Job creation and preservation

From 2006 to 2009, the Office of Evaluation evaluated seven CEB-financed operations supporting micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) under the sector of action “creation and preservation of viable jobs”.

Job creation and preservationOf these seven programmes, five were interventions implemented in a single country, one was a multi-country operation and one was a “transit loan” (a CEB loan to a borrower bank in a non-target country, through which support is channelled to projects in a target country). The financial contribution from the CEB to these operations amounted to € 281.6 million in total. 

While all the projects had similar objectives (creation and preservation of jobs), the way in which they were administered was very different. One project was delivered through a national development fund, two involved partnerships with state development banks, one was delivered through a leasing company, two entailed a partnership with private banks and one was through an international cooperation agency which on-lent to participating banks and a leasing company. The abstracts for these project evaluations can be accessed through the link below:

At the end of the cycle, the Evaluation Synthesis presented a number of strategic issues for further reflection by the CEB, including the Bank’s positioning in the sector, the social focus of its SME-financing operations, the institutional framework and the setting up of an appropriate monitoring and evaluation system. In addition, the Synthesis tabled a series of options for strengthening the social relevance of SME-financing operations.

The lessons learned from this evaluation cycle are reflected in a publication prepared by the Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG) dealing with the rationale, challenges and opportunities for operations targeting the development of SMEs.