SIDO impact evaluation – scoping study

In 2015-16 an IGC-funded project led by Prof. Margeret McMillan, on the contribution of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to the structural transformation of Tanzania found that MSMEs are contributing to structural transformation. However, it is only a small sub-set of all MSMEs which are contributing. This result highlights the importance of MSMEs to broader processes of growth and structural transformation, but also suggests that not all MSMEs will be able to contribute to growth. Therefore, growth and structural transformation-maximising policies, to have the greatest effect, should target support to the sorts of MSMEs that have growth potential.

Discussions following the above project led to further collaboration between the Small Industry Development Organisation (SIDO) and the IGC to evaluate SIDO’s work, in particular the work of their 25 regional centres.

This project has the following aims:

1. Provide an overview of the full set of SIDO programmes.
2. Identify what data exist at headquarters and regional offices.
3. Develop a sense of the realised operations of SIDO across a set of regions, specifically targeting how the implementation of programmes differ between regions, and whether practice diverges from planned policy.
4. Gauge the opinions of firms working with SIDO, and those that have not used their services on the value of SIDO services.

The researchers have produced a detailed report for SIDO staff on what they found during the scoping visit.