Press release number: IFAD 39/01

Rome, 19 November 2001 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Burkina Faso signed today a loan agreement on highly concessional terms for co-financing the National Community Based Rural Development Project. The Agreement was signed at the Fund's headquarters in Rome by the Vice President of IFAD, Mr. John Westley, and by Her Excellency H.E. Ms. Béatrice Damiba, Ambassador of Burkina Faso to Italy.

This loan agreement, which amounts to the equivalent of USD 11.5 million, represents about 10% of the programme. The remainder will be contributed by the World Bank, the bilateral assistance agencies of Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as by the Government of Burkina Faso and the beneficiaries of the project themselves.

The overall development objective of the project is to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development in rural areas of Burkina Faso, thereby breaking the spiral of rural poverty characterized by natural resource degradation, reduced agricultural production and decreased quality of life. IFAD’s contribution will be targeted specifically on village level and inter-village level capacity strengthening and investment activities, support services and actions, and project management and administration.

The activities under the project are demand-driven, and hence based on the real needs expressed by the communities themselves. They will target all categories of the rural population, including the most marginalized and deprived, taking into account the specific situation and needs of rural women and youth. Two issues will be particularly relevant for the implementation of the Programme: the first relates to extending the pilot activities that aim at securing land tenure rights in order to include a large segment of the poorest rural population; the second concerns the need to emphasise awareness-building and training of rural communities to promote their effective participation in decision-making, and the formulation and execution of individual or village investment plans.

To date, IFAD provided eight loans on highly concessional lending terms to Burkina Faso, amounting to approximately USD 87 million, plus a grant of USD1.74million from the Belgian Survival Fund (BSF) Joint Programme for financing seven projects in the country.

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IFAD is a specialised agency of the United Nations with the specific mandate of combating hunger and poverty in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Since 1978 IFAD has financed 584 projects in 114 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.2 billion in loans and grants. Through these projects, about 250 million rural people have had a chance to move out of poverty. IFAD makes the greater part of its resources available to low-income countries on very favourable terms, with up to 40 years for repayment and including a grace period of up to ten years and a service charge of 0.75% per year.