissioned by the Office of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GenDev) in the United States Agency for International Development's Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment (USAID/E3). The report summarizes the data collection and analysis methods and provides initial findings and conclusions based on baseline and post-intervention data collection and analysis of the Kyrgyzstan WLSME activity. The impact evaluation plans to collect two more follow-up rounds at 12 months and 24 months post-intervention; thus, this report contains only initial findings that could be observed at the end of the activity."

"In 2015 and 2016, ANDE held roundtables on green inventing in Brazil, India, Kenya, Mexico, and South Africa with a diverse group of participants. The report compiles the findings from these discussions, from desk research, and from interviews with subject matter experts on the areas where invention-based entrepreneurs who promote environmental responsibility require ecosystem-level support in order to succeed."

"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."

"This report aims to capture characteristics of the impact investing sector in Latin America over the past two years based on a sample of impact investors active in the region. Through institution-level and deal-level data shared by these investors, this report gives a snapshot of where and how capital is being allocated and identifies challenges that the ecosystem faces. The report focuses on the region widely while taking a deeper dive into three of the region's largest markets: Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico."

"In September 2020, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) published a study titled “Impact Investing in Latin America”, which examines trends in the region during 2018 - 2019. Below is a spotlight on Central America, which uses data from the full report to highlight key trends in Central American countries during this two year period."

"The Impact Investment Landscape in Brazil is a follow-up to the study launched by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) and the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America (LAVCA) in October 2018. This national report is based on a sub-sample of the 67 survey respondents from the Latin America study, of which 29 are active in Brazil and 22 invested in the country during the period 2016-2017. Most of them identify themselves as impact investors or managers of private equity or venture capital funds. The report provides data on the profile of the active investors, investment activity for 2016-2017 and expectations for investment in Brazil in 2018-2019."

"In recent years, investment in the various facets of Morocco's entrepreneurship ecosystem has become the focus of both the public and private sectors. The foundation has been developed, and all the structures necessary for nurturing not only entrepreneurship, but specifically climate entrepreneurship, have reached a 'start-up' stage. Nonetheless, the overall support environment requires more targeted intervention, in particular, favorable policies, resources, and a resilient entrepreneurial-minded culture to inspire future growth.

This report takes a mixed-methods approach to unpacking the climate entrepreneurship sector of the Moroccan economy, and is based on four forms of data collection and analysis undertaken from August-November 2016. By using different data sources, the team was able to triangulate the data and gain higher validity and consistency for the findings and recommendations."

"Este estudo setorial faz parte de uma série publicada pela ANDE em 2019 que foi projetada para criar uma base de conhecimento comum a partir da qual o setor de Pequenas Empresas em Crescimento (SGB na sigla em inglês) pode trabalhar na esperança de avançar em direção aos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento selecionados. Cada breve resumo destaca como as SGBs podem desempenhar um papel importante nesse progresso. Esta série servirá como ponto de partida para impulsionar a conversa e moldar a estratégia da ANDE em relação a cada uma dessas áreas-chave, com o reconhecimento de que essa não é uma coleção aprofundada da pesquisa/literatura sobre esses tópicos."