Economic Growth

Sustainable and inclusive economic growth creates opportunities for all segments of society, encourages broad-based participation in defining growth, and distributes the benefits of increased prosperity fairly. This results in positive social outcomes such as good health, jobs and skills, a clean environment and community support.

In order for the widest number of people to benefit from growth, especially marginalised and vulnerable groups, the gains and opportunities must be shared equitably. In post-conflict contexts generating employment is fundamental to strengthening societal bonds and reducing the likelihood of a reversion to violence. Job creation and secure livelihoods are key to generating stability at a community level and effective peace and state-building nationally.

Creating good-quality job opportunities is a key element. Jobs are transformational: they provide household income, raise economic productivity, support investment in children’s health and education, change social and power relationships in society and provide a sense of dignity and well-being. However, creating jobs alone will not deliver inclusivity unless this goes hand-in-hand with building people’s access to these opportunities through increased participation in the growth process and improved education and training.

Ensuring that job creation represents progress to greater economic wellbeing also requires proactive influencing and shaping of the nature of employment opportunities. This includes boosting employers’ demand for skills, shaping the occupational and sectoral make-up of the economy, ultimately pushing up levels of pay and improving terms and conditions of employment. The achievement of inclusive growth for maximum poverty impact must be environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable.

Delivering on inclusive economic growth requires a deep understanding of existing political and economic systems at national, regional and local levels. Integrity provides bespoke research and political economy analysis to deliver the evidence our partners need to understand overarching policy and institutional contexts and inform effective programme decision-making.

Our stakeholder engagement teams work with local government, business and community stakeholders to develop and facilitate mutually beneficial and lasting partnerships. We bring private, public and community organisations together to improve market coordination in strategic growth sectors – such as infrastructure investment – to deliver on inclusive growth outcomes.

Our monitoring, verification and evaluation teams capture and comprehend the nuanced, qualitative and long-term causal changes targeted by inclusive growth, market development and livelihoods programming. Through our learning services, we drive economic growth programming improvements and develop government capacity to develop an inclusive and socially positive private sector.