"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."

"Emissions reporting is the first, and arguably one of the most important steps you can take to reduce your company’s footprint. This will help you identify where you need to take action to reduce your emissions. Once you know what the problem is and where the most intense
areas of emissions are, you can create a strategy to cut your greenhouse gas emissions and potentially save money for your business."

"A significant proportion of the world’s businesses are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Globally, micro-enterprises (SMEs with fewer than ten employees) alone account for 70% to 90% of all firms. As such, SMEs play an important role in reducing global emissions and bringing innovative climate solutions to the market. It is crucial that they are equipped with the tools and resources needed to measure their emissions, set greenhouse gas reduction targets grounded in science, take bold actions, report on their progress and ultimately reduce their emissions. This framework provides guidelines for SMEs on doing exactly that. It is open for anyone to use and can be used directly by SMEs to guide their reporting of climate impacts and strategies to multiple stakeholders. It can also be used by SME support organizations (such as consultancies) and data collectors to guide SMEs in climate disclosure."

"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."

"In 2018, the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), launched the Gender Lens Impact Measurement (GLIM) Fund to enhance the awareness, rigor, and quality of impact measurement for organizations supporting entrepreneurs with a gender lens approach. Each grant from the fund went to a partnership between small and growing business (SGB) support organizations in Latin America and researchers to use measurement for driving improved gender-inclusive strategies. This synthesis report summarises the tools and lessons from these grants on using measurement to increase gender inclusion for SGB support organizations."

"The toolkit is provided for all intermediaries and enterprise support organizations – regardless of size, geography or sector – who want proactively to support SGBs within their portfolio to integrate OHS and employment minimum practices. The toolkit aims at equipping intermediaries with the necessary tools, knowledge and resources to broach the safe working environment and fair employee treatment subject, and enables the intermediaries to assess, design and structure possible solutions for their SGB clients."

"Endeavor Insight partnered with the Lemelson Foundation and Small Foundation to understand how entrepreneurial agriculture companies can maximize their impact in developing countries. The purpose of the study is to provide a data-backed assessment of the challenges and opportunities for supporting entrepreneurs. Endeavor Insight’s approach used several lenses, including a special focus on the types of innovation the founders have created, as well as an analysis of the dynamics within selected agricultural value chains. The results offer guidance for decision makers who support entrepreneurs as they address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in raising the incomes of smallholder farmers and alleviating poverty, creating transformative solutions that can address global food security, and generating quality jobs. This study builds on recent research in the international development and social investment communities, and takes into account the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis."

"We study the medium-term impacts of the Skills for Effective Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) program, an innovative in-residence 3-week mini-MBA program for high school students modeled after western business school curricula and adapted to the Ugandan context. The program featured two separate treatments: the hard-skills MBA features a mix of approximately 75% hard skills and 25% soft skills; the soft skills curriculum has the reverse mix. Using data on 4400 youth from a nationally representative sample in a 3-arm field experiment in Uganda, the 3.5 year follow-up demonstrated that training was effective in improving both hard and soft skills, but only soft skills were directly linked to improvements in self-efficacy, persuasion, and negotiation. The skill upgrade was rewarded in substantially higher earnings; 32.1% and 29.8% increases in earnings for those who attended hard- and soft-training, respectively, most of which, was generated through self-employment. Furthermore, youth in both groups were more likely to start enterprises and more successful in ensuring their businesses' survival. The program led to significantly larger profits (24.2% and 27.2% for hard- and soft- treatment arms respectively) and larger business capital investments (38.4% and 32.6% for SEED hard and SEED soft, respectively). Both SEED curricula were very cost-effective; two months worth of the extra earnings caused by the training alone would exceed the cost of the program. These benefits abstract from the job- and business-creation benefits of the program, which were substantial: relative to the control group, SEED entrepreneurs created 985 additional jobs and 550 new businesses."

"This knowledge brief seeks to capture the key takeaways from the recent series of three Impact Measurement and Management (IMM) Learning Labs hosted by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, South Africa Chapter (ANDE SA) in partnership with the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation. These learning labs explore the importance of understanding impact in context, engaging multiple stakeholders to ensure appropriate contextual perception and the need to guarantee accurate reporting and impact measurement. This enables greater transparency in the data collection process, improved ability to interrogate assumptions leading to greater data-driven decision making to appropriately measure ones’ impact – be it at an intervention or organisational level."

Avec le lancement des Objectifs de développement durable des Nations unies, l’ODD 8 : Travail Décent et Croissance économique devient un cri de ralliement pour les professionnels qui cherchent à encourager l’entrepreneuriat comme un moyen de développement économique et social. Cependant, si le concept de travail décent peut sembler simple, définir clairement un «emploi de qualité» s’est avéré être une initiative complexe. Ce rapport synthétise les données existantes sur la qualité de l’emploi dans les PME, en se concentrant sur les entreprises plus jeunes et orientées vers la croissance dans la mesure du possible (désignées par l’ANDE sous le terme de «petites entreprises en croissance» ou PEC).