| Project ID: 1329
Executive Board document: EB-2006-89-R-18-Rev-1
Agricultural and Rural Rehabilitation and Development
Initiative Project
The proposed project will reach approximately 340,000 individuals, with special
emphasis on women and young people under age 25. The aim is to provide
resources to help them (i) overcome a high debt burden and recover from the
disinvestments resulting from locust attacks in 2004 and low rainfall in 2005;
(ii) prevent or cope more effectively with future crises; (iii) improve nutrition and
child-feeding practices (45 per cent of children under 5 are malnourished);
(iv) enhance food security; and (v) develop sustainable income sources.
Local populations – and the target groups in particular – will participate actively in all
project-supported activities, notably by (i) guiding and undertaking the process of
vulnerability assessment and ranking local households by degree of vulnerability
using locally defined criteria; (ii) supervising the implementation of microprojects as
owners; and (iii) monitoring and evaluating results and updating local data to reflect
the impact of project-supported activities.
The overall goal of the project is to generate sustainable improvements in the
incomes, food security and living conditions of the poorest rural populations of the
Maradi Region. The project objectives comply with those of the April 2006 country
strategic opportunities paper.
Amount of IFAD loan: SDR 10.35 million (equivalent to approximately
US$15.25 million) on highly concessional terms
Amount of IFAD grant: SDR 280,000 (equivalent to approximately
US$400,000)
Total project cost: US$36.29 million
Cooperating institution: United Nations Office for Project Services
Project ID: 1221
Executive Board document: EB-2002-77-R-15-REV-1
Project for the Promotion of Local Initiatives for Development
in Aguie
Who are the beneficiaries?The beneficiaries will
be the 30 000 rural families (180 000 persons, living in poverty,
with special attention for the most vulnerable households.
Project target groups will include: (i) households considered
as vulnerable or very vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty;
(ii) poor women and woman-headed households (13% of the total
households); and (iii) unemployed and underemployed youth
who increasingly need to venture into off-farm activities
due to the narrow resource base and high demographic growth.
Why are they poor? Poverty is closely correlated
with food insecurity and a broad range of other factors such
as small livestock holdings as well as the need to work for
others, collect firewood to sell, emigrate or sell standing
crops (sur pied). Erratic rainfall has always been a major
risk in the project area, and changes in the social fabric
have tended to weaken the solidarity linkages traditionally
used by society to cope with it. Other factors of risk are
poor health and indebtedness. The impoverishment process leads
the poorer households to sell land and other production assets,
thereby placing their food security and reproduction at risk.
Their strategies to reduce vulnerability focus primarily on
food security, especially during the dry season: ownership
of ruminants, seasonal migration, cereal banks and, more recently,
savings schemes. While women have acquired some degree of
autonomy, they have also experienced an increase in their
responsibilities and a weakening of support from the rest
of the family. On the other hand, a growing number of young
people and young families can no longer expect to build a
life in agriculture and are forced to look for alternative
livelihoods.
What will the project do for them? The project will
improve their incomes and livelihood standards, placing a
special emphasis on women and young adults. It will also strengthen
target group capacities within a local development process
to design, develop and implement innovations and initiatives
(in technical, economic or organizational areas) that could
reduce their poverty or vulnerability, or improve their food
security. More specifically, the project will (i) support
the creation and consolidation of organizations able to foster
the development of local dialogue, decisionmaking and implementation
of innovations and initiatives; (ii) encourage individuals
and groups to design and implement their own microprojects;
(iii) assist in identifying, fine-tuning, analysing, valorizing
and disseminating local innovations; and (iv) strengthen the
local services delivery capacity in response to the real needs
and demands of the target group and to facilitate local innovations
and initiatives.
How will the beneficiaries participate in the project?
The beneficiaries will participate through the local instances
and organizations supported by the project. These institutions
will be based either on the concept of the terroir (territory)
or upon other rationales (thematic, networking, etc.); they
will be fostered at different levels (such as interest groups,
intra- or inter-village, profession) as appropriate. The purpose
is to support civil-society organizations able to interact
effectively with administrative bodies (councils, districts,
region). The momentum being achieved by innovating farmers
may expand, possibly giving birth to a professional farmers
organization in the project area.
Loan Amount:
SDR 7.60 million (equivalent to approximately USD 10.00 million)
at highly concessional terms
Total project costs: USD 17.56 million
Cooperating Institution:
United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
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