Our training for enterprise development targets organizations which support business creation, survival and growth. We design courses that build institutional capacity and can be replicated. Each year, we run 50 enterprise development courses and reach 1000 participants.

The ILO perspective on enterprise development is encapsulated in the concept of "decent work". Job creation and improving the quality of existing jobs in enterprises are central, as are poverty alleviation and respect for fundamental rights at work.

The ILO estimates that between 25 and 30 per cent of the world's growing labour force is unemployed or under-employed. This is a major cause of poverty. In addition, 500 million women and men work for less than US$1 per day, many in micro-enterprises in the informal economy. The ILO advocates policies for "working out of poverty", especially in post-conflict and poor countries, where micro-businesses and small enterprises play a crucial role in economic reconstruction and employment generation.

At the other end of the spectrum, large enterprises face challenges of restructuring to increase productivity and competitiveness in a context of globalization and liberalization.

Meanwhile, gender-based disparities persist in opportunities for business start-up and growth, with women entrepreneurs concentrated in low-earning occupations.

Our approach to enterprise development is to apply the results of international research into good practice to develop a well structured learning methodology, including case studies.

Training is offered in:

• entrepreneurship education
• policy and regulatory reform to improve the business environment for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, see http://www.itcilo.org/ee
• enterprise development and globalization
• business development services, see http://www.itcilo.org/bds and http://www.itcilo.org/bdsseminar
• micro-finance
• financial services for small enterprises
• SME cluster development
• women's entrepreneurship promotion
• socially responsible enterprise restructuring (for large enterprises and their stakeholders)
• human resource management, job quality and productivity improvement
• strengthening business associations
• local economic development
• local economic development and cooperatives
• cooperatives and cooperative policy and law
• SME export consortia development
• Enterprise Development through Value Chains and Business Services: A Market Development approach to Pro Poor Growth

ILO Summer Academy on Sustainable Enterprise Development

The ILO Summer Academy on Sustainable Enterprise Development will provide participants with an overview of existing tools and knowledge base in the enterprise development field with an emphasis on the role of the private sector in social and economic development. It will impact on the quality of employment enterprise development programmes at the national level. The Academy offers a unique opportunity to study a rich programme of different topics under the guidance of leading ILO enterprise development specialists plus independent experts and academics, who are familiar with ILO approaches to enterprise development.

• ILO Summer Academy on Sustainable Enterprise Development

Activities in this area of expertise are conducted by the following training units:

Standards and Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
Enterprise Development
Social Protection
Employers' Activities