Private Sector Competitiveness and Poverty Alleviation

USAID/Peru's Second Generation Poverty Reduction and Alleviation Program (PRA II) Started: Following a Full-and-Open Competition USAID signed on september 28, 2009 a five-year, $13.4 million contract with Chemonics to implement PRA II, a follow-on to the highly successful PRA activity that helped Peruvian micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) generate $300 million in sales, 82,000 new jobs, and $20 million worth of investment in 13 economic corridors in Peru over a five-year period. The PRA model identifies high-value markets, provides strategic business development services that link MSMEs to these markets, and stimulates private and public investments to support these value chains. PRA II will provide similar services in eight economic corridors where poverty is deeply entrenched and constraints to economic growth are greatest, focusing in the Andean highlands. The program's goals are to increase the sales of goods and services produced by MSMEs receiving USAID assistance by $90 million, generate 27,000 new jobs, and leverage $15 million in public-private alliances. PRA II will be USAID/Peru's signature program to demonstrate that MSMEs can improve their incomes by benefitting from such opportunities as the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.