Local economic development

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) engaged a Capstone team to assist in the evaluation and development of a diagnostic toolbox capable of assessing local economic development (LED) in Least Developed Countries (LDC). The team developed a pilot tool based on its review of existing LED research and the methodology of the MIT Community Economic Toolbox, a mechanism for evaluating county-level economic development in the United States. The team conducted fieldwork in Tanzania to pilot and refine the instrument, collecting quantitative data from the National Bureau of Statistics and qualitative data on both hard and soft infrastructure projects across the country. The team also examined ways of measuring informal sectors, women’s economic empowerment, forward and backward economic linkages, value chains, and potential impacts. On the basis of the research and field visit, the team initiated the development of a distinctive LDC LEDBOX, an economic assessment tool that can contribute to national strategies for locally-driven development.