CORE Project to be completed this year

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The Connecting Regional Economies Project (CORE) funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is scheduled to be completed during this year.

The five year US $ 11.7 million programme designed to promote regional growth in the Eastern, North Central and Uva provinces to assist beneficiaries to integrate into main stream economic activities.

The competitiveness of selected value chains in these provinces is enhanced through the introduction of technology and increases in productivity leading to an increase in income, creation of sustainable jobs and formation of business opportunities.

This is a sustainable demand driven private sector led development project, CORE project Chief of Party Tania Brunn said.

A demand centered approach is applied to support market linkages while also supporting beneficiaries at the grass roots level. Knowledge and skills are enhanced to empower beneficiaries to better participate ed ICT solutions to strengthen extension services and provide market information.

The CORE programme is based on five pillars of supporting livelihood development, improving value chains, ensuring productivity of value chain services, addressing workforce development needs and fostering a business enabling environments.