NOTE: The INVEST project closed in September 2024. All data is accurate as of that date, but this page is no longer being updated.
Around the world, USAID is mobilizing private-sector resources to help achieve its social and environmental goals. It is channeling private investment into critical areas that need it – like clean energy, infrastructure, education, agriculture, and healthcare – and ensuring that these resources have a positive impact for people and the planet.
Blended finance is the strategic use of development funds to mobilize capital for social and environmental results. Within these transactions, the use of technical assistance can help strengthen the commercial viability of a project by building capacity among fund managers and businesses and de-risking potential investments in new or unfamiliar markets.
Technical assistance can be deployed throughout the lifecycle of an investment. For instance, it may include conducting feasibility studies or providing support in due diligence, helping financial institutions launch new products that target underserved populations, or applying an environmental or gender lens to a portfolio in line with international standards.
Technical Assistance under INVEST
Technical assistance is one of the main services that USAID INVEST provides in mobilizing capital for development. Since 2017, 57% of INVEST’s buy-ins have included this component, often in combination with transaction advisory services and fund or financial instrument design, which often includes catalytic funding.
Over seven years of project implementation, INVEST activities that include technical assistance have mobilized $1.42 billion in capital for USAID’s development objectives.
The technical assistance provided by INVEST can be categorized into three areas:
1. Technical assistance for a company or project: This support helps strengthen the commercial viability of a company or a project at pre- or post-investment stages by developing the capabilities of managers or the overall viability of the businesses and projects.
- For example, INVEST provided gender-smart support to small- and medium-sized enterprises in East Africa and Latin America.
2. Technical assistance for market building: When the partner engages stakeholders primarily for the purpose of awareness building and education to influence their behavior within a specific market. Activities can include trainings, roadshows, workshops, and events.
- For example, INVEST helped establish a consortium of pension funds in Kenya and educate members on new investment opportunities in infrastructure, leading to groundbreaking investment in a road development project.
3. Technical assistance for USAID learning: INVEST engages partners to produce a research or learning product or event to respond to the needs of a USAID unit.
- For example, INVEST developed a guidance note on additionality and human impact to show how blended finance approaches can allow the public and private sectors to achieve goals that would not have been possible otherwise.
Stories
Technical assistance and gender lens investing
INVEST and its partners are helping align investment with gender-smart technical assistance to help businesses and investors identify and incorporate strategies that allow them to better serve women as employees, customers, and entrepreneurs.
Read more: Technical Assistance: A Game Changer for Gender Lens Investing?
West Africa: Innovative bond for affordable housing
With support from USAID INVEST, mortgage refinancing company CRRH is bringing a new investment opportunity to U.S. markets that offers investors attractive financial and social returns — and West Africans the resources to make homeownership a reality.
Read more: This Bond Could Be a Breakthrough in Combatting West Africa’s Housing Shortage
El Salvador: Renewable energy and gender equity
INVEST partnered with private sector technical assistance provider Deetken Impact to work with a select pool of local SMEs to enhance their gender smart business practices, community engagement tactics, and broader advocacy of gender equality.
Read more: Renewable Energy Project Advances Gender Lens Equity in Honduran Community
Vietnam: Removing barriers for wave energy
INVEST provided technical assistance to help a wave energy company navigate regulatory and environmental hurdles to pilot a new plant in Vietnam.
Read more: Wave Energy Could Power Vietnam’s Islands, But Start-Ups Need USAID’s Help
Central America: Supporting small businesses
INVEST and partners are increasing private investment in agriculture, nutrition, and WASH enterprises in the Northern Triangle by mobilizing investment and providing technical assistance fir business growth.
Read more: Generating Prosperity through Development of Small and Growing Businesses in the Northern Triangle
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This page is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this page are the sole responsibility of DAI and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
Photo credits: Kentaste, Sistema.bio, Nataly Reinch/Adobe, PHP Energy, Ingine, USAID