Lucine le Moal

Lucine Le Moal is the managing director of the USAID Invest activity which provides investment advice and facilitation for businesses and investors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Previously, Lucine led ELAN, a UK aid project in the DRC that supported the development of the private sector for seven years, especially in the…

Melissa Marland

Melissa Marland brings more than 20 years of experience in sustainable development, including 17 years with Chemonics in leadership positions spanning proposal strategy and design, work planning, and performance management. An expert in USAID business development, Melissa most recently served as principal advisor on the new business support team, providing mentorship, capacity building, and quality…

Enabling Net Zero Markets: Greening Public Financial Management

While external sources of funding like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are critical to meeting a nation’s Paris Agreement goals, they are often out of reach without domestic financial systems and processes to absorb such funds and use them productively. To achieve the proper level of financing for national climate initiatives, countries should first look domestically and identify…

The War in Ukraine and the Future of Global Food Security

This post originally appeared in the Council of International Development Companies’  (CIDC) Thought Leadership Compendium.  Hunger and food insecurity have steadily worsened throughout the last decade. Climate change — with its cascading effects on crop production and land viability —has exacerbated global food insecurity, and in recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to key agricultural…

News: USAID-funded Jobs, Opportunities, and Business Success (JOBS) Activity in Tunisia Strengthens Resilience of Pandemic-Affected Enterprises

This September, Chemonics held its second annual company-wide contest to identify innovative approaches and solutions that drive locally led development. The contest encouraged all members of Chemonics’ global workforce to share how they center local communities and users in inclusive design. Submissions included examples of project teams engaging the public and private sectors, civil society,…

Juan Baltasar Mejia Delgado

Juan Baltasar Mejía Delgado is the deputy chief of party for the Alliance for Root Causes and Opportunities Activity (ARCO). He has 19 years of experience promoting sustainable economic development by applying demand/market-driven solutions in supporting agricultural producers, fishermen, and micro, small, and medium enterprises; working in higher education and workforce development; and consulting in…

Tajikistan: Building Resilience into the Oxygen Supply Chain

When COVID-19 hit Tajikistan in early 2020, it soon became clear that supplemental oxygen would be the most essential life-saving treatment for those who fell severely ill. Tajikistan’s health system, like many in lower- and middle-income countries, was unprepared to meet the needs of COVID-19 patients. In India, for example, people formed long queues outside…

Making Central Bank Digital Currencies Work for Development

Money is going digital, full steam ahead. Within the past five years, interest around Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has exploded. Nearly 100 CBDCs are currently in research or development stages, with CBDCs in Nigeria and the Bahamas already launched. Unlike volatile cryptocurrency assets (e.g., bitcoin and stablecoins), CBDCs offer promising development benefits through central…

Effectively Utilizing Repayable Grants to Help Facilitate Market Creation

There is increasing pressure on International Finance Institutions (IFI) and Development Finance Institutions (DFI) to drive market additionality and creation in lower-income countries and emerging market economies. These institutions regard market creation as key to closing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) financing gap. Market creation requires development finance actors to invest in small- and early-stage…