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Contributor Christy Sisko

Christy Sisko is formerly Chemonics’ director of program management for the Middle East and North Africa department.

by Christy Sisko


3 Questions with Roula Moussa on Private Sector Engagement in Lebanon

Roula Moussa is the CEO and founder of Netways. In 2017, she created DiasporaID, a digital platform that connects and promotes collaboration among Lebanese diaspora communities worldwide. As a partner under the USAID Asia and Middle East Economic Growth Best Practices (AMEG) program, Roula shares her experience pitching and scaling DiasporaID to USAID and recommends…

Sequencing for Success in Blended Finance Solutions

For emerging markets, blended finance is the new cool kid on the block. It’s a tool that facilitates access to finance around the world, and it’s gaining momentum with the international development community. While articles discussing blended finance abound, development practitioners increasingly seek specific information about how to “do” blended finance. Chemonics and LixCap know…

Q&A with Christy Sisko on the Revenue Capital Approach (Part 2 of 2)

This post is the second of a two-part blog series, originally featured on Microlinks, showcasing a question and answer session with Christy Sisko, technical manager for Asia and Middle East Economic Growth Best Practices at Chemonics, on the revenue capital approach and its revolutionary effect on the small and medium enterprise (SME) financing world. This…

Q&A with Christy Sisko on the Revenue Capital Approach

This post is the first of a two-part blog series, originally featured on Microlinks, showcasing a question and answer session with Christy Sisko, technical manager for Asia and Middle East Economic Growth Best Practices at Chemonics, on the revenue capital approach and its revolutionary effect on the small and medium enterprise (SME) financing world. This…

Promoting Secured Transaction Reform in the Middle East and North Africa

Modern secured transaction laws increase the availability of credit and reduce its cost, by ensuring that lenders can collect debt and enforce their rights in movable property collateral through a timely and inexpensive process. From a global perspective, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is significantly behind in pursuing and operationalizing reforms to…

Research and Action to Promote Regional Trade in South Asia

The United States’ economic future is inextricably linked to Asia. A full quarter of the goods and services exported by the United States are bound for Asia, and about 30 percent of our imports come from the region. In addition, exports to Asia support more than a million American jobs. As such, the United States…

6 Ways to Make Free Trade Work for Developing Countries

Last year was a busy one for international trade and development actors. We observed major progress in the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, continued global ratification of the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement, proposal of the Tripartite Free Trade Area in Africa, and announcement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, all of which…

What Have We Learned About Engaging Diasporas?

Globally, the number of people living outside their country of origin has almost tripled — from 76 million to 232 million — over the past 45 years. For many who leave their homes, starting a new life in search of refuge, employment, education, or other factors does not mean disregarding their heritage or the family…

Four Ways to Build Smallholder Resilience

This blog was originally published by the SEEP Network, and is cross-posted with permission. There are approximately 500 million smallholder farms in the world providing up to 80 percent of food consumed in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, despite smallholder farmers’ substantial role in the world’s access to food resources, they consistently face constraints including…

Fashion Forward: Supporting a Growing Industry in Moldova

Success in the fashion industry, in any country, requires a delicate balance between artistic ability and keen business skills. As a designer, you need to not only understand what your market is and what customer you are targeting but what trends are emerging and how your personality will come out in your collections. The “toolkit”…

Know Your SDGs: The Role of Sustainability and Youth in Economic Growth

Proposed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 is to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.” For those who are familiar with the existing Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), this language may sound familiar. Under Goal 1 of the MDGs, the second target is, “achieve full and productive…

Collaboration Drives Women’s Economic Empowerment

September 22, Members Day of the annual 2014 SEEP Conference, marked the launch of the SEEP Network’s Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Working Group. Throughout my career with Chemonics, I have spent the majority of my time focusing on issues surrounding women’s access to capital, business development services and SME development, particularly in conflict zones such…