New Silk Roads is facilitating a multi-year, participatory learning journey for the civil society organisations in the Ford Foundation’s Small BUILD programme. This role includes designing learning processes at organisational, cohort, and ecosystem levels and facilitating these processes through tailored coaching, collective sense-making, and full group convenings (in person and online).

Within the learning journey, our team also surfaces practice-based insights through documentation, convenings, and cross-ecosystem exchange. We then translate these organisations’ reflections into accessible knowledge. The result is to strengthen participating organisations’ internal learning cultures and surface actionable recommendations for funders and systems-change practitioners.

Countries

Ford Foundation: Learning Journey for “Small BUILD” programme

The New Silk Roads team has provided Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) support to several Hivos programmes focused on youth employment, entrepreneurship development, and the green transition in in the Middle East and North Africa. For example, our team led the evaluation of the GreenWorks programme, including a thorough desk review, key informant interviews, and over 400 online and CATI surveys. Furthermore, we conducted an internal mid-term evaluation of the LEAD Coworking for Sustainable Employment Programme following the OECD-DAC criteria. Finally, our team has provided training to various organisations to set up their own MEL frameworks and support with data collection.

Year

Funders

Impact Assessment for Hivos Job Creation Programmes

As a consortium member of the Challenge Fund for a Just Transition (CFJT), New Silk Roads supported CFJT partners through proposal development support, partnership building, and an intensive fundraising coaching programme.

We also developed a corresponding online course, tailored for green sector startups and scaleups, to increase access to non-commercial funding and blended finance. Through our support, these businesses raised €2.5 million in additional funding to pioneer localised green sector solutions in the MENA region.

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE), Chemonics Egypt, Education for Employment, Flat6Labs, Impact Partner, Nahdet El Mahrousa, UM6P Ventures, and Ambo Ventures

Supporters

The Challenge Fund for a Just Transition (CFJT)

The GreenWorks aimed to create 9000 decent jobs for youth in green and digital sectors in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria. As a consortium member, New Silk Roads played several roles, including:

-Developed the theory of change, logframe, and impact monitoring approach for GreenWorks

-Provided fundraising (leverage) services to Hivos and the GreenWorks alliance members to raise an additional 15 million EUR

-Convened a series of multi-stakeholder Futures Labs to activate green and impact-oriented value chains in the MENA region.

CLIENT

New Silk Roads is a the learning partner for the Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts, a philanthropic collaborative programme that champions the power of socially engaged arts in driving positive social change across Europe. The Alliance is currently in its pilot phase, and includes a fellowship bringing together 15 socially engaged arts leaders alongside a range of advocacy activities.

Beginning with the development of a learning framework for the programme, we are conducting an evaluation of the pilot phase that will drive sustainable learning in future cycles of the programme.

Allianz Foundation, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Daniel & Nina Carasso Foundation, European Cultural Foundation, Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Santander Funcación, het Cultuurfonds, Hilti Foundation, la Caixa Foundation, King Baudouin Foundation, Moleskine Foundation, Stiftung Mercator Schweiz

Supportors

Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts: Learning Partner

New Silk Roads initiated and launched the Green Growth Summit in Tunis (2024) and Cairo (2024, 2025). A regional learning platform, the Green Growth Summit transformed lessons from early movers in the green economy into actionable insights to localise and accelerate regenerative economies.

Across three editions, the Green Growth Summit convened 600+ green transition frontrunners, facilitated South–South collaboration between entrepreneurs and Africa-focused climate funds, raised awareness on green sector impact investing, and created a donor task force in Tunisia focused on the green economy.

New Silk Roads also raised an additional ~100K EUR in sponsorship to expand the summits’ reach and impact.

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FMO - Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, Pathfinder International, USAID, Expertise France, the European Union, Impact Europe, Spark, Business Egypt, Finance in Motion

New Silk Roads initiated the Afkar Fellowship for changemakers in North Africa. Through this fellowship, we coached fourteen fellows over two years in leadership, fundraising, communication, and filmmaking to increase their impact. The Afkar Fellows encompassed an eclectic cohort, including a visual artist and gallerist from Libya, a media entrepreneur from Egypt, a calligrapher from the Western Sahara, a technologist from Tunisia, and an activist for LGBTQI+ rights.

Client

New Silk Roads supported the production of Vertical Atlas, a book exploring the geopolitics of digital technology. Featuring artwork and essays from over 50 international designers, artists, and thinkers, the book examines topics from lithium mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo to global fiber-optic networks. The launch and exhibition at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam included lectures by Kenyan writer and activist Nanjala Nyabola, and American philosopher of technology Benjamin H. Bratton, as well as a performance by Francois Knoetze, a South African performance artist.

New Silk Roads designed and facilitated five multi-day Futures Labs in Tunis, Cairo, and Sinai to foster collaboration on climate justice and localised climate adaptation across the Middle East, North Africa, and East Africa. Using a futures thinking approach, we convened entrepreneurs, civil society representatives, creatives, policymakers, and funders to co-create climate innovation pathways.

We translated the Labs’ insights into digital stories with local illustrators and data visualizers, promoted through targeted social media campaigns, and complemented the Labs with an online Futures Talks series on sustainable cities, energy futures, and place-based design.

The Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE) supports market-based, scalable approaches to enable over 200,000 young people to access new or better employment opportunities. In Sudan, the CFYE is supporting 249Startups, Alsalam Factory, and IATL International to create job opportunities for young people in their country.

As part of the CFYE’s technical support to its Sudan portfolio, New Silk Roads provided three days of tailored workshops and one-on-one coaching on:

Operating in fragile and post-conflict markets

AI-assisted writing tools for grants and applications

Impact investment, private funders, and blended finance opportunities

How can alternative funding models better support communities who actively create and maintain heritage, often outside formal institutional frameworks? Together with UNESCO Netherlands and 100 Funds, we investigated a range of funding models that are aligned with Faro Convention principles, which center heritage within citizens' right to participate in cultural life and as a resource for human and economic development. New Silk Roads contributed to the brochure by providing guidance on innovative financing and governance models from lease-to-own mechanisms and non-extractive loans to participatory grantmaking and p2p art publishing and financing platforms. The brochure (in Dutch) can be found here.

UNESCO Alternative Funding Models for Heritage Communities

Impact Europe is an investing for impact network which mobilises capital and stakeholders to accelerate positive change. Using a futures thinking approach, we engaged Impact Europe and its partners through:

Facilitating a two-day, internal strategy development to shape the future direction of Impact Europe during its annual all-staff retreat in Brussels

Working with the Jordan Impact Investment Board (JIIB) to develop an organisational strategy to position Jordan as a regional leader in impact

Guiding dialogues between Impact Europe and EU representatives to develop policy recommendations around impact investing

Facilitating knowledge sharing sessions at the Impact in the Neighbourhood conference in Tbilisi, Georgia to foster cross-geography collaboration amongst Impact Europe consortium members from Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa

Scenario Building and the Future of Impact Investing

Athar is an accelerator in Upper Egypt. Since its beginnings as a coworking space, New Silk Roads has worked with Athar to grow into Upper Egypt’s leading startup accelerator. Our team has provided fundraising assistance and trainings to the Athar team, resulting in Athar successfully raising funds from Creativa, Orange Corners, the Drosos Foundation, and the Finnish Embassy in Cairo, among others. As Athar scaled, we offered strategic advising, policy development assistance, and introductions to national and international ecosystem players – especially as Athar specialised in supporting agriculture, energy, and climate startups. We have also directly trained Athar-supported startups on programme design and financial diversification, resulting in follow on funding and geographic expansion.

Various (European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, Finnish Embassy in Cairo, Hivos)

Clients

How can cultural practices driving the climate transition be supported through decentralized infrastructures? Instead of starting from major urban centers, PACESETTERS focuses on peripheral and rural contexts as sites of artistic research and practice. Current cases include Genalguacil (a small village in southern Spain), Nowa Huta (a socialist realist district in Kraków), and Galway (on Europe’s western edge). Together with this Horizon Europe consortium and 100 Funds, New Silk Roads is developing and testing a pre-accelerator model and impact fund for artistic entrepreneurship in rural and remote areas.

The European Federation for Creative Economy

LAB Genalguacil, Galway International Arts Festival, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The Jagiellonian University and others

PACESETTERS: Rural and Remote Artistic Practices Driving the Climate Transition

New Silk Roads conducted a feasibility study for DOEN Ventures for a new impact investment fund for the cultural and creative sector in Europe. Together with 100 Funds, we interviewed over 40 impact investors, artists, and cultural entrepreneurs to discuss the opportunities and challenges for impact investment in arts and culture, specifically in the Netherlands. Subsequently, New Silk Roads is advising DOEN Ventures, Moleskine Foundation, and Opes Impact Fund with setting up the impact investment fund for culture and creativity in Europe, sourcing investible cultural ventures in Europe, and making introductions to potential LPs.

DOEN Ventures, OPES Fund, Moleskine Foundation

DOEN: Impact Investment in Arts and Culture

New Silk Roads conducted a multi-dimensional feasibility study on establishing an impact investment fund within Ethiopia’s emerging capital market. This study utilised extensive desk research, secondary source analysis, and key informant interviews with key regulators and financial institutions to analyse the "missing middle" financing gap.

To validate this initial assessment, we hosted a two-day workshop in Addis Ababa with key stakeholders. Based on this workshop, we are currently structuring a blended finance model that includes local-currency deployment, offshore de-risking, and a technical assistance facility. Our team is also providing support to secure catalytic capital and donors to launch this first-of-its-kind vehicle for growth-stage SMEs in Ethiopia.

Country

Impact Investing Feasibility Study in Ethiopia

New Silk Roads conducted a study on synergies within the Swiss Cooperation programming in Tunisia for 2025–2028. This study examined how portfolio programmes interact across thematic, operational, and institutional dimensions, and how these linkages can be better leveraged both internally and externally.

The study also examined how shared or overlapping geographic areas of intervention can serve as entry points for collaboration and learning, and where co-location of activities may enable joint impact at local or regional level.

Synergies Study on the Swiss Cooperation Portfolio in Tunisia

New Silk Roads produced “Digital Jobs and Women in the MENA Region,” an in-depth research study exploring how digitally-enabled jobs can create sustainable employment opportunities for women in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco.

To produce this study, our team designed a mixed methods framework composed of in-person interviews, focus group discussions, and robust desk research. Our research examined barriers to women’s workforce participation, the specific gender dynamics within different countries and regions, and the role of ecosystem actors. This study was also transformed into a short explainer animation and podcast.

Digital Jobs & Women: Multi-Country Research Report

New Silk Roads conducted a feasibility assessment for an organic fertiliser production initiative in Southern Libya. Using a mixed methods approach, our team conducted extensive stakeholder interviews and surveys with farmers, suppliers, and agricultural experts to assess market readiness for organic fertiliser produced from agricultural waste. We also designed and implemented a methodology for estimating waste quantities based on production cycles and seasonal trends and analysing agricultural waste streams, market demand, and production feasibility. This research demonstrated the viability of organic fertiliser production as a sustainable solution for local agricultural needs.

Organic Waste Recycling Market Feasibility Assessment

New Silk Roads developed a strategic foresight report, organised two mini think tanks, and wrote a strategic line of action for just and sustainable technology in tropical forest countries. The assignment included engaging consultants in Indonesia and Costa Rica, conducting interviews with a wide range of climate organisations, environment defenders and digital rights specialists, analysing CLUA's grant portfolio, and involving experts in digital rights and climate justice. In 2026 New Silk Roads also wrote an updated Memo on the latest developments including the role of AI. The outcomes were presented at CLUA's strategic retreat with representatives from member foundations

Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Mexico

Climate Works, Porticus, the Packard Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.

The GGJAP is a four-year regional project focused on accelerating SMEs to grow sustainably and create decent jobs for young people. We provided technical fundraising support to the Flat6Labs accelerator to prepare the $3.5 million tender and secure their first multi-year, regional programme.

As part of the GGJAP consortium, New Silk Roads is also assisting with the accelerator design and positioning, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and internal team upskilling. Additionally, our team is developing a specialised e-learning curriculum, which features multi-lingual digital courses on business innovation, impact measurement, and access to finance, specifically designed for SMEs in the Arab states region.

Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, and Algeria

Danish-Arab Partnership Programme (DAPP) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark

Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator Project (GGJAP)

Through an EBRD-funded voucher programme, Athar Accelerator in Upper Egypt engaged New Silk Roads to provide direct fundraising and professionalisation services directly to the Athar team. In parallel, our team also delivered tailored fundraising and programme design support for a portfolio of green startups from the Egyptian cities of Alexandria, Assuit, and Sohag.

This support resulted in direct follow on funding, such as for Salahly from Assuit, which raised additional funds from LifeMakers Foundation.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

New Silk Roads facilitated a two-year peer learning journey on international cooperation for the Funders International Network for Development (FIND) member community.

Our role included co-developing the learning journey blueprint and facilitating interactive online deep dives alongside an in-person meeting in Brussels. The peer learning journey explored topics such as locally-led development, innovative funding instruments, and collaborations with African philanthropy, with New Silk Roads curating speakers and producing an interactive digital knowledge product.

Funders International Network for Development (Co-Chairs: “la Caixa” Foundation and Anglo American Foundation)

Philea: Evolving Practices of International Cooperation Peer Learning Journey

New Silk Roads is designing and managing a global community of practice for Fondation Botnar’s Fit4Future programme, connecting partners across Asia, Latin America, and Africa. This member-driven community of practice is designed to foster knowledge exchange around leveraging digital technologies to promote young people’s wellbeing, inclusion, and collective agency.

Our role includes activating the member-driven design process for the community of practice, facilitating learning activities, and organising regional and global meetups for community members.

Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam

Fondation Botnar: Learning Partner and Community of Practice

ReBootKamp (RBK) is Tunisia’s first immersive coding bootcamp which trains young people to become employment-ready software engineers.

Under the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment, New Silk Roads supported RBK to scale its operations nationally across Tunisia while further professionalising its operations and services.

We specifically worked with RBK to strengthen its curriculum offerings in an increasingly global hiring market. We provided strategic assessments and guidance for gender inclusion, resulting in increased retention and graduation of young women. Finally, we implemented a monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework to track training effectiveness and job placements to boost RBK’s competitiveness.

Strengthening Youth Employability in the ICT Sector

New Silk Roads conducted an assessment of Tripoli’s entrepreneurship landscape, with a focus on identifying sustainable and systemic opportunities to strengthen the ecosystem for marginalised groups. Our team used a mixed methods approach composed of surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions.

Our approach was rooted in ILO's Inclusive Entrepreneurship Framework and the Isenberg Model, which organises the entrepreneurial environment into six interconnected pillars: human capital, policy and regulation, access to finance, culture and social norms, support services and infrastructure, and market access. Our study also integrated three cross-cutting dimensions: gender and social inclusion, conflict sensitivity, and environmental sensitivity.

Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Assessment

New Silk Roads has provided online, in-person, and hybrid fundraising courses to business support organisations, SMEs, and cultural organisations for over a decade. We have also developed a suite of online courses available in English and Arabic on programme design, funder communications, theory of change, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), non-commercial fundraising, and alternative financing.

To date, our team has trained over 35 organisations which have gone on to successfully raise EUR 8 million in funding.

New Silk Roads implemented investor matchmaking sessions which paired promising young entrepreneurs from Egypt and Tunisia with regional and international investors and funds. Through connecting entrepreneurs with access to capital, they were better positioned to grow their business and create jobs in their cities and communities.

We supported Impact Partner to raise EUR 530,000 from Expertise France for the MADAR programme. As a MADAR consortium member, New Silk Roads provided tailored fundraising training for 10 business support organisations (BSOs) and personalised one-on-one coaching for Tunisian startups on business models, fundraising, and partnerships. Additionally, we facilitated matchmaking activities that connected Tunisian incubators and accelerators with European partners, international investors, and experts from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and France.

New Silk Roads has designed and facilitated online learning spaces for multiple INCO programmes for young changemakers across the Mediterranean regions.

Under INCO’s Get Into Green and Académie des Talents Méditerranéen initiatives, our team members provided trainings on programme design and fundraising to assist youth entrepreneurs to develop impactful local initiatives. Promising initiatives also received tailored, one-on-one coaching.

Get Into Green, Académie des Talents Méditerranéen

New Silk Roads researched and produced a publication on innovative finance and expanding sustainable energy access. The report explores traditional financing tools such as grants, debt, and equity alongside emerging approaches like carbon finance, aggregation, and anchor-based financing to unlock capital and empower vulnerable communities. Rooted in deep dive interviews, qualitative research, and sense-making sessions, the report also provides practical recommendations for practitioners, donors, and investors for mobilising finance for energy access.

As part of our research, New Silk Roads also facilitated knowledge sharing webinars with the broader EnDev practitioners community.

German Cooperation, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

New Silk Roads developed donor-facing communications materials for the Catholic Relief Services' (CRS) global project portfolio. Our work focused on demonstrating CRS programmes’ impact and scalability to funders and positioning CRS as a thought leader in programme design and sustainability. In collaboration with the business development unit, New Silk Roads team members prepared targeted communication materials for social media and in-person events, with a focus on CRS’ agricultural, food security, and social resilience programming in Africa and South America.

Our team also advised CRS as it shifted its programmatic and technical communications towards a more targeted audience of funders, development professionals, and partners on LinkedIn.

Since 2013, the New Silk Roads fundraising team has supported Hivos with tailored business development services for its programmes on private sector development, job creation, climate justice, freedom of expression and arts and culture in the Middle East and North Africa. Our support included proposal writing, theory of change development, and strategic fundraising advice to Hivos senior programme management. Some of our success stories include securing EUR 8.1 million from Palladium, EUR 9.5 million and EUR 5.5 million and EUR 2.2. million from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (LEAD I, II and BOOST Programs), EUR 5.5 million and EUR 2 million at Sida and 550K from the U.S. State Department.

Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sida, U.S. State Department, European Union, Palladium

Funds

Since 2013, we have organised a range of learning events for Hivos program teams and their partners. This included gatherings for partners in Tunis and Djerba, a post-COP27 event in Sinai, Egypt, and a learning event in the Hague in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These events brought together a variety of Hivos partners, including climate justice organisations, business support organisations, investors, creative hubs, and universities across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Our role encompassed event management and logistics, curation of speakers, facilitation and moderations of panels, and documenting key learning outcomes.

Challenge Fund for Youth Employment, Impact Europe, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Other Clients

For the Prince Claus Fund, New Silk Roads conducted a comprehensive donor mapping, established a fundraising strategy with a focus on high-potential donors, and organised fundraising missions across EU countries and the United States. We also fundraised directly for the Fund’s core activities, helping to secure EUR 1.2 million from the Dutch Postcode Lottery for an arts and culture program in Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. We also led the fundraising efforts for a worldwide heritage preservation program at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation