Lebanon’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector has seen multiple crises over the last few years. School closures from the COVID-19 pandemic, economic concession, and public service deadlock have resulted in a deep decline in the quality of education within the public system.

As we commemorate Disability Pride Month this July, Lauren Den Besten reflects back on her first interview at Genesis. "With wringing hands ensconced in my lap, I chose to vocalise the pride I take in being disabled and asked about the reasonable accommodations that are provided in what I hoped would be my future place of work," she writes.

How does a customer standing before a cashier decide what method to use to pay for goods – cash, credit/debit cards, digital wallets or even cryptocurrencies? A few considerations inform this decision: the transaction fees, safety or convenience. Rarely does the environmental impact of different payment methods come to mind.

How do you ensure that targets are suitable and relevant? Unfortunately, target setting has developed a bad reputation as people often overemphasise the target rather than the required intervention.  Our latest mailer expands on key considerations for developing targets that reflect project context and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) criteria, which we’ve put into practice with partners like TechnoServe and Seedstars.

Can the application of algorithms based on AI and machine-learning models tackle the problem of adverse selection, which sits at the heart of credit risk management?

Tito Tibi and Richard Ketley of the Financial Services Strategy practice at Genesis Analytics argue that they have the potential to significantly move the needle in this area. 

It is imperative for banks to understand the risks that climate change impacts pose to their balance sheets and overall operations. A well-defined climate change strategy enables the mitigation of, and adaption to, risks while responding to new opportunities.

Climate change seems to make headlines every day. It can be disheartening to hear for example that the methane leaks from a fossil fuel field are equivalent to the UK's total greenhouse gas emissions in an entire year. This can create an almost paralysing sense of helplessness that can be a barrier to climate action.

Ethiopia’s bank executives are worried about many issues as they plan for their medium- to long-term futures. It could be liquidity issues, foreign currency crunch or political risks. A topic that is receiving less attention is the significant risks that climate change poses to the sector. 

Genesis is very proud to share that our Human Development team has won a Best of 2022 Research Award from UNICEF Innocenti. The award was presented for a report commissioned by UNICEF that provides an Investment Case for Early Childhood Development (ECD) in Burundi. 

Earth Day is an annual celebration that aims to raise awareness of the need to protect the Earth’s natural resources for future generations. The first Earth Day was held on 22 April 1970. More than 50 years later, our planet’s natural resources are still under threat.

The world’s leading organisations understand that their customers are not always rational and that they make inconsistent and incoherent choices. These organisations also understand that their customers make these inconsistent and incoherent choices in predictable ways. That is, they are predictably irrational.

Young evaluators are playing a crucial and exciting role in advancing development in practice. Heather Dixon from the Evaluation for Development team reminds us that investing in the development of young evaluators is an investment in the future of evaluation in Africa.