Innovation

A Social Impact Bond is a new financial tool that can be set up in an emerging or developing country in order to finance public policy of general interest. Julien Sciau, AFD account officer, explains this tool and its potentialities.

Fablabs serve at the same time as production, creation and prototyping workshops, hands-on training spaces and facilitators of social ties. They contribute to reducing the traditional head-on opposition between “knowing” and “doing”.

Facebook and Google are eager promoters of universal access to the internet. Each of them is devising new ways to close the digital divide. Doing so, they position themselves as development players. But these new ambitions are raising concerns.

The Better Than Cash Alliance, a global coalition housed by the United Nations Capital Development Fund, promotes broader access to the banking system and digital payments, to support the economic growth of the developing world.

Donors are currently showing a very keen interest in social business and are adopting specific strategies and tools (Asian Development Bank, USAID, DFID, KFW and, just recently, AFD). Indeed, social business could be seen as a miracle solution in this context of fiscal austerity. But let there be...

We produce data every second of the day. From Paris to Dakar, from Jakarta to New York, our daily activities (consume, communicate, travel…) generate data, “digital crumbs” that we leave behind us. This information is potentially useful for development. How? An interview with Thomas Roca...

As bankrupcies are more and more frequent, the microfinance sector needs to be regulated in order to protect its clients’ interests. Laurent Lhériau gives a few recommendations for an efficient regulation in microfinance.