Spring 2015 Issue of Developments Now Available

March 09, 2015

The Spring 2015 issue of DAI’s Developments online newsletter is now available.

Leading off, Simone Anzboeck and Inez Couzinet describe how banks in Poland are issuing high-quality loans so small and medium-sized enterprises can invest in more efficient energy systems. The Poland Sustainable Energy Finance Facility has financed more than 2,000 projects worth a total of €185 million.

Next up, Jessica Heinzelman describes how SMS messaging on mobile phones is nurturing mutually profitable relationships between Afghan farmers and wholesalers of farm products. Under this initiative of the Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East, and West (IDEA-NEW) program, wholesalers have increased sales of agricultural inputs by 8 to 15 percent while helping farmers protect their crops, boost productivity, and make more money.

In other stories:

• James Naughton shows how a new data-sharing platform is helping Kenya’s Hunger Safety Net Programme keep closer track of assistance to pastoralists and others in drought-prone areas, while improving transparency and accountability.
• Michele Piercey recounts how social media in Tunisia helped drive increased participation in politics among that country’s young people.
• Daniel Ticehurst explains that when monitoring and evaluating the results of land tenure projects in Africa, it is even more important to monitor and update the assumptions on which the work is based.
• Colleen Green describes the benefits thousands of HIV/AIDS-affected families in impoverished parts of Tanzania have seen by forming community savings groups to help pay for basics such as school and to get through farming’s lean season.
• Finally, Jeson Ingraham initiates a debate on the challenge of finding both strong executive skills and outstanding technical expertise in our project leaders.

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