Strategic lessons and recommendations

The CPE has identified six key areas as being crucial in the development of IFAD and the Government's strategic approach to rural poverty alleviation. The second set of recommendations (section IX) is operational and mostly intended for the present portfolio of projects.

Sharper poverty focus

There have been progressively stronger attempts in the present portfolio to direct project interventions towards the poor. This can be deduced from the increasing emphasis placed on activities complementary to the core de-rocking components that lend themselves to better targeting. Also helping to direct project interventions towards the poor is the tacit acknowledgement by the Government of rural poverty, probably best illustrated by the relaxation of the official lending terms of CAB in order to reach the poor. Despite this, the main intervention adopted so far, de-rocking, does not in practice allow for clear targeting of the poor and may have consequences for income and wealth distribution. In addition, the complementary and supporting project activities aimed at women remain relatively limited and are not specifically targeted to the poorest.

Knowledge about rural poverty

An important conclusion of the CPE is that, while significant progress had been made in institutionalizing the need to support the poorer sectors of the rural communities, scope still remains for improving the poverty focus of IFAD and the Government's future strategic approach. The problem in the present portfolio is to a great extent related to the continued lack of knowledge of the poverty situation. If rural poverty alleviation is to be enhanced, the CPE recommends that, while examining its future intervention strategy for Syria in the upcoming COSOP, IFAD give the highest possible priority to the question of defining the causes of rural poverty and the identification of the poorer sectors. Strategically, it is recommended that IFAD contribute to the ongoing development of the Government's poverty reduction strategy, possibly by means of a comprehensive study on the causes, extent and depth of rural poverty. In the present portfolio mostly IFAD-supported interventions have so far been in ASZs 1 and 2 for de-rocking, ASZ 4 (JHADP) and are now starting in ASZ 5, for the Badia. This leaves out ASZs 3 and 4, where there are also thought to be pockets of poverty. A poverty study should also consider the geographic spread of rural poverty.

Distributional implication of land reclamation

There is no doubt that land reclamation has been a formidable method of meeting the Government's aims in agricultural development and poverty reduction. Its success has partly relied on the uniform subsidization of the use of the expensive heavy equipment required, so that farmers are estimated to be paying no more than one third of the actual cost of operations. However, de-rocking benefits only those who have land. Asset-less poor have not benefited from this major intervention. In addition, to a certain extent, the nature of the de-rocking precludes poverty targeting. Identification of land areas for development is (and to an extent must remain) dominated by economic and technical considerations. Almost inevitably, this will result in some inequities in benefit distribution, based on differentiation in landholdings. The result may well be wider inequalities in asset and income distribution. A future IFAD strategy of cooperation with the Government should give adequate consideration to distributional aspects of agricultural policies by negotiating a more progressive subsidization policy in favour of the poor, and by placing systematically stronger emphasis on (and giving more resources to) activities that can be better targeted to the poor.

Participation, gender aspects and the involvement of NGOs

The CPE concluded that, apart from a few exceptions, there was limited evidence of support for the development of grass-roots organizations that would allow the rural poor to express their own needs and actively participate in and sustain the development process. Beneficiaries have been keen to participate as individuals in de-rocking and IGAs, but this type of involvement does not create the structured platform from which the rural poor can drive forward their own development.

Recent experience of IFAD and other United Nations agencies in initiating pilot community-based participation (the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), FAO and the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA)) indicates that the Government has become more receptive to the concept of participatory development. The CPE recommends that support to long-term approaches for self-reliant and participatory development, in partnership with other donors, become a main thrust of IFAD's strategy. The capacity of MAAR in this area is uncertain; IFAD needs to incorporate training in participatory approaches, to be provided, perhaps through NGOs, to staff (at various levels) and beneficiaries. Analysis of the institutional framework and other requirements for providing an enabling environment for such approaches should also be undertaken.

In addition, there is considerable scope for, and potential benefits from, a more comprehensive approach in defining the gender aspects and supporting activities that would increase women's access to resources. At the moment, the approach is more piecemeal. MAAR, assisted by FAO, has recently established a Gender and Development Unit to mainstream the development of rural women. As part of the new strategy, IFAD should consider supporting this unit as an institutional strengthening measure for enhancing gender mainstreaming in its future projects.

A pro-poor credit policy

A number of structured initiatives for the provision of microcredit and savings, linked with groups and traditional community-based activities, is being built up with support from other donors. For example, the UNICEF and WHO Healthy Villages Programme, or the UNDP-assisted Rural Community Development at Jebel Al-Hoss.

To take full advantage of this situation, the CPE recommends that IFAD build on the current momentum and adopt a strategy that will lead to a broadening of credit outreach through the use of alternative mechanisms for credit delivery to target the poorest in partnership with other donors. Given the flexibility already demonstrated by CAB in the current portfolio, these mechanisms might be promoted through CAB as part of the Government's poverty alleviation measures. Such measures should ultimately be aimed at the longer term, so that when groups promoted through NGOs/United Nations agencies initiatives are ready to 'graduate' to borrowing from the formal sector, a suitable mechanism will be in place. In the shorter run, the formation and training of credit (and other) groups within the new pipeline of projects should be supported.

The overall strategy being suggested is based on emerging experience from the present portfolio, whereby groups of beneficiaries are formed and trained, and then linked to responsive government services, which channel project resources. The best example of this is in extension, where the extension officers in SRADP have formed farmer groups, and these same officers facilitate access to credit through CAB, while the GUP facilitates access to inputs.

Environmental considerations

Results of land reclamation are location specific, though the technique of de-rocking is the same. Its specificity relates to the prevalent farming practice, patterns of land use, and ecological and environmental conditions. Environmental issues were not given sufficient attention in the design and implementation of the present portfolio. This is a concern for long-term sustainability of benefits. Mention is made above (section V) of the possible environmental effects in de-rocked areas. It is recommended that IFAD's future approach give more prominence to environmental factors. Any decision regarding future involvement of IFAD in land reclamation through de-rocking should be preceded by a full-scale environmental assessment within SRADP-I and II, and location-specific assessments for each new area (see Operational Recommendations, paragraph 94). At the same time, the CPE recommends a strategy that seeks to assist MAAR in optimising and ensuring longer-term production from de-rocked areas. Such a strategy would need to address also the sustainability of farming systems (see below).

The sustainability of farming systems

Although land development activities provide a rapid method of increasing production, they can also affect the sustainability of the farming systems they are meant to enhance. This is not only because of possible environmental impact, but also because, in order to realize the benefits of the capital investment in de-rocking, there is a need to intensify production methods and to ensure that farmers are able to sell their produce. Issues involved are livestock feed, output diversification and marketing, and water resources.

Livestock feed

The bottleneck in the development of the livestock sector is shortage of feed. Present production levels of feed cannot sustain the present livestock populations, which also makes them very susceptible to natural disasters, such as drought. The present subsidies on livestock feed encourage unsustainable increases in livestock numbers. One possible strategic measure to be considered is the total liberalization of animal feed imports, production and marketing. Such a measure may induce an initial increase in feed prices, but it would also reduce subsidy payments, rationalize demand, and stimulate forage production in the medium to long run.

Output diversification and marketing

A second issue that could affect the sustainability of farming systems in reclaimed land is that the range of outputs is too narrow and could eventually endanger benefits generated by the project interventions. A limited range of outputs is also risky for small farmers in rainfed areas, as it increases their vulnerability to economic fluctuations. Meanwhile, expected increases in apple production will no doubt require expansion of market outlets. There is an urgent and strategic need to address crop diversification and processing and to support the Government in its current endeavour to strengthen marketing policies and outlets. The intention should be to develop new strategies and pro-active programmes in order to promote the development of a dynamic price and marketing policy for agricultural products. This policy should include the requirements for storage, processing, grading and packaging in order to ensure access to export markets where this is appropriate. Extension services and messages should be reoriented accordingly.

Water issues

Finally, efficiency in water use is an essential measure of sustainability, but at present, application inefficiencies at the farm are the largest proportion of total water losses. While the present interventions pay some attention to water issues, there is a need to place consistent and stronger emphasis on water conservation, harvesting and management. This dimension should be considered as one of the main strategic thrusts of IFAD's future approach in Syria. Locally accepted solutions for rehabilitation, conservation and community management of water resources should be addressed urgently. Modern irrigation techniques that can save water and increase the efficiency of use could also be extended, especially where irrigation is based on underground water.

Decentralization and the enabling environment

IFAD strategy supports the principle of decentralization of government as a means of giving community-based institutions more say in the development process and of moving decision-making closer to the people. At present in Syria, management and direction are still highly centralized. With the more participatory approach proposed for the new pipeline, the devolving of authority, at all levels, becomes more necessary. For the ongoing portfolio it is unlikely that much change can be achieved, but the CPE recommends that this aspect be fully explored in future deliberations between the Government and IFAD.

To support this process, project designs in the new portfolio should pay particular attention to the needs for institutional strengthening in the more devolved structures, including training in participation for project management and other staff expected to implement these approaches. It may also be appropriate to include community development officers in all project management units, reporting to the project directors. In order to formalize the role of beneficiaries in the new portfolio, consideration should also be given to the introduction of participatory monitoring and evaluation, and to the introduction of joint staff/beneficiary annual workshops for the formulation of the outline of the annual work programmes.