Enterprise, Microfinance and Local Development Programme (EMLD)

Enterprises are important sources of employment. Our training covers good practice in the whole spectrum of support for business creation, growth and survival.

The ILO perspective on enterprise development is that it creates greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income. Both employment creation and the quality of jobs are central to the ILO approach.

The Enterprise, Microfinance and Local Development Programme uses the results of ILO research into successful enterprise development practices in different regions of the world. We design courses which focus on the dissemination of good practice and techniques. Sharing knowledge and experience is an integral part of our courses.

Entrepreneurship education

It is widely accepted that entrepreneurship makes a creative contribution to the development process. Entrepreneurship education can encourage young people to become entrepreneurs and can promote an enterprise culture in society as a whole.

We also train teachers from vocational education and training institutions to use the ILO's Know About Business training package.

Improving the business environment for small businesses and micro-enterprises

The frameworks that govern business are often burdensome to smaller enterprises. How can the business environment for small businesses and micro-enterprises be improved? What is the best way to reform small business regulations? What are the most appropriate policies and strategies for promoting small enterprise development?

We offer training courses that make policy-makers aware of these issues, and we enhance their capacity to design and implement small business policy reform.

Financial services for small businesses and micro-enterprises

Small business owners frequently mention access to finance as a constraint. Collateral requirements and lack of credit history prevent many women and men from obtaining loans to start up new businesses or to expand existing ones. Micro-finance makes up for the reluctance of commercial banks to lend to small businesses and micro-enterprises. It also touches on other financial services for the poor. Related instruments such as guarantee funds are also significant.

The number of micro-finance institutions (MFIs) runs into many thousands and they reach millions of people. MFIs that seek to achieve both financial sustainability and social development goals face many challenges. We work with the ILO's Social Finance Programme to help build up the capacity of MFIs in the following areas :

• management of MFIs for improved performance
• making insurance work for MFIs
• making micro-leasing work for MFIs
• making guarantee funds work for small businesses and micro-enterprises
• introduction to micro-finance in conflict-affected communities (with the UNHCR).

Business development services

Business development services (BDS) help enterprises get started, perform better and grow. BDS include information, training, business advice, consulting and marketing services, assistance with information and communications technology (ICT), technical assistance, and business links. They are widely used by medium-sized and large businesses, less so by small businesses and micro-enterprises.

To help small businesses and micro-enterprises obtain more from BDS, most development agencies design programmes to facilitate the development of BDS markets. The aim is to strengthen both the demand for BDS and their supply.

We work closely with the ILO's In-Focus Programme on Boosting Employment through Small Enterprise Development to offer the following courses on BDS:

• Developing Commercial Markets for BDS (aimed at BDS facilitators)
• Managing BDS Providers for Increased Impact
• Diploma course in market-oriented small business development services (aimed at BDS providers)
• SME Cluster Development: Principles and Practice (with UNIDO)
• Enterprise Development through Value Chains and Business Services: A Market Development approach to Pro Poor Growth

Women's entrepreneurship development

In recognition of the significant role that women entrepreneurs play in business development, as well as in reducing poverty, we run specific training programmes to promote women's entrepreneurship.

International research studies continue to reveal disparities in income and conditions of work between women and men in many sectors. Women's entrepreneurship promotion is part of the ILO's effort to achieve gender equality.

We offer the following courses in close cooperation with the ILO Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Coordination and Non-Discrimation Programme:

• Policies and Strategies for Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship
• Training for BDS Providers and Promoters of Women's Entrepreneurship - Business Start-up
• Training for Advisers in Promoting Women's Entrepreneurship - Business Growth.
  

Socially responsible enterprise restructuring

Large enterprises are facing similar pressures world-wide. Changes in markets and increasingly intense competition lead to continuous turbulence. Restructuring to maintain business viability and competitiveness is a frequent management response.

Socially responsible enterprise restructuring is related to corporate social responsibility: it looks at how the adverse effects of restructuring can be minimized.

Our training seeks to provide the knowledge and skills needed to promote, guide, facilitate and assist socially responsible enterprise restructuring and to take measures that counter the negative impact of change on people.

Human resources management, job quality and productivity improvement

The link between improving working conditions and increasing productivity is important in demonstrating to business owners and managers that improving job quality makes good business sense. We offer the following training courses in this area:

• Improving Productivity through Good Practices in Human Resource Management
• Development of a National Productivity Policy
• Improving Job Quality in Micro-enterprises.

Local development

One of the pillars of local development is the mobilization of a territory's inherent potential, the strong points of each local environment. It stimulates cooperation between public and private sectors to improve the economy and the quality of life in a given territory. Through consultation and social dialogue, it places responsibility for designing and implementing sustainable development strategies in the hands of its beneficiaries, the local players.

We offer the following courses on local development:

• Management of Local Development
• Strategies for Local Economic Development
• Generate Local Economic Development Processes through Cooperatives (DELCOOP)
• Gender Approach to Local Development
• Sustainable Tourism and Local Development
• Disaster Risk Reduction within a Framework of Sustainable Local Development
• Local Economic Development in Post-crisis Situations

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

For further information, please contact:
Enterprise, Microfinance and Local Development Programme
E-mail: emld@itcilo.org
Phone: +39 011 693 6776
Fax: +39 011 693 6589