SDDirect provides cutting edge social development expertise to economic development and climate programmes.
We work with a range of stakeholders in the public and private sectors worldwide providing gender mainstreaming, institutional strengthening, and technical guidance.
We work in sectors ranging from climate resilience, inclusive urban development & infrastructure, women’s economic empowerment, to digital inclusion.
As the climate crisis deepens, novel technologies, expertise, and new energy sources are emerging, paving the way for ‘green economies.’
Beyond curbing emissions and adapting to climate shifts, a green economy combines climate resilience with social and economic benefits necessary for human progress. However, neglecting to draw from past lessons and knowledge could lead us to unintentionally recreate the imbalanced power dynamics that drive exclusion within these emerging green economies.
Our vision for green economies is one where environmental sustainability is achieved alongside inclusive prosperity and a just transition, where no one is left behind.
We address the challenge of creating inclusive and prosperous green economies by collaborating with stakeholders in the public and private sectors worldwide. We bring innovative social development practice and experience in gender mainstreaming, programme delivery, research, policy and technical guidance across economic development and climate resilience programmes.
We promote inclusive cities and infrastructure as catalysts for shared progress. Women's economic empowerment forms a foundational pillar, fostering a level playing field of opportunities. Our work on digital inclusion ensures that the benefits of green economies reach every corner of society. We support the development of high-integrity voluntary carbon crediting where benefits extend meaningfully to women. We also support the private sector on a diverse range of social development issues, ranging from advice on gender-based violence and safeguarding risks; to supporting gender-lens and social impact investing.
Across all areas, we support disability inclusion in economic development and climate change programming, ensuring that attitudinal, environmental and institutional barriers that people with disabilities face are overcome.
If you would like to hear more about our work on Green Economies and Infrastructure (GEI), please reach out to Faraz Hassan, Head of Green Economies and Infrastructure Portfolio, Faraz@sddirect.org.uk.
"The forest is everything to us".
This report focuses on how to systematically integrate gender into Inclusive Markets Development (IMD), in order to support Christian Aid programme staff and partners in ensuring that they design gender-transformative and gender-sensitive market programmes.
This WOW Helpdesk report compares how different International Financial Institutions promote women’s economic empowerment in their work.
The Voluntary Carbon Market represents a huge financial flow - from corporates in the Global North looking to ‘offset’ their residual emissions, to carbon projects often based in the Global South in sectors such as forestry and sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, or cookstoves. Under the current drive for higher integrity and sustainable development outcomes in the Voluntary Carbon Market, there is a unique opportunity to drive climate finance towards integrated gender equality and climate outcomes.
As a gay man in my thirties, I often wonder whether my sexual orientation has hindered my career at any point. I can remember being forced to come out on a work trip, a colleague commenting how I am “different” to other men, and a manager remarking on how my clothes are feminine. But have these attitudes and behaviour had any effect on my productivity and the economic output of the countries I have lived and worked in?
This tool will help Department for International Development (DFID) advisers, programme managers and Senior Responsible Officers (SROs) working on programmes that involve infrastructure to:
The overall purpose of the paper is to provide a framework for how to address violence against women and girls (VAWG) through programming and policy dialogue on infrastructure and cities. It aims to support
This Briefing Note provides guidance on how to accelerate Women’s Economic Empowerment
