Press release number: IFAD 42/05

Rome, 11 November 2005: Women, members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and fishermen in the coastal communites of Tamil Nadu will benefit from a new programme to help the communities become more resilient to natural disasters.

The programme will be financed by an initial US$15 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Today’s loan agreement was signed by the President of IFAD President, Lennart Båge, and the Ambassador of India, Rajiv Dogra, at IFAD headquarters in Rome.

When the tsunami washed across the shores of the coastal communites of Tamil Nadu on December 26, 2004, the livelihoods of at least 174,590 fishers were destroyed. The programme will enable a large number of the people whose livelihoods were effected by the tsunami to re-establish stable and productive lives in the coastal communities of India’s Tamil Nadu. It will reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to future natural disasters by providing access to new technology for fishing, packing, processing and selling fish. Additional employment opportunities in areas other than fisheries will be generated through skills training, especially for young people, in areas such as boat and housing construction.

Communities that depend on the coastal areas for their survival will be enabled to manage coastal resources on a sustainable basis. Women and fishermen will be given access to rural financial services, life insurance and social security so that they can pay for lost assets such as boats and nets and recover more quickly from natural disasters in the future. The communities will also be supported in their efforts to move up the value-chain and increase the incomes of the rural poor by the venture capital fund established by the programme.

“This programme will address the needs of those who have suffered from this disaster, helping them to rebuild their lives. But the goal is not only to help them to recover but to increase their capacity to cope with future natural disasters, “ said Anshuman Saikia, IFAD’s Staff Consultant for the Republic of India.

With this loan IFAD will have financed 19 projects in the Republic of India for a total of US$480 million dollars in loans.

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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 690 projects and programmes that have helped more than 250 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Governments and other financing sources in the recipient countries, including project beneficiaries, have contributed about US$8.4 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided about US$6.9 billion in cofinancing.