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AfricaOctober 4 2009

Welfare with a difference

Libya's innovative social welfare scheme centres around empowering low-income families to invest in public projects, with the dual goals of improving their wealth and building the nation's economy, writes Stephen Timewell.
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One of the interesting aspects of Libya's financial transformation has been the establishment in 2006 of the Economic and Social Development Fund (ESDF), a unique project with unique social aims for Libya's low-income families.

Rather than following traditional social welfare programmes involving direct payments and benefits, the Libyans have adopted a different ideology, empowering the people to participate in purchasing public projects within a programme of privatisations and a widening ownership base.

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