IFC, with the Government of Canada’s support, implemented an ambitious Local Economic Development Program in four Sub-Saharan African countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Kenya. IFC strategically invests in infrastructure and natural resource projects to generate positive impact, especially for women and youth. This program supported this vision by enhancing economic and social well-being of communities that are located around large-scale infrastructure projects.
The program focused on six development areas: developing supply chains and community businesses, building citizen governance, supporting youth as new media professionals, training of SME trainers, and building government capacity.
Through a series of multimedia stories, IFC shares the program’s impact and lessons learnt. These stories bring to life the complexity of community development programs by elevating the voices of impacted people, IFC clients, and IFC experts, providing viewers with a 360-degree perspective of what can be accomplished through partnerships and collaboration.
Click on the below themes or scroll down to explore multimedia stories and resources highlighting lessons from the program over several years.
When companies hire locally and source local goods and services, they stimulate the surrounding economy and promote income-generating opportunities in host communities. The program connected local businesses as suppliers to natural resources companies. See some examples from the programs work in Guinea below.
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The program increased economic opportunities for businesses, particularly women and youth-led, in communities hosting natural resources and infrastructure projects. The Program implemented different projects to support women businesses and address the barriers women face.
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In Côte d’Ivoire, the program worked with the Azito village community to strengthen its capacity, driving performance on investment management and gender inclusion. The program established buy-in from local communities through extensive community consultations and a community scorecard assessment.
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The program supports young media professionals from across Africa to test approaches to new media, including a covid-19 campaign in Guinea conveyed through youth infomediaries.
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The program delivered Training-of-Trainers sessions to trainers from the business associations to enhance their capacity to provide training to adult learners.
Capacity building was an essential part of the program to support institutions and service providers who then go on to support an ecosystem of SMEs and community members.
Credits & acknowledgements:
