Economic growth requires a macro-policy environment that provides and supports private investment, while assuring equity and protection against abuse. The private sector needs the capacity to respond to growth opportunities, including access to financing on reasonable terms and the opportunity to connect with both suppliers and buyers. Equally essential is an efficient public sector that is able and willing to use the private sector to provide goods and public services. For more than 25 years, IRG has seamlessly integrated economic, technical, organizational and social factors to promote and advance economic growth. IRG’s landmark work has led to restructuring of the largest public enterprise in Egypt and new domestic and international markets for Senegalese small and medium enterprises.

Capabilities:

• Policy Analysis, Development, and Implementation for Economic Growth
• Enterprise Efficiency and Benchmarking
• Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development
• Corporatization/Privatization of Public Enterprises
• Investment Promotion
• Financing
• Trade
• Infrastructure Support – from Roads to Power Plants
• Knowledge Management
• Value Chain Analysis
  

Select projects include:

Creating Opportunities to Accelerate Economic Growth and Competitiveness
Through our “Seed-To-Supermarket” approach, IRG promotes economic growth and increased competitiveness and trade in Senegal. Our focus is on attracting private investment for efficient delivery of public goods or services, public policy reforms to improve Senegal’s business environment and supporting democratic and economic reforms already undertaken by the Government of Senegal. Senegal Accelerated Growth and Increased Competitiveness IQC (SAGIC)

Promoting Income Generation through Virtual Communities of Practice
To strengthen USAID-funded microenterprise programs and activities worldwide, IRG led the development of and continues to maintain USAID’s dynamic knowledge-sharing tool, microLINKS. microLINKS is a Web-based program where development and financial services practitioners can share research, gather in a virtual meeting space, and explore new ways to advance the global success of these small-scale loans, often used to finance income generation activities in poverty-stricken areas. (www.microlinks.org) Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project (AMAP)

Identifying Alternatives for Income Generation through Natural Products Use
To influence and facilitate poverty reduction and encourage economic growth, USAID commissioned a multi-country study around the use of natural products worldwide. Natural products, including non-timber forest products and natural crops, are seen as an important source of incomes and revenue streams. Based on evidence suggesting that improved management of natural products results from community-based access and that this, in turn, leads to the creation of options for alternative livelihoods, these assessments examined the potential of natural products for poverty alleviation and interventions to ensure a more equitable distribution of benefits. IRG also facilitated a corresponding workshop to discuss the linkages between livelihood impacts, value chain-based enterprise promotion, governance and biodiversity conservation. FRAME Project