Making Connectivity Work: Contract Growing Along the Lao PDR-Thai Border

A company shifted from trading timber to farm produce, in the process boosting agricultural cross-border trading between exporters in Lao PDR and importers in Thailand.

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Beyond Emergency Responses: Ensuring the Legacy of Market-Based Microfinance Expansion

The creation of a Microfinance Innovation Fund was a prominent feature of the Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project in Indonesia. To coopt success, before establishing the Fund, the project provided technical assistance to build the capacity of partner banks, created a Board for the Fund, setup guidelines for operations, extended loans and deposits at near-market rates, and partnered with PT. Permodalan Nasional Madani that assumed the role of Fund custodian. The Microfinance Innovation Fund is set to continue successful fund operations long after project completion. [ No. 17 October 2009 ]
By Mariano A. Cordero, Rizal Matondang, and Pieter Smidt
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Addressing Energy-Efficiency with Virtual Power Plants

Improved incentives and regulatory measures can promote widespread investments in virtual efficiency power plant initiatives. Energy-efficiency champions can fill the information gap on new energy-efficient technologies. Lending and credit can help small and medium-sized enterprises fund energy-efficient initiatives. [ No. 15 September 2009 ] by Jeffrey Liang, Siew Fing Wong, and Hongliang Yang Read the paper