Desarrollo y el sector privado

Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

Private sector and development efforts are about economic growth as a means to human development. 

Poverty in its many dimensions persists stubbornly worldwide, not just in pockets, but in extensive areas. The private sector can play a role in efforts to reduce poverty, but, in order to be effective, interventions need to be multi-targeted in approach and engage multiple partners.

The MDG-F’s 12 programmes encouraged the development of pro-poor growth policies that increase the participation and benefits of the poor in private sector development, particularly women. Interventions bolstered economic sectors where the poor are strongly represented, opened markets to improve access and supported small and medium enterprises.

The programmes operated in five areas -- innovation, investment, capacity building, partnerships and advocacy -- and supported pro-poor business in some of the poorest regions and with vulnerable groups often suffering multiple dimensions of poverty, including women, youth, ethnic minorities and indigenous communities.

Among many achievements, the programmes produced increased net income and employment for poor households. In Cuba, producers increased their sales to state produce markets by 68% for beans and by 55% for rice. In Serbian rural municipalities, visitor numbers and off-farm income increased 20-25%. A single farmer in Upper Egypt saw his revenue increase 30% and was able to generate 14 jobs by accessing a new market of urban consumers for his fresh tomatoes. And in Vietnam, the indigenous weavers cooperative Vong Ngan won a VND 300 million contract by participating in the October 2012 Hanoi Gift Show with MDG-F support.

These efforts contribute to achieving the MDG 1 goal of eradicating extreme poverty by halving between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25 a day.