Thursday, May 25, 2006

[IWS] ILO: POVERTY REDUCTION Through SMALL ENTERPRISES [2006]

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016
-------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

Small Enterprise Development Programme
Job Creation and Enterprise Development Department
International Labour Office · Geneva

SEED Working Paper No. 75
Poverty reduction through small enterprises
Emerging consensus, unresolved issues and ILO activities
by Paul Vandenberg
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/empent/docs/F1339520187/WP75-2006.pdf
[full-text, 68 pages]

[excerpt]
Two years ago, the ILO’s Small Enterprise Development Programme (SEED)
initiated a process of internal discussion and review, assisted by outside experts, on the
important issue of poverty reduction. This paper is a product of that process. Both the
paper and the process complement the larger initiative taken by the ILO to make the fight
against poverty a central element of its agenda. Through the Director-General’s Report,
Working Out of Poverty, and the many initiatives guided by that report, the ILO has joined
with its partners in taking up the challenge posed by the most important of the Millennium
Development Goals, reducing by half the incidence of world poverty by 2015.

The paper explores the interesting connections between our work on developing the
small enterprise economy and the task of poverty reduction. Those of us working on small
enterprise development have long recognized the existence of these connections. This
paper ­ and the consultations necessary for its preparation ­ have helped us to probe the
connections more deeply. The paper also outlines the international initiatives of the past
half-decade which have raised the profile of poverty as the prime issue of economic
development and social justice. The increasing importance given to how private sector
development can support poverty reduction is also discussed.

In addition, the paper highlights the difficulties of assessing the impact of enterprise
development not just on the enterprises themselves, but on poor workers, entrepreneurs
and their families. It is an issue into which the ILO and the international community need
to channel more energy. In the fifth chapter, the paper outlines a strategy that SEED might
adopt ­ after further consultation and revision ­ to focus its programme on poverty.
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

****************************************
Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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