Kick-start of new “Skills Initiative for Africa”, to create jobs and income opportunities for Africa’s youth The growing extent of youth unemployment poses a fundamental challenge for the whole of Africa. In total, around 60 percent of the unemployed are under the age of 25 and young women are especially affected. It is against this … Read more
Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming The external evaluation of Finland’s Aid for Trade Action Plan 2012-2015 brings clear implications for future trade related development policy and private sector instruments. It finds that Finland’s Aid for Trade portfolio is relevant and has produced results in several strong sectors, but that strategic guidance, coordination and … Read more
Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming The TRAQUE programme in Ghana was a relevant and partially effective but operationally constrained Aid for Trade intervention that strengthened elements of national trade and quality systems, while falling short on more ambitious institutional reforms such as a national accreditation body and warehouse receipt system within the available … Read more
Foro Emprendedurismo para jóvenes en desventaja social Desarrollo de habilidades emprendedoras en la formación profesional de jóvenes en desventaja social El Programa ‘Desarrollo de habilidades en la formación profesional de desventaja social en Centroamérica’ de la GIZ financiado por el Ministerio Federal de Cooperación Económica y Desarrollo de Alemania (BMZ) 2012-2013, esta cerrado. El grupo … Read more
Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming The evaluation finds that the SRRP in Jordan substantially strengthened key regulatory institutions and the PPP framework, but achieved only partial results on competition, pricing, and pro poor impact, mainly because of weak political backing, limited coordination, and design flaws in governance and monitoring. Overall sustainability is mixed, … Read more
How can donors and partner countries assess the intended and unintended consequences of donor interventions? The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) explores ex ante Poverty Impact Assessment (PIA), which can assist in modifying the design of interventions to improve pro-poor impacts by identifying key areas for monitoring and evaluation (M&E). It can be … Read more
Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming The report evaluates a GIZ supported training program that helped ECOWAS customs administrations and freight forwarders implement the Common External Tariff and finds the intervention largely relevant, effective and supportive of CET rollout, but constrained by weak domestication, incomplete monitoring and limited strategic engagement beyond technical customs issues. … Read more
Building BDS Markets That Actually Work: Supply-Side Lessons from the Field Before you can develop a Business Development Services market, you need to honestly assess what’s holding it back — and often, the problem starts on the supply side. Weak BDS markets don’t fail by accident. Macro-economic constraints quietly block market growth, and subsidised monopoly … Read more
Why Small Businesses Fail to Invest in Their People — and What BDS Can Do About It In a knowledge-based economy, the competitive edge no longer belongs to those with the most machines or the lowest prices. It belongs to those with the best people. Yet for many small and medium enterprises, investing in staff … Read more
Few examples in European business development illustrate the potential of public-private collaboration as cleanly as Hamburg’s Initiative for Business Start-ups (Hamburger Existenzgründungs-Initiative, HEI). Launched as a deliberate experiment in market-friendly intervention, it has — over more than a decade — grown into one of the city’s most enduring tools for connecting entrepreneurs with the support … Read more
Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming Final Evaluation of the Guyana Training Agency Programme (GTA), Guyana Context The Guyana Training Agency Programme was conceived against a backdrop of national skills shortages, weak technical and vocational education and training systems, and high levels of emigration of skilled workers from Guyana. The development challenge centred on … Read more
Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming Context Belize is a small, highly indebted Caribbean nation where poverty has remained a persistent structural challenge. The Country Poverty Assessment of 1995/96 found that 33% of the population fell below the poverty line, with rural poverty rates reaching 42.5%. The most vulnerable groups included young people, the … Read more
