Press release number: IFAD 44/05

Rome, 1 December 2005 - Poor rural families and fishers whose homes and livelihoods were destroyed by the tsunami will benefit from two new development programmes in Sri Lanka.

The US$33.5 million Post-Tsunami Coastal Rehabilitation and Resource Management Programme will be financed partly by an initial US$14.2 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). IFAD will help mobilize an extra US$14.2 million from other sources or from its own 2006 lending programme. An additional US$1.5 million grant is expected from the Italian government. The government of Sri Lanka will contribute US$3.4 million, while the project participants will contribute an additional US$212,000 in kind.

A second US$4.7 million initiative, the Post-Tsunami Livelihoods and Support and Partnership Programme, will be financed partly by a US$2.35 million loan from IFAD. IFAD is committed to help mobilize the remaining US$2.35 million from other sources, or from its own 2006 lending programme.

Today, the two loan agreements totalling US$16.55 million were signed by the IFAD President, Lennart Båge, and the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Italy, Rodney Perera, at IFAD headquarters in Rome.

When the tsunami washed across the shores of Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004, at least 31,000 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands were displaced. More than 70,000 homes were completely destroyed and 110,000 were damaged. Roads, ports, telecommunications, ice plants, fishing vessels and agricultural lands were also affected. The new programmes will enable a large number of those people who lost their source of livelihoods due to the tsunami to re-establish stable and productive lives.

At least 140,000 households will benefit from the two IFAD supported programmes in Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalle, the seven tsunami- affected districts.

The main medium-term recovery initiative, the Post-Tsunami Coastal Rehabilitation and Resource Management Programme, will focus on the economic and social recovery of the coastal communities. It will directly benefit about 50,000 households. About half of these households will benefit from the rebuilding of important infrastructure for artisanal fishers and the replacement or rehabilitation of damaged fishing vessels, engines and gear. A third will receive assistance in the development of microenterprises and provision of microfinance services.

The remainder will receive direct support for community-based projects to improve the conservation and management of coastal resources, including replanting of mangroves, repopulation of coral reefs and conservation of salt marshes, and for social and economic infrastructure development, including construction of housing, social infrastructure and feeder roads.

The three-year Post-Tsunami Livelihoods and Support and Partnership Programme will focus on rapid rehabilitation and development of rural infrastructure and housing in the seven districts. It will directly benefit about 22,000 people by building or repairing 2,000 houses and helping rehabilitate or develop social infrastructure, including community centres and local clinics, drinking water supply schemes, drainage facilities, feeder roads, and access roads for settlement areas.

“It is a testimorny to the fully synchronized commitment of both the Government of Sri Lanka and IFAD that less than four months after the tsunami struck, they could work together tirelessly and process to approval two programmes to assist the rapid recovery from the devastating effects of the tsunami,” said Sana Jatta, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Sri Lanka. “IFAD has a long-term commitment to Sri Lanka and is prepared to stay as long as necessary.”

With these two loans IFAD will have financed 13 projects in Sri Lanka for a total of US$151.12 million dollars.

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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.