Rural Development Program for the Caribbean Coast to improve the lives of 10,000 poor rural families

Managua, 27 September, 2011 – The Government of the Republic of Nicaragua signed a loan agreement today with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for a new US$15 million rural development program for Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast.

The five-year Rural Development Program for the Caribbean Coast (better known as NICARIBE) benefits from US$8 million in financing from IFAD - US$4 million in the form of a highly concessional loan and US$4 million in grant financing. The program also benefits from US$4 million from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, US$2 million from the Government of Nicaragua as well as other counterpart funding.

“This important program will work with over 100 communities on the Caribbean Coast, allowing poor rural people living in these areas to improve productivity, access new markets, make more money and create better opportunities for their children,” said Josefina Stubbs, Director of IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division.

Stubbs travelled to Nicaragua this week along with IFAD’s Country Program Manager for Nicaragua, Ladislao Rubio, to sign the new loan agreement and meet with high-level officials from the Nicaraguan government to discuss IFAD’s growing portfolio in the region.

The NICARIBE project is notable as it looks to create new opportunities for women, young people and indigenous communities in the Autonomous Regions of the Northern and South Atlantic (RAAN and RAAS), an often overlooked area where more than 70 per cent of the population lives in poverty.

“Extreme rural poverty in Nicaragua as a whole fell from 30.5 per cent in 2005 to 18.2 per cent in 2009. Nevertheless, inequality and unequal access to employment, resources and education remain a central issue for families living along the Caribbean Coast,” Rubio said.

The new program will be implemented by the Rural Development Institute and the regional and territorial governments of the RAAN and RAAS autonomous regions.  

With climate-change and sustainable natural resource management becoming a national priority, the project will also support new approaches for environmental protection in the region and will strengthen local institutions and empower local governments with a territorial economic development fund.

Since 1980 IFAD has supported eight rural poverty reduction projects in Nicaragua with over US$100 million in funding.

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Press Release No.: IFAD/61/2011

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested about US$13.2 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries through projects empowering about 400 million people to break out of poverty, thereby helping to create vibrant rural communities. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the United Nation’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 166 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).