Welcome to the
Business Linkages Challenge FunD (BLCF) website.
The Business Linkages Challenge Fund (BLCF), a cost and risk sharing programme, successfully awarded £14.7 million in grants for the development of business linkages designed to improve competitiveness, increase market access and benefit the poor in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Administered by the Emerging Markets Group, BLCF funds were granted to private sector enterprise initiatives on a competitive basis. The respective beneficiary projects and their positive impacts on world poverty spanned areas as diverse as agriculture, tourism, and health. Full details and analysis can be found throughout this site.
The BLCF programme succeeded in bringing together private sector institutions, NGOs and donor organisations seeking to work more directly with private sector led poverty reduction initiatives. Click here to read about best practice and lessons learned from the challenge fund experience.
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With nearly a third of funds allocated to this sector, the BLCF model succeeded in increasing opportunities for smallholder farmers, notably in Africa, through initiatives centred upon value chain linkages, niche products, accreditation, and intermediary partnerships.
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Almost a quarter of total funds helped capitalise the tourism industry and its linkages to other sectors, leading to solid benefits for poor communities and spreading tourism-generated wealth to create a greener and more sustainable experience for all concerned.
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The health needs of some of the world’s poorest four billion Base of the Pyramid communities have been positively impacted through a range of BLCF projects, addressing issues as varied as clean water, childhood vaccines, reproductive health and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
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As part of the BLCF portfolio, a number of projects address the manufacturing sector to investigate how a series of small grants could help catalyse private sector contributions and boost productivity across a complex but interesting range of projects.
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Sustained economic growth is required for Africa to reduce extreme poverty. To facilitate this, a number of BLCF initiatives have reduced barriers and disincentives faced by the private sector, such as corruption and red tape, increasing Africa’s attractiveness to foreign investment.
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