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IFAD
in the Republic of Moldova
Since 1999 IFAD has invested a total of US$35.9 in three programmes and projects of an overall cost of US$57.9. Developing and providing rural financial services is the focus of all three initiatives, in line with the government’s priorities of reducing rural poverty through agricultural and rural development. The goal is to broaden opportunities for economic growth and for increased employment for rural poor people. The first IFAD-funded project in Moldova was the Rural Finance and Small Enterprise Development Project, approved in 2000 and now completed. Investments were geared towards helping to build up economic and commercial activity amongst the rural poor through support to Savings and Credit Associations (SCAs) and to small enterprise lending. Through the ongoing Agricultural Revitalization Project (ARP) IFAD provides funds for financial services to help poor farmers increase their incomes. The project develops programmes at the community level in a highly participatory manner through village development plans. In the Rural Business Development Programme, which is also ongoing, IFAD builds on earlier operations and contributes to the establishment of a series of investment products and mechanisms, mainly through the formal financial sector and rehabilitation of rural infrastructure. IFAD’s strategy in Moldova The overall goal of IFAD’s strategy in Moldova is to reduce poverty by supporting further development of a rural market economy that is based on family-owned and family-managed businesses, both on-farm and off-farm. The strategy’s objectives are to:
Among the innovations that the strategy introduces are:
To strengthen the impact of its initiatives, IFAD includes policy dialogue with regard to issues of relevance to its mandate, and strategic partnerships in its development agenda. The objective is to help poor rural people participate in the benefits of agricultural development and rural economic growth. Working with the government and other donors and partners, IFAD contributes to the consolidation of a cohesive microfinance strategy in which the country’s commercial banks have a crucial role. Through the IFAD-supported Rural Pro-Poor Innovation Challenge (RPPIC) programme, in 2003 IFAD awarded a US$50,000 grant to the Moldova Microfinance Alliance (MMA), a local initiative working with poor people in remote areas. MMA earmarked the funds for setting up savings and credit associations in small rural villages. MMA has also installed cash machines at its 20 best-performing associations, linking them to the alliance’s partner commercial bank. Remittances from Moldova’s workers abroad have an enormous potential as development capital. As a member of an international partnership to increase the benefits of remittances and improve economic opportunities for poor rural people, IFAD supports grants for innovative projects through the Financing Facility for Remittances, part of a new programme that promotes innovative remittances systems. The aim is to increase access to remittances in rural areas by enabling local financial institutions to offer this service, either directly or as agents of commercial banks and remittance operators. Source: IFAD |
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