Rural Small and Microenterprise Promotion Project

This pilot project was intended to:

• put in place a sustainable framework for increasing productivity, profitability and competitiveness among microenterprises managed by the rural poor
  
• improve access to training in management and technology
• improve the macroeconomic and regulatory framework
• develop linkages between the Government and private-sector producers

The project contributed to strengthening more than 4,000 existing rural small and microenterprises and fostering new initiatives. The lessons learned from this experience, which served as a basis for designing Phase II, can be summarized as follows:

• all groups, particularly the most vulnerable, must be taken into account in designing projects for rural areas
• it is important to balance job creation with developing agricultural production, which complement each other
• one of the conditions for the success of development activities is community involvement in making decisions and identifying needs
• training beneficiaries gives good results, but must be continued
• production, processing and marketing technologies must be responsive to the needs of entrepreneurs

See also: Rural Small and Microenterprise Promotion Project - phase II

 

Source: IFAD

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In this section Project overview Documents Project website Contact information Mr Claus Reiner Country programme manager IFAD Via Paolo di Dono, 44 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 0654592797 Fax: +39 0654593797 c.reiner@ifad.org Facts and figures Total cost: US$6.0 million IFAD loan: US$5.4 million Duration: 1998-2004 Geographical area: Prefectures of Byumba and Ruhengeri Directly benefiting: 12,000 households Cofinancing: none Status: closed