HRD and microenterprise: socio‐economic capacity building in LDCs

Microenterprise can be defined as development from the bottom‐up. Many current economic intervention practices stem from the failed economic policies of developed nations, which rely primarily on structural adjustment as the dominant aspect of international (money lending‐based) support for development. This approach is still popular, even while the number of people in the world who fall below the poverty level is increasing. HRD microenterprise processes concentrate on empowering individuals to take ownership of their means of subsistence and development, while working towards an end, because they care about the goals and own the processes to achieve these goals. HRD microenterprise processes facilitate participation by ensuring that all stakeholders will be heard in the decision‐making processes, thus decreasing dependency. The microenterprise phenomenon, however, does not consist of unfamiliar activities; much of what is described in this paper is integral to well‐established Human Resource Development processes, ethics and values, utilized in developed countries.