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FSD Africa launched the Credit Market Development Programme (CMDP) in July 2016 to improve credit markets across sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on efficiency, inclusivity, and market conduct to benefit retail and SME consumers.

This briefing by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) outlines the challenges and opportunities for expanding sustainable electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa. It advocates for an integrated approach that combines on-grid and off-grid resources to meet growing energy demands while mitigating future carbon emissions.

This research paper evaluates Africa's prospects for achieving universal access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) by 2030, as outlined in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. Using the International Futures (IFs) forecasting system, the authors compare a 'Current Path' (business-as-usual) against two alternative scenarios: 'Universal Access' (an aggressive push for 97% coverage) and 'Balancing WASH' (a moderate approach based on 2015 baselines). The analysis highlights the massive infrastructure investment required, the potential for significant economic and human development gains, and the risk of spending trade-offs that could undermine health and education goals.

This document introduces a project by Financial Sector Deepening Africa and Creative Metier to improve financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa by enhancing leadership capacity through executive coaching. It notes that while the region's financial sector has grown rapidly, formal financial account ownership remained low at 34% as of 2014.

The SEforALL 2016-2021 Business Plan outlines a strategy to achieve universal modern energy access, double energy efficiency, and double the share of renewables globally. The organization uses data-driven 'heat maps' and a 'Global Tracking Framework' to prioritize high-impact countries and sectors. Its operational model relies on 'lean start-up' methodologies and a network of 'Delivery', 'Proud', and 'Funding' partners, including sector-specific 'Accelerators'. Financially, SEforALL aims to transition to a 50:50 public-private funding split, with a base-case budget growing from $7.4 million in 2017 to $11.0 million by 2021.

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the public health, economic, and environmental impacts of traditional biomass cooking in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa. It advocates for a transition to clean cookstoves through private-sector support, regulatory reform of the charcoal sector, and the removal of market barriers such as high import duties.

This executive summary introduces a World Resources Report framework for creating more equal, productive, and sustainable cities, focusing specifically on 'struggling' and 'emerging' cities in the Global South. It identifies critical challenges in urban population growth and service delivery, proposing that equitable access to core services—housing, water, energy, and transportation—can serve as a catalyst for broader urban transformation.

This briefing by the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) discusses the October 2015 IMF Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the region's economic challenges and South Africa's specific vulnerabilities in growth, energy, and exports.

This research paper examines strategies to address biomass scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on moving from cycles of over-exploitation and degradation to sustainable production. Using the Lake Tana sub-basin in Ethiopia as a case study, the authors analyze the impact of supply and demand strategies, emphasizing the importance of soil productivity and integrated natural resource governance.

This case study describes a project led by the Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services (UIBFS) between August and December 2014 to embed the Bank of Uganda’s Financial Consumer Protection Guidelines (FCPG) within 31 Supervised Financial Institutions (SFI) in Uganda. Funded by Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA) with £105,000, the initiative aimed to create a sustainable local market for financial consumer protection (FCP) training by increasing the capacity of Ugandan training firms and SFI Human Resource teams.

This briefing by RMI argues that decentralized solar energy is the most viable path to providing electricity access to the 1.3 billion people currently without it, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa and India, while avoiding a projected 141-percent increase in carbon emissions by 2040 that would result from coal-fired power plants.

This policy brief, prepared for the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), outlines a proposed regional governance architecture for Future Earth. It defines the roles, eligibility criteria, and interactions between National Committees, Regional Committees, and Regional Centres to ensure that global research agendas incorporate regional priorities and stakeholder needs.

This research paper synthesizes knowledge on the impacts of biofuel expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the trade-offs between development goals and environmental or socioeconomic risks, and identifies policy and knowledge gaps as primary barriers to sustainability.

This policy brief examines the risks climate change poses to large-scale hydropower infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and the current lack of climate service integration in the planning process. It argues that while hydropower is critical for energy security, most projects rely on historical data that ignore future hydrological shifts, leaving long-lived assets vulnerable to failure or inefficiency.

The SEI Strategy 2015–2019 outlines the Stockholm Environment Institute's framework for bridging science and policy to support sustainable development. The strategy focuses on enhancing scientific research through new 'SEI Initiatives', expanding policy engagement to include 'hard-to-reach' stakeholders like the private sector, and strengthening capacity development across individual, organizational, and institutional levels. It also details the enabling infrastructure required for delivery, including communications, ICT tools, financial management, and a custom monitoring system (PMEC).

This special edition of Climate and Development Outlook describes the scoping phase of the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) programme, a five-year international research initiative funded by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The programme focuses on improving the scientific understanding of sub-Saharan African climate on decadal timescales and enhancing the communication and uptake of this information for long-term climate-resilient development strategies.

This guide introduces a handbook designed to explain the economic theory and practical functioning of urban land markets in Africa, emphasizing the need for policy-makers to move beyond state-centric management to include diverse actors.

This research paper examines the global and regional processes that influence the adoption of rainwater harvesting technologies (RWHTs) in the semi-arid and sub-humid regions of sub-Saharan Africa to improve food security and climate resilience.

A fact sheet by the South African Institute of International Affairs explaining the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a US-Africa trade deal active since 2001 that provides duty-free US market access to qualifying sub-Saharan African states.

This fact sheet from the World Resources Institute explains the sources, scale, and trends of global agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while highlighting the role of new Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidance in helping companies measure and manage their climate footprint.