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This special consists
of four articles: D'Arcy Development Limited
- Wales, Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative
- Guyana, Cashew Processing in Gampaha - Sri
Lanka, The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme -
Pakistan
D'Arcy
Development Limited - Wales
Towards the end of the 1980s, the
restructuring of oil and chemical plants in South
Wales led to heavy job losses. One of the local
refineries lost about 750 staff and the demand
for local contractors reduced significantly.
The downsizing also resulted in surplus building
and land becoming available.
The oil company, BP, set up D'Arcy Developments
Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1989, with
a brief to create and attract jobs for people within
commuting distance. The objectives of the new company
were to find alternative uses for the spare industrial
land and buildings. Half a million pounds was put
into a Small Business Loan Fund to help former employees
start new businesses and a million pounds was put
into a fund to renovate the redundant buildings.
Commonwealth
Youth Credit Initiative - Guyana
Establishing micro enterprises is
a difficult task for many young men and women because
they fail to meet the basic eligibility critieria
of the traditional financial institutions. Many
of these institutions require the borrower to provide
collateral in the form of cash or some form of
fixed asset, such as land or property. Most of
the world's youth do not possess such collateral
and are seen as high risk borrowers with the expectation
that they will default on their loan repayments.
Cashew
Processing in Gampaha - Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, cashew processing is one of the main
agricultural enterprises in rural areas. It is usually
carried out by small-scale processors. Gampaha, a
rural area in Sri Lanka close to Colombo, is famous
for its cashew nuts. Most of the families living
there are involved in cashew nut processing, and
for women it is the main source of income. Women
play a very important role in the whole process,
from cashew collection to the labour intensive preparation
of the cashews. Processing cashew is an extremely
skilled task that includes shelling, drying and removing
the inner red shell.
The
Aga Khan Rural Support Programme - Pakistan
Northern Pakistan has a peculiar natural environment.
For centuries, the area has remained isolated from
the rest of the world and until recently, the economy
of the area was mainly dependent on the barter system.
The farmers lacked capital, skills, organisation and
other developmental related resources. The provision
of capital, in small amounts, would allow the people
to make agricultural inputs, mainly for fertiliser,
marketing, plants, seeds, poultry and pesticides etc.
in the short term, and in the medium term, to develop
small-scale businesses, such as, livestock breeding.
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