Understanding and Optimising the Social Impact of Venture Capital: Three Lessons from Ghana

Background: Mobilising investment for sustainable development is a priority for many African governments and their international allies. There are many claims about the social impact of investments in small and growing businesses, and yet these mostly focus on good news stories or a narrow set of metrics (jobs created, tax revenue, etc.). There are relatively few studies that consider the diversity of social impacts, particularly in an African context.Objectives: The aim of this research was to work collaboratively with investors in Ghana to better understand social change and contribute to their own work on improved performance and reporting.Method: Using a theory-based examination of social impacts, the research purposively selected a subset of 13 investments from the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) in Ghana. Theories of change were used to explore the available documentation, triangulated with insights from fund managers, entrepreneurs, senior managers and, where possible, employees. The findings were validated with VCTF staff.Results: While the research demonstrated the usefulness of a theory-based approach, it found it helpful to develop a smaller set of typologies to capture different impact pathways – a more efficient way to assess and report on social returns. In particular, the research highlights how commonly used metrics like job creation undervalue the social impact of some types of investment. Other lessons also included the value of rural businesses (not typically favoured by venture capitalists) and the potential to further extend impacts to lower income groups, but that this required real intent and leadership on the part of investors and entrepreneurs.Conclusion: We conclude that further research is merited on two fronts. Firstly, research into the scale of the small and medium enterprises and the associated investment required to support the operating costs to really manage, improve, monitor and evaluate social impact. And secondly, further field testing of different evaluation techniques to help stakeholders better understand and improve the social benefits of venture capital

Policy Toolkits on Employment and Ageing: A Conceptual Framework

Policy toolkits provide useful information and can be drawn upon as guidance in different stages of the policy-making process. This chapter reviews existing policy toolkits on employment and ageing, aiming to distil a conceptual categorisation intended to inform research uptake strategies. As a basis, we develop a clear definition of policy toolkits and propose a typology of policy tools that consists of four types: (1) good practice, (2) social indicators, (3) programme evaluation and (4) forecasts, projections and simulations. We also describe the underlying relationship between research and policy-making, and provide a synthetic overview of toolkits available for ageing-related issues in the area of employment and pensions. We conclude with the observation that effective policy toolkits hinge on the prior formulation of clear policy goals and that different policy goals may not always be congruent with each other or be simultaneously achieved

The Changing Nature of NGO Activity in a Globalising World:

Summary As a result of the ruling neo?liberal paradigm and increasing economic, social and political globalisation, the nature of the relationship between transnational corporations (TNCs) and non?governmental organisations (NGOs) has been transformed significantly. TNCs are increasingly perceived as more powerful than governments. In response, NGOs identify TNCs as prime targets to affect change and have diversified their responses and strategies accordingly New alliances have been forged and new types of integrated NGOs have been created. In addition, NGOs have sought direct engagement with corporations through strategies of engagement and confrontation. With this three?tier response (alliance?building, integration and engagement), NGOs have driven the corporate responsibility agenda, which, while part of a longer history, is a particular response of both NGOs and TNCs initiated by the value?changes brought about by globalisation

Government Spending and Inclusive-Growth Relationship in Nigeria: An Empirical Investigation

This study has investigated the relationship between government spending and inclusive growth in Nigeria over the period 1995 to 2014. Specifically, it examined how, and to what extent, government spending on education, government spending on health, economic freedom, public resource use, and real GDP growth rate have impacted on inclusive growth in the country. It used the Dickey-Fuller GLS unit root test to ascertain the order of integration of the series. Consequently, through the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound testing technique, the study found that in the long-run government spending on health, economic freedom, public resource use and real GDP growth rate had significantly positive influence on inclusive growth. In the short-run, however, only real GDP impacted significantly on inclusive growth while other variables were not significant in causing inclusive growth. Thus, in conclusion, government spending in the form of redistributive spending on health propelled inclusive growth in Nigeria

Livesimply: a spirituality for the 21st century

No abstract available

Proteger nuestra casa común: defensoras y defensores de la tierra y del medioambiente en Latinoamérica

Este informe tiene como base la investigación realizada entre 2019 y 2021 acerca de las tendencias actuales de abusos de derechos humanos y medioambientales a los que se enfrentan los defensores y las defensoras de derechos humanos (DD.HH) en seis países de Latinoamérica: Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras y Perú. Se detallan los desafíos y las amenazas a los que se enfrentan las y los DDH en cada país, haciendo hincapié en los vínculos de las mismas con el comportamiento de las corporaciones y el impacto de la pandemia de coronavirus. También se comparten los aprendizajes de las diferentes estrategias y enfoques que utilizan las y los DD.HH para impulsar el cambio. Para terminar, se presentan recomendaciones sobre cómo los Estados, las empresas y los inversionistas pueden apoyar el trabajo de las y los DDH.Acrónimos. Pág. 4 1. Resumen ejecutivo. Pág. 5 Mapa. Pág. 8 Datos clave. Pág. 9 2. Introducción. Pág. 10 Países y casos de estudios 3. Colombia. Pág. 16 4. Perú. Pág. 20 5. Bolivia. Pág. 24 6. Brasil. Pág. 27 7. Guatemala. Pág. 30 8. Honduras. Pág. 33 9. Hallazgos principales. Pág. 36 10. Conclusiones y recomendaciones. Pág. 43 Glosario. Pág. 4