LIBRARY RESOURCE

2015 was a year for global progress in development policy. The ratification of the Paris Agreement marked the first unified, global effort to set targets to combat climate change. In 2015, UN member states also agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): 17 universal targets that will guide policies, investments, and political agendas across the globe. The SDGs explicitly focus on economic development and reducing inequality, as well as specific sectors like energy, water, and agriculture.

The report introduces 30 innovators, 21 featured with full stories, and nine ‘innovators to watch’. Case studies include innovations from Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda. A couple of innovators who come from outside ACP but offer services in these regions are also featured. The publication is a collection of life stories of interest to aspiring agri-tech entrepreneurs from all countries. Featured innovations include: how the innovation came about; what problems it addresses; how the innovations are implemented; impacts so far; the business model; challenges faced; strategies to address sustainability; and, the future outlook. 

Millions Learning: Scaling up quality education in developing countries tells the story of where and how quality education has scaled in low- and middle-income countries. The story emerges from wide-ranging research on scaling and learning, including 14 in-depth case studies from around the globe. Ultimately, Millions Learning finds that from the slums of New Delhi to the rainforest in Brazil, transformational change in children’s learning is happening at large scale in many places around the world. We find that successful scaling of quality learning often occurs when new approaches and ideas are allowed to develop and grow on the margins and then spread to reach many more children and youth.

Banking on Change is currently one of the largest programmes working with youth savings groups (YSGs). In Phase 1 of the programme, from 2009 to 2012, the focus was on savings groups more broadly; in Phase 2 we have focused on YSGs in Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Between June 2013 and December 2015 the programme established 11,725 YSGs with over 245,000 members, of whom 132,000 are under 25 and two-thirds are women.