Fostering an enabling environment for livelihoods development in vulnerable and at risk communities through entrepreneurship and microenterprise skills

For many men and women of working age, entrepreneurship and employment in micro-enterprises can provide pathways to decent work and are often the most, or only, accessible source of employment. However, the informality of most micro-enterprises, limited social safety nets available for the self-employed, and low productivity and high failure rate among these firms has constrained the role the sector can play in social and economic development. In response to this situation, the ILO has (since 2014) supported more than 60 organizations across 16 countries to take up the Community-Based Enterprise Development (C-BED) programme, a low-cost, scalable, and participatory approach to skills development for entrepreneurship and business improvement. While the peer-based, social learning methodology and decentralized implementation model introduced by ILO has enabled the programme to be scaled up rapidly across the region and by a wide-variety of partners, work is now required to foster formal networks of technical cooperation and collaboration between institutions/organizations and to pursue entry points for integrating the decent work agenda into policy and programming actions being moved forward. This project aims at strengthening the ILO’s value as a technical and strategic partner to institutions and organizations implementing the programme by developing the capacity of these partners to provide, sustain, and scale up interventions that improve livelihoods opportunities and decent work in vulnerable and at risk communities through entrepreneurship and micro-enterprise development. Through research, surveillance, and evaluation, the project supports social partners to make evidence-based policy and programming decisions. Trainees reached from vulnerable and at-risk communities develop the capacity to start or improve micro-enterprises along with the soft skills needed to be an effective problem solver, to analyse business opportunities objectively, and to communicate, network, lead, and evaluate activities with others. The specific project objectives include: 1. Institutions/organizations are better able to identify needs and take action to plan, program and deliver sustainable skills training services for entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises; 2. Training and support services for entrepreneurs and self-employed workers/micro-enterprises in vulnerable and at-risk communities are more accessible through closer coordination and collaboration among institutions and organisations; 3. Evidence-based policy and programming decisions are used to promote transition to the formal economy, social protection, enterprise sustainability, and decent work standards in the MSE sector.

Project symbol

RAS/16/54/JPN

Admin unit

CO-Bangkok

Start date

01/09/2016

End date

31/12/2017

Total allocation

186321

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

186321

Development Partners

Japan, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Country/Countries

Cambodia
Thailand
Lao People's Democratic Republic

Outcomes

Promoting sustainable enterprises
Strong and representative employers' and workers' organizations