The Enterprise Development Fund – lite was developed to address the gap between IOM’s two livelihoods programmes, Individual Livelihoods Assistance (ILA) and Enterprise Development Fund (EDF). ILA is a package of services consisting of Job Referrals (JR), On-the-Job Training (OJT), Business Support Package (BSP), and Vocational Training (VT) provided to vulnerable individuals, such as internally displaced persons (IDPs), host communities and refugee populations, particularly women, girls and youth, affected by armed conflict.
EDF-lite identifies and targets business owners of micro-enterprises who are somewhere in between the eligibility criteria of ILA - targeting vulnerable individuals - and EDF - targeting SMEs with potential for business expansion and job creations. EDF-lite focuses on supporting businesses in rural areas due to high levels of unemployment and poverty that needs the support of IOM. As such, selection criteria, grant conditions, and due diligence processes have been adapted from the EDF to reduce the burden on internal resource mobilisation while addressing specific needs of the micro-businesses. These include:
To address the gap between ILA and EDF, EDF-lite will receive referrals from ILA cases that need scale-up support, micro-enterprises rejected at EDF shortlisting stage due to eligibility criteria relevant for bigger businesses, and businesses identified through Household Profiling (HPF).
