The Return on Investment of Social Inclusion: An Evidence Gap Analysis from Developing Countries
- Partner: USAID
- Publication Type: Brief
- Date: August 16, 2021
This brief analyzes the existing literature from developing countries on how firms invest in social inclusion and measure its return on investment. It then analyzes existing evidence gaps and makes recommendations on how firms and USAID partners working in private sector engagement and market systems development can improve their investments and fill evidence gaps.
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The Great Opportunity and Challenge of MSD Ex-Posts: 4 Takeaways from a Rapid Harvest of Insights
- Partner: USAID
- Publication Type: Blog
- Date: August 5, 2021
Ex-post evaluations are a key way to build the evidence base for the scalability and sustainability of the market systems development approach, yet few have been funded through to completion. This blog shares insights on conducting market systems development ex-post evaluations as part of the DAI-implemented Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) activity.
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How the Private Sector Measures Social Inclusion and its Return on Investment: A Framework to Inform Future Research
- Partner: USAID
- Publication Type: Brief
- Date: May 25, 2021
This brief documents how different private sector actors understand and measure social inclusion and its return on investment (ROI) as an initial step to frame further research on the business case for social inclusion in developing countries. This brief was produced as part of MSA’s work with the Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) Activity, a set of learning initiatives around social inclusion.
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Measuring what matters: Monitoring and results measurement
- Partner: Springfield Centre
- Publication Type: Book Chapter
- Date: April 2021
In Chapter 4 from "Making Markets Work for the Poor," a recent edited work inspired by the life and legacy of Alan Gibson, MSA Founder and Principal Ben Fowler and co-author Jake Lomax examine the shift in M4P programmes from monitoring and evaluation to monitoring and results measurement to inform decision-making and understand system-level change.
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Women’s Empowerment Collectives are Critical to Reaching Scale
- Partner: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The SEEP Network
- Publication Type: Blog
- Date: February 23, 2021
Women’s collectives are often thought of as a critical source of social solidarity and resilience at the grassroots level. But what if women’s collectives could be leveraged to target and help unlock the economic empowerment of rural women at scale? This blog post explores the potential transformative role women’s collectives can play in expediting women’s economic and social empowerment globally, and how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is targeting these groups to address structural barriers to gender equality.
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Leveraging the Enabling Environment to Achieve Scale in Women’s Economic Empowerment: An Interview with USAID’s Wade Channell
- Partner: USAID
- Publication Type: Blog
- Date: February 19, 2021
The Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment (AWE) program team spoke with Wade Channell, senior economic growth advisor for gender with USAID about how we can leverage the enabling environment to achieve scale in women’s empowerment.
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What Does It Take to Achieve Scale in Women’s Empowerment Activities?
- Partner: USAID
- Publication Type: Blog
- Date: February 18, 2021
Insights and examples of approaches to scaling women’s empowerment from the Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment (AWE) program team, particualrly relating to gains in agricultural productivity, resilient and sustainable livelihoods and nutrition.
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Rethinking the Future of Women’s Empowerment: Gender-Based Violence & COVID-19
- Partner: FHI 360
- Publication Type: Blog
- Date: December 1, 2020
We explore the current state of gender-based violence in Egypt to conclude our two-part blog series — co-produced by FHI 360 and MarketShare Associates — on Rethinking the Future of Women’s Empowerment in response to the global pandemic.
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Social Norms and Persona Design: Background Note
- Partner: CGAP
- Publication Type: Background Note
- Date: November 2020
This background note provides guidance for implementers and designers to apply a social norms lens onto a persona tool. It is to be used to develop a more nuanced understanding of women and the social norms that impact their ability to interact with financial services.
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Measuring the intangible: lessons from USAID partners on how to measure the impact of organizational learning and adaptive management
- Partner: USAID, Dexis Consulting Group
- Publication Type: Journal Article
- Date: September 11, 2020
This paper explores lessons learned from a USAID-funded learning network of implementing partners, known as CLAIM, which developed innovative methods to measure the seemingly intangible contributions of collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) to organizational effectiveness and development outcomes.
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