The Supporting Economic Transformation (SET) programme aims to promote economic transformation and job creation in low- and middle-income countries through high-quality analysis, policy advice to governments, donors and private sector actors, and convening stakeholders. 

SET’s three core areas of work are as follows:

  • Country analysis – analytical support for developing countries and their partners to identify politically feasible pathways for economic transformation
  • Sectoral and thematic work – understanding themes, including trade or gender, and different sectors, such as manufacturing and services, important for economic transformation
  • Data – bringing together data relevant for the analysis of economic transformation in an accessible online portal.

How do we define economic transformation?

SET broadly defines economic transformation as a process moving labour and other resources from lower to higher productive activities. This includes moving between sectors towards higher value activities (such as from agriculture to manufacturing) and within sectors (such as from subsistence farming to high-value crops), and usually involves diversification and increased value addition in export activities.