Local Enterprise and Value Chain Enhancement (LEVE)

Speeches Shim

Overview

Limited economic development has been a long-standing hindrance, barring Haiti from addressing social and economic issues. Prior to the January 2010 earthquake, Haiti faced high levels of unemployment, extreme income inequality, and a limited tax base. The earthquake itself destroyed productive infrastructure, human capital, and inventory, further increasing economic instability. In response, USAID is supporting Haiti’s economic development by rebuilding dam-aged infrastructure, promoting policies that lead to a friendly business environ-ment, expanding access to financial products, and providing assistance to micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). 
 
USAID launched the Local Enterprise and Value Chain Enhancement (LEVE) pro-ject to increase food and economic security. LEVE is designed to create jobs in target industries/sectors in the Port-au-Prince, Saint-Marc, and Cap-Haïtien de-velopment corridors by creating more inclusive and productive value chains. The “value chain approach” is an innovative economic tool that views a market system from input suppliers to end market buyers in its totality, improving compet-itiveness and growth potential. 
 

Objectives 

USAID’s program will facilitate more productive and inclusive value chains, which will contribute to broad-based economic growth. The overarching goal of this project is to increase employment in Haiti.
 

Activities 

  • Enable MSMEs to engage with other value chain actors to increase output, income, and employment: MSMEs’ success will help counter the highly skewed distribution of wealth in Haiti and support a fledgling middle class.
  • Increase MSMEs’ access to a productive labor pool with relevant skills and competencies: USAID will implement new approaches to vocational training and supplement basic education with practical workplace skills.
  • Identify and improve synergy among existing projects and activities: The impact of USAID’s projects will be magnified through greater coordination.
  • Improve the capacity of Haitian organizations to implement projects and manage USG funds to ensure efficiency and sustainability of development efforts.
 

Anticipated Results

USAID’s support will bolster Haiti’s economic security, as well as increase the nation’s productivity: 
  • Greater integration of MSMEs into selected value chains; 
  • Improved skills and competencies of the labor pool; 
  • More responsive workforce organizations to private sector demand; and
  • Improved synergy among existing projects and programs.
 

Additional Information

Budget: $32,649,293
Life of Project: December 2013 – December 2016
Implementing Partner: Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International