In Kenya's Jomvu Creek, women help restore a vanishing coast through crab farming

Alternative farm finance organizations offer flexible, personalized financing plans for small, regenerative farms in the United States that might not otherwise have access to financing.

Though the overall poverty rate has been dropping in recent years, rural communities in Uganda still lack many basic resources, including access to healthy food, toiletries, and economic opportunity. The Network of Women in Agribusiness and Development was founded by women to empower and support their sisters through educational initiatives, agricultural training, and the provision of items such as pigs and fruit trees to help them break the cycle of poverty.

The production of mezcal keeps increasing, drawing the attention of big liquor brands who want to invest in the mezcal market. Entrepreneurs in Mexico, are teaming up with rural farmers, their collaboration could potentially push out big companies from taking over the market.

Development work is evolving beyond short-term mission trips and one-off donations into a more comprehensive, in-depth model that addresses long-term sustainability of a solution paired with empowerment of those being served. MicroConsignment is a unique branch of micro-enterprise being implemented by non-profit SolCom in Guatemala that provides individuals in rural villages the skills and resources needed to start sustainable businesses.

Solar-powered irrigation allows women in Gella to farm during the dry season, enabling multiple harvests per year that provide food security, income, and social connection while increasing women's economic agency in a post-conflict community.

Microfinance institutions in India are providing low-cost loans to women in remote areas that typically only have access to loan sharks. The women are using the money to break poverty cycles and start their own businesses.

Refugee women arriving in Brazil have been able to achieve financial independence through the work of an organization called Women of the Global South, an organization that provides women with the tools and skills to sell textiles. In addition to providing entrepreneurial skills, it also helps refugee women with transportation, classes, sewing machines and even provides cash for emergencies and help getting in touch with family members they have been separated from.

One small town in Colorado has spurred economic development by implementing a strategy that focused on the revitalization of creative industries. As a result, Trinidad, CO, has seen a twofold increase in lodging tax income and restaurant sales tax as well as a drastic increase in profits from commercial building permits. Local artists recognized the potential Trindad could have as a creative district and brought the plan to city officials who were eventually able to take advantage of state programs and collaborate with a nonprofit to generate creative business, revitalizing the local economy as a result.

Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Idcol), a government-backed Bangladeshi energy and infrastructure group, is helping bring solar power to homes in rural Bangladesh that once relied on dangerous kerosene or expensive diesel for electricity. The keys to Idcol’s expansion are financing plans that cater to lower-income people, as well as partnerships with 56 grass-roots organizations like the microfinance institution Grameen. Solar energy is reliable, clean, and more cost effective in the long run, and has become a lifeline for low-income Bangladeshis living beyond access of the main grid.

In Dandabazar, a community-wide shift to commercial cauliflower farming was supported by local government seed distribution and subsidies for modern tools. This transformed a food-insecure hill village into a recognized vegetable-producing hub, enabling individual farmers to grow their businesses.