Activities

INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND RESEARCH

1. Armenia Digital Transformation. USAID will provide $5 million to support a new partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that supports business development ventures and strengthens the Government of Armenia’s ambitious digital transformation efforts. The partners will support the Government of Armenia’s digital transformation efforts for citizens and position the country as a regional technology hub.

 AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY

1. Ecuador Strengthening Productive Value Chains in Emerging Markets. USAID and partners Corporación Favorita, a supermarket chain; the non-profit organization Corporación Líderes para Gobernar (CPLG - Business Leaders for Governance); and public-private network Alianza para el Emprendimiento e Innovación (AEI), alongside additional local partners, will collaborate to build an inclusive agricultural supply chain in Ecuador. The support will help selected producers increase their agronomic skills, adopt financial products, and access formal markets to increase their income and improve the sustainable supply of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout Ecuador. 

2. Commercializing Water-efficient, Renewable-powered Irrigation for the Middle East and North Africa. USAID is partnering with Toro and the MIT Gear Lab to scale up the production and dissemination of renewable energy powered, water efficient low-pressure drip irrigation emitters throughout the Middle East and North Africa region to increase climate resilience, while improving livelihoods. Emitters have already been installed with positive results in Morocco and Jordan, and will be introduced to more locations in the coming months.

INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND RESEARCH

3. Angola Mobile Money is Better. USAID and partner Africell launched a new mobile money service in Angola, facilitating a more open and competitive digital finance market with greater access to secure digital payments and financial services in Angola. The project also supports broader efforts to increase financial inclusion in the country. 

4. India Advancing Critical Emerging Technologies (ACET). USAID and Qualcomm Technologies Inc (QTI), a major American supplier of telecommunications hardware, are working with local telecommunications companies to test and implement Open Radio Access Network (ORAN). The partners will provide a competitive service offering within the 5G mobile network in an effort to reduce the digital divide while increasing access to trusted technologies and bringing energy efficiency to the telecom sector. 

5. The Ukraine Digital Government Partnership. USAID and Ukraine's Ministry of Transformation are partnering with the technology industry to share Ukraine’s e-government application “Diia,” and its broader transformation model  with countries like Ecuador, Kosovo, Zambia, and others. The partners are collaborating with key private sector partners to reduce corruption, develop sustainable local solutions, and strengthen democracy through improved e-services.

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND TRADE

6. Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation. With EDGE funding, the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (the Alliance) is working to address barriers to trade for small, medium-sized, and women-owned businesses in USAID partner countries, including Democracy Delivers countries. In the Dominican Republic, the Alliance connects small business suppliers with large companies operating in Free Trade Zones that move operations geographically closer to U.S. markets to accelerate opportunities for small businesses in e-commerce. In Malawi, the Alliance trains small, medium-sized, and women-owned businesses in export processes and requirements, and introduces them to a network of successful exporters, while simultaneously deploying a digital platform to streamline and simplify trade procedures. In North Macedonia, the Alliance simplifies complicated postal and customs procedures to speed up the delivery of small packages and reduce the time and cost of trade for small businesses, thereby increasing their potential to engage in e-commerce. In East Africa, the Alliance supports the development of a regional mango supply hub in Kenya and Tanzania. 

7. Mobilizing Green Investments for Africa through the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility. USAID is working with the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (LSF) and other financial sector partners to increase liquidity of African Sovereign Eurobonds and further catalyze investments in green infrastructure and the energy transition on the African continent. An improvement in the terms of new issuances of SDG- or climate-linked bonds for African nations could dramatically increase the volume of green and blue bond financing at affordable and sustainable rates.

ANTI-CORRUPTION
8. Doing Business With Integrity. USAID is collaborating with the private sector and other consortia to develop, apply, and scale innovations under USAID’s Countering Transnational Corruption Grand Challenge for Development. Solutions reflect innovative thinking; advance the range, depth, and impact of private sector actions to reduce transnational corruption; and demonstrate that anti-corruption efforts can be good for business.

ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, AND INFRASTRUCTURE

9. Pioneering Private Sector Mini-Grid in Papua New Guinea. USAID and partner WEnergy Global will test mini-grid business models that reduce the costs for electricity consumers and catalyze the mini-grid market in Papua New Guinea. 

10. Blue Green Bank. USAID and the Government of Barbados with support from the Green Climate Fund are working to launch the Blue Green Bank, a regional financing vehicle, to mobilize private investment for climate solutions in the Caribbean. The bank will deliver a range of financial products to support the existing financial ecosystem of banks, credit unions, and insurance companies for projects that help with climate change mitigation and adaptation, including resilient housing, renewable energy generation and energy efficiency, water conservation, food security, and low-carbon transport, engaging banks, credit unions, pension funds, and insurance companies. 

11. Green Guarantee Company. The U.S. – through USAID, the State Department, and Prosper Africa – helped create the Green Guarantee Company (GGC), the first ever privately run guarantee company devoted to catalyzing green bonds and loans in partner countries, focusing on Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The EDGE investment was made alongside partners including the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Green Climate Fund, Norfund, and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, contributing to an initial balance sheet of $100 million. GGC is expected to unlock an estimated $1 billion in new mainstream private capital for climate finance by 2024.  

12. Peru Madre de Dios Sustainable Landscapes Initiative. USAID is collaborating with a consortium of local and international partners to explore potential legal and sustainable business models in the region including ecotourism and non-timber forest products, stemming the tide of illegal logging and gold mining that drive deforestation in Tambopata province, and addressing critical unmet and unfunded biodiversity preservation and conservation needs in the Amazon. 

13. Smallholder Agroforestry Finance. USAID’s investment in the Smallholder Agroforestry Finance will mitigate risk and mobilize additional public and private investments to create a more inclusive voluntary carbon market. The Smallholder Agroforestry Finance offers pre-financing for raw materials and costs associated with the transition to climate-smart and resilient agriculture. It also secures voluntary carbon market buyers who are willing to pay fair prices for high-integrity carbon removal credits. Through transparent benefit-sharing agreements, 80 percent of the proceeds from the fund’s carbon credit sales will go to smallholder farmers. The Fund aims to support long-term economic sustainability, fostering inclusive growth and rural development beyond EDGE funding. 

14. Scaling Parametric Insurance in Africa. USAID is working with the insurance industry and other partners to develop market-driven solutions that expand insurance coverage for smallholder farmers in Africa’s most climate vulnerable regions. These efforts aim to enhance climate and disaster resilience while encouraging the adoption of sustainable and regenerative farming practices to boost crop yields. With $1 million from EDGE, USAID is partnering to develop three types of specialized parametric climate insurance products. A collaboration with Blue Marble will help coffee farmers in Kenya adapt to adverse climate impacts like drought, excess rainfall, and extreme temperatures.  In Mozambique and Malawi, USAID is working with technology firm Floodbase to provide real-time data and technical support to define and validate parametric insurance, advancing protections against the impact of flooding on livelihoods and food security. In partnership with OKO Finance, USAID will expand weather index insurance for farmers nationwide in Ivory Coast.

15. Colombia Parametric Micro-insurance for Smallholder Farmers. USAID and Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO) will collaborate with other partners to design and develop a micro-insurance product for vulnerable farmers, demonstrating the commercial feasibility of insuring smallholder farmers against shocks and other climate disasters.

16. Resilience Wrapper.  WTW (formerly Willis Towers Watson) is designing a pilot facility to offer a parametric insurance solution (Resilience Wrapper) that protects direct loans to private enterprises from climate-related shocks. The facility will protect the borrowers’ ability to repay a loan following triggering climate events (such as a cyclone, flood, or drought), with one or more loan repayments being covered by the insurance payout. 

17. CIRCLE Alliance. The CIRCLE Alliance is a new $21 million public-private collaboration to scale solutions that reduce plastic use and tackle plastic waste. Co-founded by USAID--through a blending ocean plastic pollution directive, EDGE and GEEA funding--along with Unilever and EY, the CIRCLE Alliance will support entrepreneurs and small businesses across the plastics value chain. Its goal is to support women’s economic empowerment, improve livelihoods, and protect the environment by accelerating the development of circular economies. CIRCLE is supported by USAID’s EDGE Fund.