Entrepreneurship Programs in Developing Countries: A ... - IYFLive.net

examined attitudes and financial behavior outcomes. Given the specificity of each program, weconsidered the design and implementation features of each program, the context and policyenvironment of each country, and finally, study characteristics potentially affecting the estimates ofoutcomes.Our meta-analysis suggested a number of important implications. Combinations of differentintervention types matter for different beneficiaries under different context. With respect to trainingprograms, it seems that vocational training can be further improved by combining training withcounseling or financing. However, business training tends to work better as a stand-alone program.In terms of financing, microcredit, especially when combined with training, tends to work betterthan other arrangements.Investigating the effects of programs separately by outcome groups, we find that bothvocational training and access to finance appear to have larger impacts on labor market activityoutcomes than other interventions. For youth and female the largest effects come from providingaccess to credit, suggesting that access to credit may have been the largest constraint to start anincome generating labor market activity. Business training can also contribute to increased earningsamong youth and those with higher education in part by improving business performance. Overall,involving the private sector such as NGOs for the delivery of programs appears to be more closelyassociated with improved effects of programs. Hence, providing a customized combination ofprograms for targeted groups through organizations that are well connected and familiar withbeneficiaries seems to be a promising approach to expand earning opportunities through selfemployment.Our results have important policy implications. First, programs promoting self-employmentopportunities and small scale entrepreneurship can lead to increases in labor market outcomes withimportant welfare gains. Second, providing relevant combinations of skills, capital, and counselingsupport based on target group’s main constraints is important to achieve better results. Third,among widely heterogeneous effects it is noteworthy that the impacts on both labor market andbusiness outcomes are significantly higher for youth and more educated beneficiaries. This isespecially relevant in many parts of the developing world that are facing the ‘youth bulge’ and theneed to provide meaningful opportunities to their young populations.22