In the old approach, donors and governments have tended to substitute for underdeveloped BDS markets, possibly crowding out existing or potential commercial providers of services. This traditional approaches have failed to achieve high outreach (access to services by a large proportion of the target population of enterprises), since the numbers of enterprises served is limited by the amount of subsidies available. In addition, institutional sustainability has been low, since programs often cease when public funds are exhausted.

The new shift in intervention has been to move away from direct provision and subsidies at the level of the BDS transaction, toward the facilitation of a sustained increase in the demand and supply of services.

 New Approach: Facilitate Market Development

AFRI will provide a project management role in assisting the NGOs and government to be more facilitators of BDS using this new approach. Our trained and experienced consultants will provide hands on project management services in facilitation of BDS service providers.