Summary of publication

This study was carried out to assess the impact of Micro Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP) in the socio-economic conditions of poor, women, Dalit and indigenous groups. It also sought to assess the contribution of the program in achieving the MDGs in Nepal (particularly MDGs-1, 3, 6 and 7), its contribution to address the issues of social inclusion and empowerment of women, the effectiveness of MEDEP's modality, and its contribution in transforming conflict into peace. The survey found that participation of women in households and economic decision-making increased after participation in MEDEP, and access of women and socially excluded people to public services and resources also increased.

The survey results show that 73 % of participant households have moved out of the poverty. Enrolment rates in primary education increased among participants irrespective of ethnicity and gender while there were mixed results among non-participants. The share of women in waged employment in the non-agricultural sector has increased among both the groups, with a higher increase among MEDEP participants. The awareness of HIV/AIDs has increased among both participants and non-participants.

MEDEP has contributed to increases in ownership of houses, improvements in roofing material; quality of floor, access to safe and drinking water, improvements in sanitation, access to electricity, access to physical assets, ownership of livestock, and participation in community forestry groups.

Key success factors of the MEDEP modality are assisting people to identify latent entrepreneurial skills by themselves, targeting and selection of the poor, group approach to enterprise promotion, no pressure to achieve, and technical advice and supervision of the grass-roots service providers. The study found that the MEDEP model is cost effective and sustainable.

The study recommends that the program move from promoting entrepreneurs to building capacity in government departments to do so, and move from supporting small enterprises to adding a value-chain perspective. It suggests changes in emphasis for making the model more effective in terms of poverty outreach and employment generation, incorporation of support for growth and financial services, provision of demand-oriented business development, development of a composite enterprise promotion strategy and institution development, addressing finance gaps and use of a Gender and Social Exclusion Assessment Framework as a monitoring tool.

Full publication

Micro-enterprise Development Program Phase III Impact Assessment November 2010 [PDF 1.2 MB]