Abstract

Internationally, donors are increasing their emphasis on poverty-focused policies and on the notion of pro-poor growth. Attempts to reformulate policies and reshape practices so that they rework the balance between a focus on poverty and a focus on growth bring small and microenterprises on to the centre stage of development debates. Yet these enterprises are seen, variously, as engines of growth, as refuges for the poor, and as signs of economic failure. This book is concerned to revisit key elements of the debate about small and microenterprises through the lens of the current poverty-growth debate and in the specific context of Africa. Leading practitioners, academics and policymakers examine the evidence from across a range of disciplines to ask a series of crucial questions: * Is the macroeconomic climate a break on small enterprise development? * Are small enterprises, and policies and programmes to support them, succeeding? * Does education make a difference to enterprise performance?