Health Sector · Finance And Investment · Enterprise Development

Going the Distance: Innovative Health Product Financing and Business Strengthening to Reach the Last Mile in Tanzania

For Tanzania’s rural and urban poor, Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets (ADDOs) are often the first entry point to the health system. Many ADDOs struggle to accumulate sufficient working capital, particularly rural facilities that are challenged to replenish inventory during the rainy season. Banyan Global, working under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Sustaining Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) Plus project, conducted a business needs assessment and developed an ADDO strengthening strategy, which includes tailored business training and coaching and the introduction of digital inventory management and financial record-keeping systems.

Gender

Getting Ahead on Gender Equality: Supporting USAID’s COVID-19 Response

With the COVID-19 pandemic still spreading rapidly in many countries around the world, it is time to learn from past mistakes. Under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Gender Integration Technical Assistance (GITA) II task order, Banyan Global is carrying out COVID-specific gender analyses with USAID missions and implementing partners to mitigate the gender-specific impacts of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Health Sector · Finance And Investment · Enterprise Development · Gender

Digital Solutions to Development: Using WhatsApp to Train Women Health Business Owners during the COVID-19 Lockdown

In February 2020, Banyan Global conducted a gender analysis focused on the constraints affecting women owners and managers of health businesses in Tanzania as part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Sustaining Health Outcomes through the Private Sector Plus (SHOPS Plus) project. As a subcontractor to Abt Associates, Banyan Global’s role on SHOPS Plus is to support the financial success of private health businesses; the findings from the gender analysis were used to inform a training that would address major constraints affecting women-owned health businesses.

Gender

Acting Now for Change: Developing Tools to Improve Women’s Economic Empowerment

Globally, just 55 percent of women (ages 15-64) are engaged in the labor force, compared to 78 percent of men. On average, women earn approximately 80 percent of what men earn. However, women represent 85 percent of all consumer purchases worldwide, controlling $20 trillion in global spending. These statistics point to a clear disparity between women’s participation in and contribution to the global economy. To move the needle on women’s economic empowerment, Banyan Global is implementing the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality Technical Assistance (WE3 TA) project, a task order under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Advancing the Agenda of Gender Equality (ADVANTAGE) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract.

Enterprise Development · Evaluation and Learning · Finance And Investment · Gender · Health Sector · Youth

Addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multi-Sectoral Approaches to Response, Recovery, and Resilience

Banyan Global is taking a three-pronged approach to the COVID-19 crisis that focuses on responding in the short-term; planning for long-term recovery; and building resilience for sustainability. Recognizing that COVID-19 is not just a health crisis but is disrupting every aspect of life, from education to livelihoods and from agricultural production to supply-chain and trade bottlenecks, Banyan Global is working synergistically across its practice areas to take a multisectoral approach. Additionally, Banyan Global’s response, recovery, and resilience-building efforts are gendered, socially inclusive, and targeted to the needs of the marginalized, who have been hit hardest by this crisis.

Youth · Enterprise Development

Meeting Youth Where They Are: Piloting a New Approach

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Honduras Workforce Development Activity, Empleando Futuros (Employing Futures), is addressing the social and economic isolation that contributes to violence in Honduras head on. In 2018, Empleando Futuros began exploring ways to provide employment and entrepreneurship training for youth who were either former gang members or had previously been in conflict with the law.