The Private Sector and Poverty Reduction : Lessons from the Field
The mission of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is to create opportunities for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. There is a subjective dimension to poverty which relates to peoples’ perceptions and translates into such ba...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/10/25123239/private-sector-poverty-reduction-lessons-field http://hdl.handle.net/10986/23032 |
| Summary: | The mission of the International Finance
Corporation (IFC) is to create opportunities for people to
escape poverty and improve their lives. There is a
subjective dimension to poverty which relates to peoples’
perceptions and translates into such basic human concerns as
self-confidence, motivation, and hope. Successful
development projects tap into this dimension and enhance the
meaning people give to their endeavors so that people become
the architects of their own development. Independent
evaluation group (IEG) selected four case studies in as many
countries. The countries for these case studies were drawn
from the two areas of the world with the highest incidence
of absolute and proportional poverty - Asia and Africa. The
projects represented four different sectors of economic
activity, each important to poverty reduction: a
micro-credit and savings financial service in a large
Central African country; a telecom project in a small East
African country; a farm forestry project in a large South
Asian country; and a water and sanitation project in a
middle sized East Asian country. This report will discuss a
number of issues relating to the poverty reduction
effectiveness of these four projects: the rationale behind
their support; understanding the perspective of the poor
(demand assessment); adjusting supply to market realities
(how companies engage with beneficiaries); access to
services; affordability; and effects (results), followed by
a summary and conclusion. |
|---|