IFAD
in Rwanda
Since 1981, IFAD has financed 12 rural development projects
in Rwanda for a total amount of US$120.2 million. IFAD grants
have provided funds for two projects supporting post-conflict reconstruction
efforts and the rehabilitation of refugees. The Belgian Survival
Fund (BSF) financed a programme to re-establish public health services
through a grant totaling US$3.8 million.
The first generation of IFAD-financed initiatives, designed during the 1980s
and 1990s, consisted of integrated rural development projects. They had the objective
of developing the agricultural sector in specific parts of the country by identifying
and linking related elements.
Projects of the second generation, in place since the mid-1990s, include activities
that have an impact beyond the local level. The projects focus on a single aspect
of rural development, such as market access or agricultural production, and its
relation to government policy-setting and to other national initiatives already
in place, to favour their replication in the rural environment. They include
the following on-going projects: the Smallholder
Cash Crop Development Project (PDCRE), the Umutara
Community Resource and Infrastructure Development Project (PDRCIU) and the Rural
Small and Micro Enterprise Project (PPPMER II).
The
Support
Project for the Strategic Transformation of Agriculture (PAPSTA), which started in 2006, belongs to a third generation of IFAD-financed
operations. It supports the Government of Rwanda’s implementation of
its strategy to effect a gradual shift from subsistence agriculture,
which currently prevails, to market-based agriculture. The project
underpins the foundations of the recently formulated Economic Development
and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS). It will also help lay the groundwork
for the agricultural sector programme to be launched in 2008.
IFAD's strategy in Rwanda
Through its country
strategic opportunities programme (COSOP) 2008-2012, IFAD contributes to the
national Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS),
which tackles poverty by promoting equitable economic growth, modernizing
agriculture , encouraging exports and promoting employment. The strategy
gives particular emphasis to the agricultural sector, which provides
for the needs of more than 80 per cent of the population.
FAD's overall objective for 2008-2012 is to enable poor rural people
to participate in transforming the agricultural sector. To address
low agricultural productivity, IFAD will support poor farmers in designing
sustainable intensification practices, including irrigation, soil and
water conservation, and economic support services. It will help create
and strengthen organizations of small-scale producers and farmers and
it will support communities in efforts to identify the most vulnerable
groups and include them in social and economic development processes.
Source: IFAD
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Ongoing IFAD operations
