'District Economic Development Strategies': USAID launches activity in Multan

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched an extensive activity of preparing "District Economic Development Strategies" as well as automation of government business processes under its "FIRMS Project" to create a more enabling business environment in the country.
According to the sources, Multan is the first district in which this activity has been officially launched with the collaboration of Multan District Government, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Trade Associations, and heads of prominent business enterprises.
US 89.7 million dollars FIRMS Project focuses on SME competitiveness, a key element of USAID/Pakistan's Economic Growth strategy. Implementation of the FIRMS project will concentrate on 12 key economic sectors in 26 districts. This exercise of formulating district economic development strategies as well as automation of government business processes will be repeated in other districts too, the sources added.
The District Economic Development Strategies will assist district governments to reduce inefficiencies related to time, process, and systems. These strategies will also recommend improvements in policies and identify short-term, medium-term and long-term goals for reforms in Government services, business process and regulatory regime.
The sources expected that this Economic Development Strategy would suggest a roadmap for its integration into an over-arching provincial economic and development policies and plans. Analysis of private-sector performances at the firm, market or sector level and identification of factors hampering growth will also be conducted and recommendations to address these issues will be made.
The USAID-Pakistan FIRMS project has three complementary components including Private Sector Development (PSD), which focuses on enhancing the competitiveness of targeted sectors by identifying and removing constraints to investment, sales, and jobs growth. Interventions include training, technical assistance, commodities, and grants aimed at improving sectors' market linkages, technologies, workforce skills, access to financing, achievement of international standards and certifications, and other key ingredients to enhanced competitiveness in international and domestic markets.
Second is Business Enabling Environment (BEE), which will focus on improving the business enabling environment generally and for targeted sectors, and thereby improving government service delivery through improved planning and budgeting, international best practice policy reform, and streamlined regulations and procedures at the national, provincial, and district levels. Project interventions will reduce the cost of doing business, increase the ease of access to government services, and develop government capacity to provide citizen-centric services.
Third and last Business Development Services (BDS) which would help develop quality business support services for firms in targeted sectors by establishing a franchised system of local service providers to deliver interventions to public and private clients in both of the two technical components above.
Sources said that at the launching ceremony of this exercise, DCO Multan Ali Murtaza said, "The government remains committed to creating a favourable environment for entrepreneurs and businessmen. We hope that this strategy will present a detailed analysis of district specific sectors and identifying constraints at the institutional, regulatory and service-delivery levels.
We are eager to draw our mid-term development plan, investment strategy and asset management and reform program based on its findings" he added. While Senior Technical Adviser, USAID Pakistan FIRMS project Suleman Ghani said that this strategy would help convert the needs of the district in to best practice content.-PR