It’s been a fast-paced year at the intersection of business and development — with the role of the private sector, social entrepreneurship and innovation becoming a growing part of the global development conversation. Here's a look at some of the top Devex Impact stories of 2015.

1. TOP STORIES OF 2015

2. Devex Impact kicked off the year talking about
what’s new with public-private partnerships.
This article explored how partnerships are
changing global development.

3. As collaboration becomes more complex,
international nongovernmental organizations
must ensure that their staff, standards and
guidelines can keep up. Devex Impact took a
look at how some of the world’s major INGOs
approach, evaluate and create partnerships.

4. Development organizations from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation to the U.S. Agency for International Development
have been trying to spur innovation through grand challenges.
Devex Impact looked at how the model is working and if it’s
here to stay.

5. It was clear at many events this year from the Skoll World Forum to the
Global Entrepreneurship Summit and SOCAP that social entrepreneurship is
clearly making its mark on global development. This year the Devex Impact series
“The #SocEnt Revolution: How entrepreneurship is changing global development”
explored the entrepreneurship ecosystem, from the role of different actors,
to donor support, financing and incubators.

6. The Global Fund is one of the largest
partnerships and a leading example of the type
of platform organization that has been popping
up to tackle any number of development
challenges. Devex Impact interviewed Mark
Dybul, the Global Fund’s executive director,
about some of the organization’s ups and
downs and what they’ve learned.

7. Devex Impact spent time in Uganda this year and had the
opportunity to meet with Muhammad Yunus and his team to talk
about social businesses and why he believes market-based solutions
are critical to tackling development challenges.

8. Devex Impact was on hand at many of the high-level events this year, including
the United Nations General Assembly meeting and the Clinton Global Initiative
annual meeting in September. The week made clear that the private sector is
now seen as a partner in development and left open questions about whether
it will step up.

9. Devex Impact traveled with the team behind the new Akon Lighting
Africa initiative and analyzed — at times with a critical eye — what the
celebrity-driven endeavor is all about. It turns out celebrity drives
traffic, because this was also the most read article of the year.

10. Devex Impact ramped up its coverage of
trade this year. Here’s one of the articles
that takes a look at how trade is being used
as a tool for economic development.

11. Devex Impact sat down with Michael Porter,
who coined the increasingly popular term
shared value, to get his take on what’s next
for the movement.

12. Businesses may need help breaking down and
grappling with the long list of SDGs and
accompanying targets and indicators. So Devex
Impact reviewed some of the tools available.

13. Billionaire Mo Ibrahim sat down with Devex
Impact for a wide-ranging interview in which he
discussed what needs to be done to tackle some
of Africa’s greatest challenges, including
addressing corruption and ensuring good
governance.

14. Major events, including the Fifth Global Review of
Aid for Trade, and announcements of some major
trade deals led to Devex Impact analysis about
trade policy and what it can mean for
development and LDCs.

15. One thing this year’s Financing for Development conference made
clear was that financial innovation would be necessary to cover the
costs of the SDGs. Devex Impact took a look at some of the emerging
financial products and strategies that may help fill that gap.

16. Looking back, 2015 seems to be the year
that the off-grid solar power industry made a
splash as a combination of cheaper products
and innovative business models are resulting
in lower costs and making it a viable
alternative in Africa.

17. Stay tuned for more coverage in 2016
and follow @deveximpact