Economic Development Unit

This site is the technical resource center for CARE's wide range of Economic Development programming.  It has been built to support CARE staff as well as other practitioners, donors and researchers by consolidating information on CARE's programming across three core areas:

• Microfinance
• Value Chain Development
• Village Savings and Loan Associations

Using the menu to the left, visitors can find: Program Highlights; Announcements; CARE Documents; Project Profiles; and Contact Information for CARE Practitioners. If you have any difficulty navigating the site or finding what you need, you can contact the EDU at cpennotti@care.org.

Facilitating Lead Firm Relationships - A Series of Technical Briefs

Working with lead firms, or firms that have the potential to drive systemic shifts in a value chain, is a key component of many successful value chain initiatives. Since 2008, CARE has been contributing to a working group comprised of industry leaders in value chain development to consolidate our collective experiecnes and lessons learned in working with lead firms. The result is a series of technical briefs designed to help practitioners identify, select, a manage relationships with lead firms. The current briefs have now been added to the EDU website with more to come. Click on the links below to download the briefs.

• Facilitation Brief No. 1: Defining Lead Firms and Principles of Facilitation
• Facilitation Brief No. 2: Methods for Identifying and Selecting Lead Firms
• Facilitation Brief No. 3: Structuring and Managing Collaboration with Lead Firms
• Facilitation Brief No. 4: Interventions with Lead Firms
• Facilitation Brief No. 5: Addressing Weak and/or Nonexistent Functions in the Value Chain

To access all of the Facilitation Briefs, click here.