Poverty graduation programs, which transfer assets and skills, can set women on a path toward higher income and greater empowerment at home, but in the arid rural parts of northern Kenya drought can force them to liquidate their gains so the family can survive.

When I think about access to finance for smallholder farmers, I always think of my host father from my time in The Gambia as a Peace Corps Volunteer. At the time, I was frustrated that he would not adopt improved seeds that were more expensive but that could increase productivity.

When sediment builds up in a hydropower reservoir it can damage turbines and clog spillways. It reduces how much electricity a plant can generate, and it’s expensive to dredge. In Malawi, this is especially a problem, as hydropower provides nearly all of the country’s electricity.

How long should a development intervention run? For a BRAC program for women farmers in eastern Uganda, that decision was made by the amount of funding it would have.