Responses to the Covid-19 Crisis: Government Policy, Impact Businesses and the Social Economy

The webinar assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is causing enormous economic challenges for SMEs in ACP countries. Where those businesses are driven to make a positive social and/or environmental impact, often delivering crucial services within our communities (e.g. health, education), the potential impact is both economic (e.g. putting jobs at risk) as well as social. The webinar gives the opportunity to take inspiration and learn lessons from around the world, providing a framework to think about responses to COVID-19 with practical examples of responses led by governments, Social Enterprises, Impact Businesses and the social economy.

Upcoming events

By supporting business climate and investment environment reforms, the ICR Facility aims to help generate more decent jobs and contribute to improving livelihoods in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Webinar: Trends in Care Economy Policies in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

Women's Economic Empowerment

Summary The Care Economy — including childcare, eldercare and domestic work — is vital to society, yet it remains invisible, undervalued, and unevenly distributed. The disproportionate share of care and domestic work that falls on women and girls, especially when it is unpaid, is a key barrier to their participation in the workforce and negatively […]

Training on Business Environment Reforms to Support Women’s Economic Empowerment

Women's Economic Empowerment

Training on Busines Environment Reforms to Support Women’s Economic Empowerment What? The course develops awareness and provides tools to advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) through Business Environment Reform (BER) in African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Participants learn to apply a gender-sensitive and gender-transformative lens when they work on their own reforms, taking into account […]

How to develop a gender approach in Development Finance Institutions

Access to Finance

What? In these self-paced training modules you will learn how to develop a gender finance approach in the development finance institution. It is an interactive way to learn more about institutional gender mainstreaming, actions and measures to be taken in the organization to ensure gender inclusion. The training contains videos, texts, interactive exercises and quizzes, […]

Training on Business Environment Reforms Tools

Business Regulation and Policy

In these self-paced modules in “Business Environment Reform Tools”, representatives from public and private stakeholders in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries will learn how to use practical and straight-forward tools to improve the business environment in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. You will earn a PDF certificate once you pass all the tasks of the four modules. […]

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Supporting Investment in Inclusive Business and Social Enterprises

Supporting Investment In Inclusive Business And Social Enterprises: Best Practice For Policymakers And Investors In ACP Countries Executive Summary Mobilising private capital to deliver social and environmental benefits in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries is vital if the Sustainable Development Goals are to be met. ‘Impact investment’, an approach to investing whereby positive social and/or […]

Reforming Business Environments Amid Conflict and Fragility

Often, it is the countries that need private investment and economic growth the most that are also the most difficult to invest and do business in. Not only do businesses in these countries struggle to access markets and obtain the inputs they need to compete, but their governments are also challenged in their efforts to […]

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Reforming Business Environments amid Fragility and Conflict

Often, the countries that need private investment and economic growth the most are also the most difficult to invest and do business in. Not only do businesses in these countries struggle to access markets and obtain inputs, but their governments are also challenged to manage the business environment and economy. As a result, unemployment and […]

Ghana is Set on a Path for Green Jobs

Ghana wants better and more sustainable jobs across the country and is ready to invest more than USD 13 million to that end. But the to-do list is long. If the strategy succeeds, thousands could be lifted from precarious employment.

Raising and Spending Public Revenues for Climate Change Adaptation: the Case for Fiscal Policy

The World Bank outlined how fiscal policies are an underused tool for aligning financial resources towards achieving the aims of the Paris Agreement. While we see numerous discussions about fossil fuel subsidies, carbon pricing and carbon revenues where are the discussions on using fiscal policy for climate change adaptation?

Not One Size Fits All: the Varying Needs of Social Enterprises and Inclusive Businesses

Across African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, businesses that have positive social impact in their primary mission are known by many names: inclusive business, social enterprise, social business, impact enterprise. While the concept of business for social good is not new, there is no consistent and formal definition for social enterprise across ACP countries. Thus, what […]

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Business Environment Reform for Supporting Young Entrepreneurs: Opportunities for the ACP Region

Many countries in the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) region have made supporting young entrepreneurs a top priority for economic development and youth employment. Despite this, young entrepreneurs face challenging business conditions and complicated policy and regulatory contexts in launching and running their businesses. This webinar hosted by the ICR Facility provided an opportunity for […]

Using Domestic Financial and Fiscal Policy to Mobilise Private Adaptation Finance in ACP Countries

The countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. Scaling up finance for climate adaptation is critical, particularly across the diversity of private actors from households, through micro-small medium enterprises (MSMEs) to corporations, financial institutions and investors; all of which are influenced by public policy […]

Promoting Equal Opportunities for Women in the Labour Market through Business Environment Reforms

Date 30.09.2021 Women are more likely to be unemployed, be economically inactive, work in the informal sector, and to have temporary or more precarious employment than men. A mix of social norms, time scarcity – in particular due to unpaid care activities – or the lack of quality and affordable care, discrimination, lack of mobility, […]

Improving the investment climate through gender sensitive reforms in times of COVID 19

The COVID-19 crisis has taken a greater toll on women in the productive and labour force. Industries with strong women participation have been impacted more than others, creating significant disruptions, and loss of income and jobs. In other cases, when women are able to work remotely, their productivity is negatively affected and domestic violence is […]

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