Here is a fact: Informal economies are the rule, not the exception. Have a look at these two graphs - they show total transactions by retail channels per country (Sub-Saharan Africa only). The first one shows transactions across all retail sectors...

Ask anyone in this business: the aid industry in general and donors in particular have a very low tolerance to risk. Donors will always award the majority of their money to Low-risk programs implemented by solid, low-risk partners. Innovation, particularly...

Newsflash: The world is changing fast, the future is not what it used to be and all that. It used to be people went to school, specialized and that took care of that: they milked that good old education for…

Any organization is defined by its people. This is particularly true of organizations such as ours, forever evolving at the intersection of of non-profit and entreprise and spanning sectors as diverse as health, trade and finance. The nature of our work puts…

A few weeks ago I published an article in which I was urging my fellow development professionals to stop traditional data collection in their programs and opt for a smarter alternative. This is something I have been promoting for years: traditional data collection...

“We need to coordinate more”, they say. “Avoid reinventing the wheel”. “Make sure we don’t confuse the ‘beneficiary’”. I am ready to admit there is some theoretical value behind the idea of coordination. However, such value diminishes rapidly as organizations shift…

The concept of sustainability in development(*) is enjoying a lot more respect than it actually deserves. That is a shame as in the long run, obsessing about sustainability is harmful to our industry. I think we should all worry less about sustainability…