Income-Generating Activities - Action Against Hunger

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The trainings and the business plan will be designed depending on the educational
level and the capabilities of the people involved. When the population is illiterate and
limited capacities, this exercise may be unsuitable. The training sessions regarding
management must be carried out before the activity starts so that the basic concepts
such as income, functioning costs, fixed costs, cost recovery on investments etc., are
already familiar to the beneficiaries. An example of a business plan that follows these
guidelines can be found in Appendix 13.
II.V. Economic management of the activity
The business plan is a working tool for the IGA, that once finished will become
fundamental for the management of the activity and the evaluation of the economic
results obtained.
The accounting records and procedures will be sources of information through
which to verify the progress of the IGA. This can be a complicated task for people who
are not used to carrying it out. Simplification of the procedures, training sessions and
support in the field will help to create the habit of keeping these kinds of records.
Appendix 14 gives a brief example of a training guide for IGA management, including
concepts and suggestions for accounting formats.
III. RESPONSES TO DIFFERENT PROBLEMS
The factors that limit the successful functioning of the IGA can be varied and the
programmes will focus on distinct aspects depending on the nature of the problems
faced. Some of the solutions that ACF has been putting into practice during the last
few years will be mentioned below, these alternatives can be seen as intervention options
that aim to respond to the question: what is the difficulty that impedes the population
from generating sufficient incomes 17
III.I. Access to assets and inputs for production
We can find situations in which the families or groups have stopped producing or
do not generate enough incomes because they do not have the productive assets or the
materials needed. In these situations it is necessary to understand why they do not
have these materials, if this is the main limitation that they face for their activities,
if it is a problem only in this moment in time or if it is a structural limitation, and if
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Assuming that the activities are viable and economically suitable for the zone.
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INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES: A KEY CONCEPT IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURTIY