Global

Clean Air Catalyst

Clean Air Catalyst is a global partnership launched in 2020 by The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to find lasting solutions to air and climate pollution that also contribute to addressing its inequitable effects in the most polluted urban regions around the world. Status: Active… Read More

Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Fund Announces $122 Million in Progress and Partnerships

Launched in February 2019, the White House-led Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative is the first-ever whole-of-government effort to advance global women’s economic empowerment. W-GDP seeks to reach 50 million women in the developing world by 2025 through focusing on three pillars: women prospering in the workforce,… Read More

U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Ocean Plastic Pollution

On July 21, 2020, the Senate Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Committee on Appropriations United States Senate held a hearing to review U.S. government efforts to address ocean plastic pollution internationally. USAID Assistant Administrator Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment Michelle… Read More

Making Public Transportation Work for Urban Women: Challenges and Priorities

By James Ladi Williams, Research Analyst, Ammar Malik, Non-resident Fellow, Sara McTarnaghan, Research Associate at the Urban Institute, a partner in USAID’s Communications, Evidence and Learning (CEL) project. Besides facing domestic and workplace violence, women living in urban areas around the world experience gender-based violence (GBV) in public transportation systems. Read More

Gender-Based Violence on Public Transportation: A Review of Evidence and Existing Solutions

This policy brief reviews the evidence on interventions to address gender-based violence (GBV), specifically violence against women, in public transport systems, with a focus on developing country settings. Read More

Understanding and Addressing Harmful Traditional Practices in Urban Settings

By Matt Eldridge, Policy Program manager, Reehana Raza, Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute, a partner in USAID’s Communications, Evidence and Learning (CEL) project. For millions of women and girls around the globe, particularly those in developing countries, a handful of harmful traditional practices (HTPs), sustained by tradition, have… Read More

Harmful Traditional Practices in Urban Settings: A Review of the Evidence on Prevalence and Effective Interventions

Harmful traditional practices (HTPs) are destructive practices, sustained by tradition, that negatively impact women and girls. While some evidence exists on HTPs broadly, relatively little is known about their prevalence and effective interventions to address them in urban settings. This brief surveys the evidence, identifies knowledge gaps, and makes recommendations for development partners. Read More

Women’s economic empowerment to make the most of urbanization

By Lydia Lo, Research Analyst and Ammar Malik, Non-Resident Fellow at the Urban Institute, a partner in USAID’s Communications, Evidence and Learning (CEL) project. Rapid urbanization creates a range of opportunities and barriers for women to achieve economic… Read More

Honoring Unsung Heroes in the Fight Against Ocean Plastic Pollution

This World Oceans Day, we want to recognize some of the unsung heroes in the global fight against ocean plastics pollution: independent waste collectors or “waste pickers”. Each year, eight million metric tons of plastic pour into the world’s oceans caused largely by ineffective solid waste management systems of rapidly… Read More

Urban Service Delivery

Effective urban service delivery is key to improving the lives of the rapidly growing number of urban dwellers, particularly in developing countries. In the next three decades, 2.5 billion people will migrate into the world’s urban areas, 90 percent of them in Africa and Asia. Ensuring that urbanization in… Read More