Theme
Jobs & Economic Growth

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"The toolkit is provided for all intermediaries and enterprise support organizations – regardless of size, geography or sector – who want proactively to support SGBs within their portfolio to integrate OHS and employment minimum practices. The toolkit aims at equipping intermediaries with the necessary tools, knowledge and resources to broach the safe working environment and fair employee treatment subject, and enables the intermediaries to assess, design and structure possible solutions for their SGB clients."

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"Endeavor Insight partnered with the Lemelson Foundation and Small Foundation to understand how entrepreneurial agriculture companies can maximize their impact in developing countries. The purpose of the study is to provide a data-backed assessment of the challenges and opportunities for supporting entrepreneurs. Endeavor Insight’s approach used several lenses, including a special focus on the types of innovation the founders have created, as well as an analysis of the dynamics within selected agricultural value chains. The results offer guidance for decision makers who support entrepreneurs as they address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially in raising the incomes of smallholder farmers and alleviating poverty, creating transformative solutions that can address global food security, and generating quality jobs. This study builds on recent research in the international development and social investment communities, and takes into account the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis."

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Avec le lancement des Objectifs de développement durable des Nations unies, l’ODD 8 : Travail Décent et Croissance économique devient un cri de ralliement pour les professionnels qui cherchent à encourager l’entrepreneuriat comme un moyen de développement économique et social. Cependant, si le concept de travail décent peut sembler simple, définir clairement un «emploi de qualité» s’est avéré être une initiative complexe. Ce rapport synthétise les données existantes sur la qualité de l’emploi dans les PME, en se concentrant sur les entreprises plus jeunes et orientées vers la croissance dans la mesure du possible (désignées par l’ANDE sous le terme de «petites entreprises en croissance» ou PEC).

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This study demonstrates how investors can begin comparing investments based on impact, not only highlighting impact performance across this sample of investments but also exploring investors’ contribution to that impact in terms of the progress so far in supporting quality jobs. Fundamentally, this research is intended to cultivate the suite of impact analytic tools to come, such as impact performance benchmarks, ratings, and indices. Its specific findings highlight the tremendous need for further research to enhance the industry’s insights into impact performance and its drivers, enabling evidence-based decision-making. Ultimately, through this research and related efforts, the GIIN seeks to enable investors to optimize for impact at each stage of the investment process, accelerating progress
toward global goals.

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With the launch of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, "SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth" has become a rallying cry for practitioners aiming to boost entrepreneurship as a means of economic and social development. However, while the concept of decent work may seem straightforward, clearly defining a “quality job” has proven to be a complex endeavor. The report by ANDE first summarizes how job quality is defined and measured, then provides an overview of the current evidence on the quality of jobs within SMEs, and finally examines the effectiveness of interventions to improve job quality.

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Con el lanzamiento de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, el "ODS 8: Trabajo Decente y Crecimiento Económico" se ha convertido en una consigna para las y los profesionales que buscan impulsar el emprendimiento como un medio para el desarrollo económico y social. Sin embargo, mientras que el concepto de trabajo decente puede parecer sencillo, definir claramente un “trabajo de calidad” ha probado ser una tarea compleja. El reporte primero resume cómo se define y se mide la calidad del empleo; después provee un panorama de la evidencia actual sobre la calidad del empleo en las PyMEs y, por último, examina la efectividad de las intervenciones para mejorar la calidad del empleo.

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SMEs form a dominant share of the private sector in developing countries, and account for more than 50
percent of jobs in their respective economies. Besides their positive employment effects, the growth and
vibrancy of these firms is also important for broader economic growth, diversification of economic base
and as a source of innovation that is exhibited by some of the start-ups. Women-owned SMEs are
emerging as one of the fast growing segments within the SME sector. Youth play an important role in the
creation of new firms and start up activities. Given this importance of SMEs for creation of more, better
and inclusive jobs, there is significant focus on understanding the constraints to growth of this sector and
implementing programs to address them in the World Bank Group and the other development
institutions. Among the several constraints that they face, access to finance is usually cited as the most
important and there are several instruments that can be applied to address this constraint. However, what
is the evidence of impact of these programs on the employment effects? This note brings together the
learnings and evidence from access to finance interventions on employment and provides some
recommendations for development practitioners who seek to maximize this objective from their access
to finance interventions.

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The purpose of this report is to provide delegates to the 104th Session of the International Labour Conference with up-to-date evidence on the relevance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for employment, the key constraints faced by SMEs and their workers, and the effectiveness of measures to support this enterprise segment. The report ultimately attempts to provide answers to crucial questions such as whether SMEs are living up to their promise of being a major contributor to job creation, whether these jobs are of adequate quality, and how effective the various policies for promoting SMEs are.

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With over 10 years of active involvement and experience, ANDE is committed to further deepening our role in the entrepreneurship and development ecosystem. Our updated global strategy, which informs ANDE’s global and regional work for the coming years, aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Devel­opment Goals (SDGs), specifically focusing efforts on three urgent issues: decent work and economic growth, gender equality, and climate and environmental action. This brief focuses on decent work and economic growth, for India. It has been developed in partnership with ANDE Members Upaya Social Ventures and Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME). The brief highlights the current status quo of how small & growing businesses are contributing to creation of decent jobs and outlines strategies for collaborative action to strengthen the ecosystem.

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Based on a review of existing literature, this paper discusses to what extent and how SMEs can
deliver green and inclusive growth. The OECD defines green growth as aligning economic growth and environmental objectives. Specifically, it involves transitioning to a resource-efficient, low carbon economy and preserving environmental resources while seizing the economic opportunities that this transition generates (OECD, 2015[9]). Similarly, the World Bank defines green growth as “economic growth that is environmental sustainable.” Put it more concretely, it means “enabling developing countries to achieve robust growth without locking themselves into unsustainable patterns” (World Bank, 2012[10]). Meanwhile, inclusive growth involves raising “societies’ welfare or living standards broadly defined.” It is a multidimensional measure of growth and includes both income-related measures of well-being and non-income elements such as health and education. Inclusive growth also emphasizes the question of distribution; that is, how are aggregate changes in measures of growth distributed across households and individuals (Boarini, Murtin and Schreyer, 2015[11])? Simply, green and inclusive growth involves a transition to an eco-friendly, low-carbon economy and simultaneously, broad improvements in societal welfare. Thus, the paper is concerned with discussing to what extent greening SMEs delivers widespread societal welfare gains."

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