Strategies to Promote Local Economy

Accommodating the rural area is to give opportunities to the locals in order to thrive in their environment. Not doing this results in constraining a large number of vulnerable people to move to cities or abroad. The issues caused by migration are in part due to a lack of investment in the rural environment.

The option of strengthening the pillars of food and nutritional security by increasing the offer in infrastructure, health equipment, education, water systems, land improvement and in the local economy (trade equipment, processing equipment, guarantee fund for productive credits, etc.) can only bring benefits for the concerned populations.

Indeed, it is on the monetary capacities of the populations that the local government budget capacities will depend on to efficiently tackle the investment spending necessary to improve the life standards of the citizens. What is at stake here is to help the generation of wealth so as vulnerable persons can benefit from sufficient revenue and purchasing power to contribute to the local circulation of money and ensure their access to basic social services.

In short, promoting the local economy is a strategic sector to make local governments reliable. It demands a know-how experience and precise knowledge of the potential and economic constraints of the local areas. It however remains, for now, the weak link in the support process of local governments.

This is why all the F4F projects support local governments in the achievement of studies on their local economy. These lead to better knowledge of economic potential, the evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the economy and a differentiated analysis of the commercial sectors. These studies allow characterizing the contribution of each economic sector.

Stories from the Field