|
 Objectives
The overall goal is to activate an equitable process of
economic, human and institutional development, consistent with sustainable
mobilization and efficient use of human and natural resources. Specific
objectives include:
- establishment of processes to enhance community control over development
and the services needed to facilitate it;
- provision of a clean water supply to the majority of households in
the prefecture, and improvement of roads servicing isolated communities;
- improved household food security based on intensification of agricultural
production through introduction of improved seeds and fruit-tree species
and soil conservation measures, mineral fertilizers and other soil amendments;
- long-term agricultural sustainability through improved cropping and
rangeland practices;
- increased cash incomes from income-generating activities and inventory
credit;
- reduction of reliance on natural fuelwood supplies by introducing
households to wood lots and agroforestry to ensure sustainable improvement
of the environment; and
- promotion of civil-society organizations to implement community-based
and community-driven development.
Activities
The project is structured around five components.
(i) community development; and
(ii) women in development.
- Infrastructure development:
(i) domestic water supply;
(ii) cattle water points; and
(iii) rural roads.
- On-farm productive investments:
(i) technology advisory services;
(ii) agricultural production;
(iii) animal health services; and
(iv) environment and forestry.
- Financial services. Matching grants equivalent to amounts deposited
in a bank account are to be extended to farmers’ groups and women’s
groups to start group revolving funds.
- Institutional support.
Outcome
The Umutara project began its activities only recently.
Its effectiveness will not be measured by achievement of specific physical
targets, but by the extent to which local communities can use the help
they receive to achieve self-imposed objectives and by the extent to which
they can generate resources to share service costs.
During project formulation, three environmental studies
were undertaken to evaluate the potential impact of the project on natural
biodiversity and resources and to identify measures that could help moderate
the negative impact of the new settlements. The project cofunded with
the German Organization for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) an aerial survey
of the Akagera and Mutara regions as part of the Protection des Ressources
Naturelles (PRORENA) project, which assisted the Government in rehabilitating
Akagera National Park.
Organizations
and people
| Rwanda’s
Policy for National Development calls for preservation of an atmosphere
of peace and serenity, restoration and strengthening of national
unity, resettlement and reintegration of refugees and victims of
the genocide, respect for the right of all refugees to return to
Rwanda and development of human resources and the national economy. |
| Planned |
|
Achieved |
| To assist communities in applying a structured
participatory approach to problem solving through training and backstopping.
To supply office buildings and equipment at sector, commune and
prefecture levels; to support the rehabilitation of the National
Agricultural Research Institute (ISAR) station in Umutara; and to
construct the Directorate of Agricultural Services (DRSA) office
in Nyagatare.
To construct, furnish and equip six women’s centres, one
in each commune; to facilitate formation of women’s groups;
to train women’s group committees; and to support a functional
literacy programme aimed at some 7 000 illiterate women.
|
|
The 2001-2003 work plan has been prepared
and submitted to the project management unit. The Netherlands Development
Organization will be responsible for coordinating a consortium of
international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
responsible for implementing community development activities. |
Access to inputs
and infrastructure
Lack of water and transport infrastructure
were among the major causes of poverty in recently settled communes
in the project area. The national sector policy for water and sanitation
emphasizes rainwater harvesting when no alternative is available,
promotes the role of communes and water-user committees in management
of water-supply schemes and encourages NGOs and other organizations
to take the lead in forming water-user committees. Under this policy,
water users are responsible for meeting the costs of operations
and maintenance.
|
| Planned |
|
Achieved |
To achieve sustainable improvements in the supply
of safe water; to carry out a feasibility study on supplying water
from Byumba prefecture through gravity-fed schemes; and to fund
gravity-fed borehole and domestic roof-catchment supply systems.
To construct 300 km of farm-to-market roads.
To provide hygiene education to about 27 500 households.
|
|
The construction of 30 boreholes was completed under an urgent
programme requested by the Government. |
Risk
management
With the restoration of peace and resettlement
of displaced persons, the Government initiated policy reforms to
stimulate economic recovery. A major cause of poverty in the project
area was lack of financial services and resources that would allow
purchase of small livestock, improved seeds and tools, and that
would initiate non-agricultural income-generating activities. |
Planned |
|
Achieved |
| To provide each cell (the most decentralized
territorial unit of local government) with matching grants of up
to USD 500 per annum for three years.
To initiate a women’s investment fund with
a 50% subsidy on equipment costs to facilitate financing of income-generating
projects requested by women’s groups.
|
|
No information is yet available regarding
implementation of these activities. |
Range
management
Lack of water is the main problem faced
by livestock owners in the project area. In some areas, only 10%
of cattle have ready access to water. In 1997, about 30 000 head
of cattle were reported to be dying of thirst. There is pressure
to move cattle to the banks of the Akagera River during the dry
season, crossing the park and risking exposure to serious animal
disease. |
| Planned |
|
Achieved |
| To carry out a study to identify the best technical
solutions and prepare a master plan of cattle water points; and
to provide USD 600 000 to construct the water points.
To establish cattle water point users’ associations;
and to provide transport and related costs.
|
|
No information is yet available regarding implementation
of these activities. |
Animal
husbandry
Livestock has traditionally represented
an important source of manure for smallholders, and a way to accumulate
capital and insure households against risk. Ninety-nine percent
of the Umutara cattle are Ankole breed; they are hardy and resistant
to tropical diseases, but genetic potential for milk and meat production
is limited.
Cattle and small livestock were decimated during
the genocide. Cattle herds have been rebuilt more quickly than herds
of small livestock, but ownership has become unequal. Numerous cattle
holdings are currently in north-eastern prefectures such as Umutara,
because large herds were brought back by refugees returning from
the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. Umutara’s cattle
currently produce a large share of the milk and meat traded in Rwanda.
About 50% of households in non-project communes in
Umutara rear sheep and goats; in the project area the figure is
33%. Before the war, all households in Rwanda, with the possible
exception of the very poor, had one or two small ruminants. Women
breed the small stock and poultry under normal circumstances, but
livestock services are not geared towards providing advice to women.
|
| Planned |
|
Achieved |
| To support DRSA and ISAR in undertaking on-farm
tests and demonstrations concerning:
production and conservation of fodder crops and improvement
of grazing land (Phase I); and
animal production problems, fodder production and
conservation, introduction of improved rearing technologies, breed
improvement and improved collection and treatment of manure (Phase
II).
|
|
No information is yet available regarding implementation
of these activities. |
Livestock
health
Livestock production losses caused by
animal disease are reported to account for 25% of the value of cattle
production. Pastoralists and mixed-farming households have expressed
deep concern about the high mortality caused by trypanosomiasis,
anthrax, brucellosis, tuberculosis, rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease
(FMD) and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP). In October 1999,
the project area was put under quarantine because of a devastating
epidemic of FMD. In the past, vaccination against CBPP brought the
mortality rate down from 29% to 6%. During the last four years,
however, cattle vaccination coverage in Umutara has declined to
65%, partly because of lack of veterinary resources combined with
an approach that does not involve livestock owners in planning and
implementing vaccination campaigns. This has generated a positive
reaction among livestock owners, however, who perform some preventive
veterinary medicine services on their own, procuring drugs and vaccines
on the open market. |
| Planned |
|
Achieved |
| To introduce a para-veterinarian programme for
small stock and support the training of para-veterinarians, providing
transport and covering recurrent costs.
To establish a group revolving fund scheme for vaccines
and consumable products.
|
|
Proposals for a legal framework for para-veterinarian
activity were submitted to government authorities. |
Lessons learned
- It is important to mobilize communities, especially women, to participate
in planning and implementing social and economic activities. This ensures
the relevance of project activities, end-users’ commitment and
adequate operation and maintenance for post-project sustainability.
Project activities should promote local ownership.
- Selection of appropriately qualified, dynamic and committed project
staff and technical-assistance specialists is crucial to successful
implementation. More extensive use should be made of outsourcing to
private enterprises and NGOs.
|
| Project information |
Total cost: USD 32.9 million. Livestock cost
(as percentage of total): N/a. IFAD contribution: SDR 11.9 million
(approximately USD 15.9 million)
Duration: Ten years, in three phases. The project will close
in December 2010
Area: The project will cover the Umutara prefecture, with
the exception of the communes where other donors are currently providing
development assistance; these are Kagitumba, Kahi, Muvumba and Nyagatare.
The project area comprises two long-settled hillside communes, and four
new communes created at a lower altitude, very recently settled by returnees.
Beneficiaries: The intended beneficiaries of the Umutara Community Resource
and Infrastructure Development Project are about 51 000 families, living
in six communes in the newly created prefecture. The target group constitutes
97% of the population of the project area; it consists of people living
on the threshold of poverty or below the poverty line. Approximately 12
000 households are classified as very poor and vulnerable. |
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