Local Economic Development to Improve National Competitiveness

Local Economic Development (LED) is a process to mobilise stakeholders from the public and private sectors as well as from civil society to become partners in a joint effort to improve the economy of a defined sub-national territory and thus increase its competitiveness. In reality, there is no "blueprint" for LED projects. Often, objectives, concepts, interventions and approaches differ depending on the professional background of the people involved.

Experience from LED projects around the world show that interventions at micro and meso level are not sufficient and must therefore be complemented with interventions at the macro and meta level. Planning of LED projects depends on the situation in the respective region and might be more private sector driven in areas with relatively high economic potential while being more government driven in regions with low economic potential and little private sector capacity. In all cases one rule applies: LED is always a change process which is achieved by networking between different stakeholders. The process orientation of LED implies that the steering of the process is often more important than its contents. The stakeholders make the difference. There are many instruments for interventions at different levels in LED. Their importance depends on the degree of development of the respective region. It is widely believed that LED projects should not try and create "stand alone" solutions. Combining regional and national initiatives and stakeholders is vital for success. LED projects should not be "stand alone" solutions. The linkages with regional and national initiatives and stakeholders are vital.

Economica Vietnam has persistently follow these principles in the services which it offered to different LED or provincial level project in Vietnam, e.g. the ILO Local Economic Development for Youth Employment in Quang Nam, GTZ Poverty Reduction Project, etc. Whether it is a solution package or a small piece of work, Economica Vietnam has been consistently spreading best practices in LED, strengthening the synergy and coordination of different solutions and cooperation of all stakeholders. It also help local stakeholders to address difficult topics and issues related to LED: local governance, PCI, public and private dialogue, access to finance, small enterprise development action plan, business information transparency, public administrative reforms, SME financing, microfinance, etc. LED project formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation are also among the areas in which Economica Vietnam has been strongly involved in.

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