Press release number: IFAD 24/05

Rome, 22 April 2005 - The 84th session of IFAD's Executive Board approved US$171.8 million in loans and US$12.5 million in grants to improve the lives of rural poor people in 14 countries, as well as aid tsunami recovery in the worst affected areas.

US$33.9 million in new loans and grants to support tsunami recovery

Sri Lanka The US$33.5 million Post-Tsunami Coastal Rehabilitation and Resource Management Programme in Sri Lanka will assist the economic and social recovery of coastal communities. IFAD will support the programme with an initial loan of US$14.2 million and help mobilize an extra US$14.2 million from other sources. A second initiative, the US$4.7 million Post-Tsunami Livelihoods Support and Partnership Programme, will focus on the rapid recovery of essential infrastructure, including housing and social and community infrastructure, and the removal of debris. IFAD will provide an initial loan of US$2.4 million for this and help mobilize an extra US$2.4 million from other sources .

Indonesia The project area of IFAD's ongoing Income-Generating Project for Marginal Farmers and Landless (Phase III) will be extended to cover Aceh. A sum of US$3.2 million is being reallocated from the existing project to finance the rehabilitation of livelihoods in the most affected rural districts of this devastated province. In a ground-breaking adjustment, IFAD has altered the financing terms of the entire outstanding loan for the project from intermediate to interest-free highly concessional.

IFAD has also designed the Aceh Recovery Programme (US$30 million) to help tsunami survivors rebuild their villages and homes and establish sustainable livelihoods. It builds on IFAD's most successful programme in Indonesia to date. Grant funding is being sought by IFAD from donors.

India An initial IFAD loan of US$15 million to the Post-Tsunami Sustainable Livelihoods Programme for the Coastal Communities of Tamil Nadu will enable a large number of affected people in coastal areas of the state to re-establish stable and productive lives. The initiative includes rural finance and risk-transfer instruments, employment generation and skills training, and coastal areas resource management .

aldives A US$5 million programme will address the long-term needs of communities affected by the tsunami. IFAD will support it with an initial loan of US$2.1 million plus a grant of US$200,000, and will help to mobilize an extra US$2.1 million from other sources. The programme will help restore agricultural productivity to its former levels or better. It will also re-establish fishing operations, augmenting the incomes of fisherfolk and reducing the fishery sector's vulnerability to natural disasters in the future.

US$53.7 million in loans and grants for the Asia and the Pacific region

Bhutan: support for livelihoods in remote areas A US$13.9 million loan and a US$100,000 grant from IFAD will go to a US$19.7 million programme improving the livelihoods of people living in rural areas in the six eastern districts of Bhutan - areas of rugged terrain where access to the outside world is difficult. The programme will aim to increase productivity and incomes through improved road connections, as well as enhanced rural financial services and market opportunities. The programme will also strengthen local organizational capacity.

Lao People's Democratic Republic: a programme for working together More than 26,000 poor and food-insecure households will benefit from a US$25.9 million programme to improve rural livelihoods in the Lao People's Democratic Republic. IFAD will support the initiative with a US$17.3 million loan and a US$693,000 grant. The programme will help rural poor people, especially women, to make better use of natural resources and increase their incomes and farming productivity.

Philippines: buds of new business A US$27.5 million programme in the Philippines will help to raise the incomes and improve the livelihoods of rural people living below the national poverty line in five of the country's poorest regions. IFAD will support the Rural Microenterprise Promotion Programme with a US$21.2 million loan and an initial grant of US$500,000, which will be supplemented with a further grant of US$892,000 in due course.

Loans and grants worth US$41.7 million for Western and Central Africa

Chad: steps to planning their own development A US$15 million project in areas of Chad's Batha region with serious problems of soil degradation will help to empower rural poor people with limited access to resources - land in particular. IFAD will provide a loan of US$12.8 million and a grant of US$400,000 to the initiative, which has been planned using a highly participatory approach.

Mali : empowering the most vulnerable A US$33.6 million programme will help rural communities in regions of northern Mali , which are among the poorest in the country. Participants will include small producers with limited means of production, nomadic herders affected by environmental degradation and diminishing water resources, rural women and young people. Supported by a US$14.6 million loan and a grant of US$803,000 from IFAD, the programme will enable these vulnerable groups to identify, plan and finance social and productive investments within local development plans. The programme will also contribute to preventing conflict over scarce resources.

Senegal : sparking small enterprise The second phase of the Rural Entrepreneurship Promotion Project in Senegal will boost small and microenterprises for particularly vulnerable rural households, helping to create sustainable self-employment and wage-based jobs, as well as add to non-agricultural income. Of the total project cost of US$18.8 million, IFAD will provide a loan of US$13.1 million.

US$28 million in loans and grants for Latin America and the Caribbean

El Salvador : moving from subsistence to profit In El Salvador, a US$22.2 million project will help more than 70,000 men and women, three-quarters of them poor small farmers, to transform subsistence activities into profitable rural business. It will invest in rehabilitation and protection of natural resources such as land and water. IFAD will provide a loan of US$15 million and a grant of US$1 million.

Paraguay: the seeds of new development A US$14.4 million project in Paraguay will empower small-scale producers and farmers to be able to use services provided by ongoing projects funded by other financial institutions (mainly the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank). This will be the first IFAD project in Latin America and the Caribbean to harmonize investments at grassroots level. Beneficiaries will plan their own development and diversify into new activities. Indigenous people and rural women and youth will also benefit from project activities to strengthen their organizations, skills and know-how. IFAD is supporting the initiative with a US$12 million loan.

US$19.4 million in loans and grants for the Near East and North Africa

Georgia : a more profitable harvest A US$34.7 million project will support around 300 groups of small farmers (both men and women) and rural poor people in eastern, central and western Georgia . Aiming to help them to start to move from subsistence to commercial agriculture, the project will include financial services for farmers and assistance with marketing know-how. IFAD will provide a loan of US$9.2 million and a grant of US$800,000.

Yemen: roads to an easier future With a US$9.0 million loan and a grant of US$400,000, IFAD is supporting a US$10.4 million project to improve the living standards of the rural poor in remote highland communities of Yemen. The project focuses on upgrading village access roads leading to the most disadvantaged villages in the highlands.

Grants of US$7.6 million for the International Land Coalition and five international centres of excellence

The Board approved six grants under IFAD's global/regional grants window.

A grant of US$965,000 was approved for the International Land Coalition, in support of its 2005/6 programme of work to strengthen the secure access of rural poor people to land and related services. The Board also authorized a US$900,000 grant to the International Water Management Institute, to help finance the Programme for Enhancing Mekong Region Water Governance.

Grants of US$1.5 million each were approved for the research and training programmes of the following: The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan's Programme for Enhanced Bamboo- and Rattan-based Smallholder Livelihood Opportunities; TechnoServe's Programme for Building a Pro-poor, Competitive Cashew Industry in East Africa; and the West Africa Rural Foundation's Management-Capacity-Strengthening Programme for IFAD-funded Projects in Western and Central Africa. A grant of US$1.2 million will be provided for the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development's Programme for Securing Livelihoods in the Uplands and Mountains of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas, Phase II.

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. Seventy-five per cent of the world's poorest people - 800 million women, children and men - live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. Through low-interest loans and grants, IFAD works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves.

There are 192 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.5 billion. IFAD has invested about US$2.8 billion in these initiatives. Cofinancing has been provided by governments, beneficiaries, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. At full development, these programmes will help more than 100 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested almost US$8.7 billion in 689 projects and programmes that have helped more than 250 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families.