Ongoing and future projects

BSF provides grants that address basic needs such as health and family nutrition. BSF grants may fund a new village well or build and equip a medical centre.

Strong, healthy children grow to be strong, healthy adults who are able to participate in, and benefit from, other projects funded by IFAD loans. These projects help people increase their food production, raise their incomes, improve their education standards, secure rights to land, water and other natural resources, and gain power to shape the decisions and policies that affect their lives.

Our joint projects:

• offer improved technologies that boost crop, dairy and livestock yields
• increase market access so that farmers can receive higher, more reliable incomes from their hard work
• support financial services that help poor people save money or get a loan to start a small business
• provide education and training to encourage farmers to expand their income-earning activities
• help women acquire new skills that help raise their incomes
• empower communities to develop and strengthen their organizations so they have a stronger voice and are able to influence institutions and policies, including laws and regulations of relevance to rural poverty
• help communities to rebuild lives after the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS, natural disasters and armed conflict

Country	Project	Acronym	Budget (EURO)
Burundi	Transitional Programme of Post-Conflict Reconstruction	PTRPC 045	4 483 000
Chad	Food Security Project in the Northern Guéra Region Phase II	PSANG II 031	4 971 384
DR Congo	Agricultural Revival Programme in Equateur Province	PRAPE 039	5 400 000
DR Congo	Agricultural Revival Programme in Oriental Province	PRAPO 041	5 200 000
Eritrea	Gash Barka Livestock & Agricultural Development Project	GASH BARKA 037	3 962 000
Kenya	Central Kenya Dry Area Smallholder & Community Services	CKADP 033	4 586 030
Kenya	Support Programme for Kenya Women’s Finance Trust	KWFT 011	1 290 000
Mali	Northern Regions Investment and Rural Development Project	PIDRN 040	4 930 000
Mali	Kidal Integrated Rural Development Programme	PIDRK 044	2 700 000
Mozambique	Sofala Bank Artisanal Fisheries Project	SOFALA 036	3 718 403
Niger	Initiative for Agrarian and Rural Rehabilitation and Development	IRDAR 043	4 560 000
Niger	Aguié Local Initiative Promotion Project	PPILDA 038	3 775 000
Somaliland	North Western Integrated Community Development Programme	NWICDP 035	5 653 754
Tanzania	ASDP – Livestock Support	ASDPL 042	3 970 000
Uganda and Niger	Collaborative Action on Land Issues	CALI 013	425 000
TOTAL			59 624 571

 

Overview of project disbursements

A total of Euro 3 126 605 was disbursed during 2008. This is the lowest disbursement of the past five years, although the number of projects has also been reduced. IRDAR (Niger), ASDPL (United Republic of Tanzania), PIDRK (Mali) and PTRPC (Burundi) have not disbursed any funds. The main reasons for the low disbursements are suspension because of financial irregularities, lack of security in the country and the low absorption capacity of the country mainly due to weak capacity of personnel to implement the project in line with procedures. For three projects (CKADP-Kenya, GASH BARKA-Eritrea and SOFALA-Mozambique), the project duration has been extended to ensure that the funds are utilized to the maximum.  

New grant agreement with Burundi

The grant agreement between the Republic of Burundi and IFAD for the socio-sanitation component of the Transitional Programme of Post-Conflict Reconstruction  (PTRPC) was signed on 23 June 2008. The total budget is Euro 4 483 000.

Somalia: second phase formulation

A design mission has been undertaken for the second phase of the North-western Integrated Community Development Programme (NWICDP) in Somalia and a new project proposal has been submitted for financing.  Implementation will start during the second quarter of 2009.

Closing of projects

Eight out of ten projects that had reached completion were closed in 2008. The remaining funds of the closed projects have been credited to BSF supplementary funds and could be utilized for new projects to be approved by the steering committee. 

Future projects

The Parliament of Belgium is currently debating the new ten-year programme for BSF (2010 – 2019). Improving food security will continue to be the purpose in the renewed programme. IFAD/BSF are aiming to start new projects in fragile states where food insecurity is very common due to climatic conditions or crisis situations. Good governance of the partner country will be an important criterion in the selection of the countries to be supported.