Release number IFAD/22/07

Rome, 16 March 2007 – A new development project in central Ecuador will enable 36,000 poor rural households, including indigenous peoples, women and small entrepreneurs, to expand their income-generating activities and to better manage natural resources and cultural assets.

The US$24.3 million Development of the Central Corridor Project will be financed partly by a loan of US$14.8 million from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The loan agreement was signed at IFAD headquarters today by the Ambassador for the Republic of Ecuador, Emilio Izquierdo Miño, and the IFAD President, Lennart Båge.

The Government of Ecuador will contribute US$6.2 million to finance the project and local participants will contribute US$3.3 million.

Local communities and civil-society organizations will plan development initiatives in cooperation with local government officials. Participants will identify ways to diversify their income and strengthen their skills and experience to improve their livelihoods. The project will also focus on training and enabling women to be involved in income-generating activities.

Poor rural people in central Ecuador tend to have limited access to financial services and rely heavily on informal credit and their own labour. Handicraft production and tourism are the main sources of income, but it is difficult to have products certified. The project will aim to improve marketing and presentation of local goods.   The project will also introduce a competitive approach to natural resource management that has proved successful in other Andean countries. Locally-appointed juries will reward families and communities for improving their physical assets – for example, forests. The project will also create ways to reward farmers' groups, artisans and other cultural groups for their products and services.  

IFAD has provided financial support for six projects in Ecuador with a total investment of US$59.6 million.

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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 poor rural people to overcome poverty themselves. There are 185 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.1 billion. IFAD has invested 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 77 million poor rural women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.5 billion in 732 programmes and projects that have helped more than 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 US$9.1 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.1 billion in cofinancing.