Pathways out of Poverty Case Study: Creating Wealth in Inner-City Communities in Kingston, Jamaica

USAID commissioned a series of case studies to examine interventions and approaches to creating pathways out of poverty that either “pushed” the very poor towards productive engagement in markets and/or “pulled” the poor into markets. This case study, written by The Competitiveness Company, examines a strategy to integrate young men from inner-city Kingston, Jamaica into the ornamental fish value chain. It highlights the need for flexibility and interventionist strategies when attempting to use a value chain approach to integrate the very poor into economic activity, as well as the importance of complementary market and social interventions.