SMALL ENTERPRISE APPROACHES TO EMPLOYMENT

Project consists of three components: (1) evaluation; (2) housing; and (3) the "PISCES approach" (see projects 931109002 and 931109003 for the latter two). Various outputs from all three components of this project will be disseminated through publication, seminars, workshops, and similar media for A.I.D. and host country personnel concerned with problems of employment and income generation. The evaluation component will address such concerns as the benefits of SSE assistance, the possiblity of devising a widely applicable methodology for evaluating SSE assistance programs, and applying this information to program design. In Phase I of the evaluation component, current and past small credit/technical assistance projects will be evaluated to determine their actual impact on increased income and productivity for the urban poor. Evaluations will be based on available data for each individual project, including independent household income, activity, or expenditure surveys, baseline surveys, and other data gathered through subsequent enterprise monitoring. On the basis of individual project studies, a handbook will be completed containing guidelines and a methodology for data collection and analysis of the income and employment generation capacities of future SSE projects. Phase II will provide the opportunity for applying these guidelines and methodologies to new SSE assistance programs carried out by A.I.D. missions and bureaus. Phase II evaluations will involve the use of statistical sampling, designation of control groups from the target population, and gathering data from baseline surveys, follow-on surveys, and monitoring. Cooperation from field missions and other donors with appropriate SSE-assistance programs has been requested, and tentatively received in some cases, in evaluating existing and soon-to-be-implemented programs.