Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Best Practices and Case Studies

The Long Term Benefits of MED in a Developed Country (pdf 180 kb)

This report outlines Opportunity International's programs with Indigenous Australians and concludes that the use of Micro Enterprise Development (MED) in a developed country can be justified on an economic basis.

A pilot program in northern New South Wales, Australia with indigenous small business owners has MED principles learned in developing countries and tested them over 2 years. This article examines the likely socio-economic benefits of the program to clients and the region based on conservative assumptions about the success rate of participating micro-enterprises and the current level of welfare spending.

Using net present value (NPV) calculations, on a sample of typical clients, it concludes that government, by investing in the program, can generate a net saving of between $16,000 and $100,000 (an average of $51,000) per participant in future reduced welfare payments and increased tax revenue. Even a relatively costly 'pilot' project is estimated to generate a future stream of benefits of around double the initial government investment.

 

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