Innovative and Commercially Sustainable Approaches to Poverty Alleviation: Opportunities and Challenges Facing Microenterprise Development in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper examines the application of "Micro-Enterprise Development" (MED) to Central and Eastern Europe, and considers innovations that can help sustain both the poverty-alleviation mission of MED while potentially securing sustainable institutional capacity.

The paper discusses:

• The emergence of the new poor in Central and Eastern Europe and the poverty of opportunity;
• The necessity for innovations in the delivery of MED services in order to increase their sustainability and outreach;
• The emerging strategy of market access;
• Retail system changes and the implications for small businesses;
• Procurement changes as a result of a shift from small national retailers to large multi-national retail chains;
• Changes in other retail formats;
• The 'Integra Market Access Model" (IMAM) and its prospects for sustainability.

It concludes that:

• The extent to which Central and Eastern Europe can develop commercially sustainable approaches to alleviating poverty is still uncertain;
• The IMAM offers an initial pathway, but faces limitations.

The paper offers the following recommendations for the future:

• The market must be creatively engaged, because government programs do not have the capacity to meet the level of poverty that exists;
• 'Corporate Social Responsibility' (CSR) offers an opportunity to enlist corporates in the fight against poverty;
• Providing market access to clients from vulnerable groups can become a major arm of the CSR programs of major retail chains.