20. Feb 2023

Out now!!

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT REFORM TOOLS TRAINING

The ICR Facility's toolbox training is available now!

This course includes the following lessons and information:

• Introduction to the Business Environment Reform (BER) and the ICR Toolbox
• Advocacy Capacity Building
• Gender Diagnostic Checklist
• Green Integration Checklist

The course is self-paced and offered on the Atingi digital learning platform.  

This course targets representatives from public and private stakeholders in ACP countries and aims to enable them to conduct and advocate for business environment reforms for sustainable and inclusive development.

It draws from straightforward, practical tools of the ICR Toolbox, whose application requires limited resources and time.  

This course is developed by GFA Consulting Group GmbH and financed by the ICR Facility.

To access the training, click on the link below, create an account and get started! 

https://online.atingi.org/blocks/share/referral.php?code=wHwpBCUnShgjDJS

Coming soon!

Online Training for Development Finance Institutions: How to Develop a Gender Approach

In these self-paced training modules representatives from development finance institutions (DFIs), public and private stakeholders and experts from African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries will learn how to develop a gender finance approach in the institutional environment, such as the DFI. The course offers an interactive journey with videos, texts, interactive exercises and quizzes to learn more about institutional gender mainstreaming, actions and measures to be taken in the organization to ensure gender inclusion. It also refers to additional sources so that participants can explore specific topics in more depth if they wish so.

The course is organised into 9 modules. Each module takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete, and the whole course takes around 2 hours.

At the end of the course, participants will take a final test to assess their knowledge and receive a certificate of completion.

Find out more HERE.

Available now

TRAINING COURSE ON GENDER-SENSITIVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT REFORM

The course develops awareness and provides tools to advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) through Business Environment Reform (BER) in African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Participants learn to apply a gender-sensitive and gender-transformative lens when they work on their own reforms, taking into account gender differenc­es and promoting reforms that tackle barriers women face in the business environment.

Module 1: Understanding WEE, gender equality, and the need for BER to help promote them in ACP countries

Module 2: BER to support women-owned businesses in ACP countries

Module 3: BER to promote quality and more inclusive jobs for women in ACP countries

Module 4: Gender Lens Investing – Improving the investment climate for women in ACP countries

Module 5: Promoting WEE through public-private dialogue (PPD) in ACP countries

Read more

Promoting Equal Opportunities for women in the Labour Market through business environment reforms

This online event will focus on the legal, administrative, and policy and tax incentives and reforms necessary to promote a more inclusive labour market for women to have better quality jobs. African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries need to continue and even strengthen policy and regulatory reforms that encourage greater gender equality in the jobs market, higher earnings for women, and women’s labour force participation in traditionally male-dominated sectors. Read more

Supporting Women-Owned Businesses through Business Environment Reforms

Investing in women is not only a moral imperative – it is good business. Business creation and business revenue growth are crucial engines of economic growth and job creation. Advancing gender equality can add $13 trillion to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030. Read more

Improving the investment climate through gender sensitive reforms in times of COVID-19

Industries with strong women participation have been impacted more than others, creating significant disruptions, and loss of income and jobs. Gender​-sensitive reforms are key for ACP​ states’ economic recovery. This online event will tackle key questions to build back better. Read more

16. May 2023

Business Environment Reform for Supporting Young Entrepreneurs: Opportunities for the ACP region 

Many countries in the ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) region have made supporting young entrepreneurs a top priority for economic development and youth employment. Despite this, young entrepreneurs face challenging business conditions and complicated policy and regulatory contexts in launching and running their businesses. Read more

08. Nov 2022

Supporting Youth Diaspora Entrepreneurship in ACP Countries

Entrepreneurs of the diaspora, inspired by the desire to create a sustainable source of income and to make a positive impact back home, are making a meaningful contribution to the socio-economic development of African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) countries. In their journey, they face many challenges including access to finance, tedious administrative procedures, lack of networking opportunities, losses due to high transfer fees or interest rates, social perceptions, etc. This interactive webinar is an opportunity to bring together a diaspora entrepreneur, a public administration official and a representative of an initiative supporting diaspora entrepreneurs in order to showcase their cross-perspectiveson the topic. It includes a panel conversation, a Q&A session and breakout sessions in order to stimulate fruitful interaction between all participants. The following topics are addressed:-Main trends regarding youth diaspora entrepreneurship and involvement in ACP countries-Main obstacles to youth diaspora entrepreneurship in ACP countries-Initiatives to facilitate youth diaspora entrepreneurship in ACP countries-Recommendations for policymakers in favor of youth diaspora entrepreneurship.

In this online event, we introduce our new ICR Toolbox. It is written for policy-makers and the business membership organisations in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and beyond, and is designed to respond to common challenges faced by those working to develop a business environment for a thriving, inclusive, and sustainable private sector. Read more

Trends in gender finance in DFIs from the ACP region - Showcases from Africa

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have a key role to play in promoting gender-lens investing (GLI) and women’s economic empowerment (WEE). This webinar aims to provide a platform for DFIs in the ACP region to inspire their peers to action and to foster supportive networks that can help identify solutions to difficulties faced. Read more

Trends in gender finance in DFIs from the ACP Region - Showcases from the Caribbean and the Pacific 

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have a key role to play in promoting gender responsive finance and women’s economic empowerment (WEE). This webinar aims to provide a platform for DFIs in the ACP region to inspire their peers to action and to foster supportive networks that can help identify solutions to difficulties faced. Read more

Commercial Dispute Resolution through Arbitration

Investments in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have grown at a steady pace over several years, some of which have triggered disputes that require inclusive and effective resolution services in an increasingly challenging business environment. This online event focuses on the role of Arbitration Services for the Business and Investment Climate of a country. Read more

Using domestic financial and fiscal policy to mobilise private adaptation finance in ACP Countries

Mobilising finance to build resilience to climate change is critical for the future economic prosperity of ACP countries and will require activating the expertise, innovation, and investment of the private sector alongside the breadth of the toolkit of the public sector. Read more

Mobilising finance to catalyse private sector engagement for climate change adaptation in ACP Countries

his online event examines how ACP countries can overcome the barriers to mobilising finance to catalyse the private sector to provide goods and services which delivers climate resilient economic growth. This will include discussion on, for example, the role of various international sources of finance. Read more

Improving the business environment for climate adaptation: needs and opportunities for investment in ACP countries

With limited availability of domestic or international finance, ACP countries need to stimulate private investment for climate change adaptation. Improving the business environment for climate adaptation is key to unlocking private sector development and investment by the private sector in sustainable development. Read more

Start-up Acts: an emerging instrument to foster the development of innovative high-growth firms

Targetted Start-up legislations (Startup Acts) appear as an interesting tool for fostering entrepreneurship and enabling the development of new firms with high growth potential, through the granting of targeted incentives (tax, subsidies, procurement, etc). The live event presents how governments focus on entrepreneurship as a mean of creating quality jobs, and boosting the wider economy's productivity and growth. Read more

Opportunities and challenges for crowdfunding in ACP countries

The growth of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is one of the priority issues for economic development in ACP countries. SMEs are among the motors of job creation and GDP growth. They make an important contribution to economic diversification, social stability, and territorial prosperity. However, SMEs are still struggling with the problem of access to finance. Read more

Loans on Honor: a comprehensive mechanism to foster development by supporting MSMEs

In recent years, solutions have emerged by combining both support and financing. The Prêts d’honneurs/Loan on Honour mechanism is one of these solutions that has gradually developed in Africa, in particular through decentralized cooperation projects. Read more

Democratising access to Social Finance: Green and Social enteprises in the Pacific and the Caribbean

climate risks are particularly acute for island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean, where there’s also been a growth in entrepreneurial solutions that address both the environmental and social impact of climate change. Read more

Democratising access to Social Finance

Due to the variety of social enterprises and inclusive businesses across ACP countries, what are the best ways for financing actors to support their specific needs? What are the product, process and policy innovations that we can learn from? These are some of the questions addressed in this live event. Read more

Not One-size-fits-all: the varying needs of Social Enterprises and Inclusive Businesses

This event will highlight the many shapes and sizes of social enterprises and related organisational forms across ACP countries, and how these differences inform their financing needs. Read more

Inclusive impact investing and social finance during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond

How has Impact Investment and Social Finance addressed the short-term economic and social challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis? And how can public-private partnerships (PPP) develop more inclusive growth for the post-pandemic recovery. The online event gives participants the opportunity to learn lessons and understand experiences from ACP countries and beyond. Read more

The use of Guarantee Instruments by Development Finance Institutions in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The webinar is targeted at Development Finance Institutions (DFI​s) in ACP​ countries on the use of guarantee instruments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents the main features of Guarantee Funds​ and shows the specific characteristics that were proposed in the COVID​-19 context by the countries which implemented this type of response. Read more

Reforming business environments amid fragility and conflict

Countries that are in highest need for private investment and economic growth are often also countries were it is most difficult to invest and to do business in. As a result, unemployment and poverty remain excessively high, contributing to further fragility and conflict. Read more

How can SMEs resilience and adaptivity be strengthened through business continuity management in light of COVID-19

The online live event assesses how Business Continuity Training can help SMEs preparing for and recovering from crisis situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

Food supply disruptions in times of COVID-19: how can African, Caribbean and Pacific States react?

By providing guidance to policy-makers and practitioners on how to strengthen food security, this online live event will build on the following key aspects: What signals look for to assess food Supply Chain disruptions? Which short-term policy measures can help minimize the negative impact and manage the crisis? What reforms can be implemented to improve access to food in the medium term? Read More

Assessing economic impacts of COVID-19 through input-output modelling tools

Economic models adapted to national circumstances are an important tool for the assessment of expected impacts and policy options to mitigate these impacts. The webinar presents an approach how national Input-Output tables can be used for the realistic modelling of impacts on production and employment. The webinar gives an introduction into input-output based models and outlines options for partners to apply the approach for their own national circumstances. Read more

Reforming the investment climate to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in African, Caribbean and Pacific States

Beyond its negative economic impact, the COVID-19 crisis could be an opportunity for Investment Climate Reforms in ACP countries. Providing guidance to policy-makers and practitioners on how to turn the current environment into an opportunity to boost their economies, the webinar focuses on three pillars. Read more

Responses to the COVID-19 crisis: government policy, impact businesses and the social economy

The webinar assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is causing enormous economic challenges for SMEs in ACP countries. It gives the opportunity to take inspiration and learn lessons from around the world. Read more

How can Investment Promotion Agencies in African, Caribbean and Pacific States adjust their offer in light of COVID-19?

The webinar targeted at Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) in ACP countries and gave the possibility to learn how you the service offer can be adjusted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar assess how a structured aftercare approach can form the starting point for further adjustments throughout the investment attraction cycle. This includes revising the target group focus and strategy of IPAs as well as developing digital promotion and facilitation tools. Download PowerPoint