The Economic Governance for Growth (EGG) Project seeks to contribute to economic growth and entrepreneurship development, improving governance and fostering the growth of market-oriented capabilities for a knowledge-based economy. To ensure maximum effect, the Project works simultaneously across different sectors and with multiple stakeholders in both private and public spheres, addressing three key obstacles to local economic development: 1) an operating environment that is ill equipped to support and enable innovation and entrepreneurship, both new and traditional; 2) an absence of technical and entrepreneurial skills among the unemployed youth, hampering economic growth and entrepreneurship; and 3) lagging support by government for local economic development, as well as administrative and financial inefficiencies. 

What will EGG do?

The Project pursues an integrated approach to generating and utilizing economic growth opportunities in target localities. It helps address pressing workforce development needs through short, medium and long-term measures aimed at increasing youth employment and reducing shortages in skilled labour across growth-oriented industries. EGG also simultaneously works on improving financial management capacities and practices of local governments in order to generate funding for investments into a better business-enabling environment. Concretely, the Project will focus on:

-        Supporting fast-growing and export-oriented industries through investments in new technology and skills;

-        Improving entrepreneurship learning and education;

-        Introducing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning in secondary and elementary schools to cultivate interest in technological disciplines in children;

-        Upgrading economic infrastructure and increasing effectiveness and size of government-to-business incentive programs through better public expenditure management.

The Project will simultaneously operate along two principle areas of intervention. On the one hand, it will address a systemic flaw in entrepreneurship development through upgrading future-market oriented skills and supporting innovation and start-up ecosystem. On the other, it will support optimized public spending and targeted deployment of public incentive schemes in support of economic development.

At the highest level of Project’s impact, envisioned is the creation of new jobs, thus bringing about a direct and immediate improvement in the quality of life for the selected households in target areas.  At outcome level, the result will be a combination of improvements in economic governance by partner authorities, illustrated by smarter public spending on economic incentives, and a marked increase in employability of targeted individuals, brought about by the designed short-, mid- and long-term measures.

Main beneficiaries

The Project addresses specific needs of diverse range of target groups:

·        Municipal governments have an important role in provision of business-friendly environment which is conducive to fostering of entrepreneurship endeavours and private sector development at the local level. However, they suffer from chronical administrative and financial inefficiencies to effectively manage delivery of such services.

·        Citizens who are increasingly dissatisfied with lack of meaningful job opportunities and students who are robbed of opportunities to gain relevant education corresponding to market needs.  

·        Educational institutions whose activities are hampered by the lack of know-how as well as resources to upgrade service delivery, improve and introduce new curricula etc.

·        Local businesses, which need conducive business environment in order to operate smoothly thus becoming or remaining drivers of economic development at the local level.