Press release number: IFAD 30/06

Rome, 7 June 2006 - A new development project in Yemen will focus on upgrading 215 kilometres of dirt roads in isolated highland areas of the country. The roads reach the most disadvantaged villages in the highlands and their upgrading will lead to better links to markets, health facilities and schools for over 300,000 people. A further 100,000 people will have improved access to drinking water.

The Pilot Community-Based Rural Infrastructure Project for Highland Areas will cost US$10.4 million and is partly financed by a loan of US$9 million and a grant of US$400,000, both from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The Financing Agreement was signed at IFAD’s headquarters in Rome on 1 June by the Assistant President of IFAD, James Carruthers, and the Ambassador to Italy for the Republic of Yemen, Shaya Mohsin Zindani.

About 75 per cent of Yemen’s population live in over 100,000 small isolated rural villages and settlements. Most of these people are in remote mountain areas with poor access to drinking water, roads, public health services or basic education. Women spend up to seven hours a day collecting water and the sources they use are frequently polluted. This contributes to disease and to the high child mortality rate in rural areas. In addition, the burden on women negatively affects family income and the education of girls who help collect water.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the world and the lack of basic social and economic activities and services is an obstacle to any attempts to reduce the poverty there. The country has about 60,000 kilometres of dirt tracks and trails, mainly constructed by communities in the 1970s and 1980s, but now in a poor state. Travelling these roads is slow and costly and this limits peoples’ ability to visit clinics, take produce to market or attend school.

“Highland areas are very difficult to service and economic opportunities are not good,” says Abdalla Rahman, IFAD’s country programme manager for Yemen. “This project will link poorer communities with the road network to give them better access to services and markets and improve their economic opportunities. However, the project design is flexible and will allow the project to respond to what communities need and in some areas the priority may be upgrading the drinking water supply.”

A community-led approach will involve the local people in all decisions, and in the construction and maintenance work. This will strengthen community involvement in dealing with infrastructure problems.

The water supply scheme will be demand-driven and will depend on the needs of communities as well as their ability to run services. As with the road improvements, drinking water supply schemes will be planned, implemented and managed by the communities themselves.

Over the 27 years since it was established, IFAD has financed 18 initiatives in Yemen, with loans and grants totalling US$170 million.

---

IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. There are 187 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.2 billion. IFAD has invested more than US$2.9 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 nearly 80 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.0 billion in 705 programmes and projects that have helped nearly 300 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 participants, have contributed almost US$8.8 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.0 billion in cofinancing.