ESFD announced in a statement issued yesterday that the number of new projects it has funded in the last quarter of 2012 through its “employment generation component” totaled 153 projects of a total value of 3.8 billion Lebanese pounds and thus creating 152 new employment opportunities. As such, the total number of projects supported since the creation of the ESFD in 2003 and until December 2012 has grown to 7038 projects funded through small loans amounting to a total of 105 billion Lebanese pounds and thus creating a total of 4650 new work opportunities (c.f The Economic and Social Development Fund creates 250 employment opportunities during the third quarter of 2012 dated: 31 October 2013)
It is to be reminded that ESFD was created for the purpose of fighting poverty and mitigating its impact on vulnerable communities. ESFD includes two components namely “creation of work opportunities” and “local development” and is funded by the European Union through a partnership agreement with the Council for Development and Reconstruction concluded back in the year 2000.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir 23 January 2013