Identity Building and Sharing Business Initiative: an Ethical and “Glocal” Approach to Job Creation and Sustainable Development

The EU Identity Building and Sharing Initiative contributes to socio-economic development through human capital investment in the cultural and creative sectors, which are mobilized as factors of business development and identity building. Concurrently, the project addresses the root causes of irregular economic migration and displacement by strengthening the identity building sectors in countries with fragile situation and address the lifestyle market’s value chains. The project uses the methodology developed by the Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI), a flagship programme of the International Trade Centre (ITC) that enables artisans living in urban and rural poverty to connect top luxury lifestyle brands, and that supports the rising generation of fashion talents from. The Identity Building and Sharing Business Initiative expands the EFI approach to a wider number of countries and to a wider range of creative industries through an integrated, comprehensive approach investing simultaneously in market access and in identity building, with special attention to fragile countries. The project is implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Ivory Coast, Mali and Eritrea. The project intends to produce increased investment in human and social capital in the creative economies and in marginalized segments of the society, with value of human capital investment in target countries equal to 20.000.000 USD.