IDG has extensive experience in assisting economic governance in post-conflict countries. IDG currently leads a USAID competitiveness project in Tunisia aimed at assisting value chains, developing the workforce, and improving the policy enabling environment, contributing the efforts to steer the post-Arab Spring euphoria toward stability and a path to prosperity. In Lebanon, IDG worked with the Office of the Prime Minister on a feasibility study and master plan for a special economic zone in the north of the country, near the border with Syria. In Liberia, IDG assisted the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs formulate regional economic development plans. In Afghanistan, IDG advised on developing the gemstone industry. IDG CEO David Snelbecker is a co-author of an important study for USAID on donor experience in post-reconstruction countries over many years: "Economic Governance in War Torn Economies: Lessons Learned from the Marshall Plan to the Reconstruction of Iraq", for USAID's Office of Development Evaluation and Information, Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, 2004.
Project Experience:
Tunisia EG ICT Competitiveness Project: Throughout our work, the focus of the IDG Tunisia ICT Competitiveness policy team was always on the country's most pressing economic and social challenge: creating jobs, for all regions and for all income levels of Tunisian society. Our work spanned several areas with a high capacity to unlock the employment potential of Tunisia's ICT and ICT-enabled sectors: from financial sector to telecommunications, from tax to labor markets, and from business enabling environment to investment and trade policies. The ultimate goal of job creation, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, was our constant reference point as we work hand-in-hand with our Tunisian partners to build understanding, consensus, and capacity for implementing reforms.
Tripoli Special Economic Zone Project: The Tripoli Special Economic Zone (TSEZ) Project entailed drafting a feasibility study and master plan for a Special Economic Zone in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, with the intent of facilitating job creation in an important part of the country outside the capital city. The TSEZ seeks to reduce barriers to doing business and to enhance collaborative opportunities for investment and export-led growth. The multi-faceted project undertaken by IDG provided assistance in crucial technical areas of trade and investment.