The IDB Group, guided by its Strategy for Microenterprise Development, has made the creation of a sustainable market of services to the sector one of its most important priorities during the past decade. This report presents an overview of the contributions the IDB has made to the...

A functional weakness of the training market is the extreme difficulty with which potential purchasers of "training" can gauge the quality of training programs in advance of payment. However, no training provider would allow a customer to delay payment of course fees until the course has been...

As part of a collaborative effort between the IDB's Environment Division and the World Resources Institute, this document discusses environmental mainstreaming considerations in the context of the four pillars of the Bank's Institutional Strategy: Modernization of the State, Social Development,...

This document describes the efforts of the Department of Labor of Rio de Janeiro to build a comprehensive institutional framework focused on the promotion of a long run, micro-firm based local economic development model and to create a path to sustainable economic growth, job creation and...

This paper examines each major element of the village banking technology and how it has been liberalized so far, particularly in four leading Latin American village banking institutions: FINCA Nicaragua, Pro Mujer Bolivia, Compartamos (in Mexico), and CRECER (in Bolivia). It then analyzes how...

To enhance private sector development and increase the impact of Private Sector Development (PSD) Strategy Projects, there is a need for a comprehensive program that will link business climate reforms to cluster development initiatives and to improvements at the firm level. To develop such an...

This document describes how pro-market aid works and gives practical lessons from specific schemes of aid projects. This presentation took place at the Inter-American Development Bank's Conference on "Building a Modern and Effective Business Development Services Industry in Latin America & the...

This presentation discusses business development services and providers, in the context of developing a stronger industry.

This article discusses the implications of decision rules in the governance structures of transnational infrastructure projects. It stresses that decision rules strongly affect the performance of the partnership and that, consequently, attention should be given to their design at the initial...

This documents explains the basic principles and concepts of the Business Development Centers (BDC) model of Swisscontact, a company providing professional and vocational training, environmental protection and small enterprise development in 25 countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa...