ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

The economic development program comprises three projects: Market Systems Development, Access to Energy, and the Youth Employment Pathways (YEP).
The overarching objective of the program is poverty reduction through increases in the number of men and women experiencing positive changes in income and attaining gainful employment. This is achieved through the facilitation of interventions with sustainable outcomes.
The market systems development project portfolio is made up of five agricultural value chains (aquaculture, cassava, cocoa, palm oil, and poultry) and three cross-cutting interventions (access to finance, access to inputs, and business linkages). The project aims to identify binding constraints in the sectors and seek sustainable solutions that can increase the income of thousands of poor men and women.

The Access to Energy project focuses on energy efficiency and renewable energy such as the energy cabin and solar refrigeration. While Access to Energy identifies and tests technological solutions, the market development project facilitates activities to develop market systems for uptake and adoption of such technologies.

The Youth Employment Pathways featured the Niger Delta Youth Employment Pathways (NDYEP) project between 2018 and 2021. Funded by the Ford Foundation and implemented in Abia, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers States, it focused on agriculture, construction, finished leather goods and ICT sectors, and was built on PIND’s economic development strategy, which emphasizes sustainable interventions that result in full-time employment for youths.

Following its successful piloting of being market-led, and demand-driven, the NDYEP model is being scaled up to other states and kicked off in Delta State in January 2021.

Crops VC Innovations

  • Cassava

  • Cocoa

  • Palm Oil

  • Other Crops

Non-crops VC Innovations

  • Aquaculture

  • Poultry & MSMEs

  • MSMEs

Energy Cabin

  • Energy Cabin

  • Solar

  • Refrigeration

  • Agriculture

  • ICT

  • Construction

  • Renewables

STRATEGIC PROGRAM OBJECTIVES: 2020 - 2024

Overarching Aim

For the 2020-2024 strategic period, PIND’s economic development program will seek to facilitate inclusive, sustainable and diversified economic growth enabled by improved analysis, advocacy and capacity building.

Strategic Objectives
  • Expand program benefits to 150,000 farmers and MSMEs and increase their income by 40%

  • Facilitate the creation of 20,000 new jobs of which 50% will be youths and other vulnerable groups

  • Influence US$ 7.5 million spend by market actors in activities that reduce poverty in the Niger Delta

  • Deliver economic benefits to 10,000 people in GMoU communities through job creation and income generation interventions and support facilitation of clean energy solutions

SUCCESS STORIES