Project ID: 1291
Executive Board Document: EB-2004-82-R-12-Rev-1

Transitional Programme of Post-Conflict Reconstruction

The programme will primarily benefit 74 000 vulnerable rural households equivalent to 370 000 people in the provinces of Bujumbura Rural, Bururi and Ruyigi. These households were assessed in 2003 by the Government, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the United Nations Children's Fund as chronically food insecure, well below the 2000 official poverty line of USD 120 and predominantly operating farms below the median size of 0.5 or 0.1 ha per person. As a result of conflict and HIV/AIDS, about 17% are headed by women and a further 6% by children.

Benefits are expected to include the following. Community development: opportunity for reconciliation and participatory transition and development with 10,000 people trained as community development committee (CDC) members. The CDC system will be the basis for sustained poverty reducing development planning, resource mobilization and implementation, which are representative, inclusive and popularly accountable. Legal support: restoring a sense and practice of justice at local level with up to 45,800 citizens trained in legal rights and responsibilities and settlement of civil disputes and funds to pursue 750 cases in higher courts if necessary. Regeneration of rural women's livelihoods: better health through HIV/AIDS information and education campaigns (IECs); greater income for women through funding for offfarm income-generating activities; more and stronger women's organizations from support to training and IECs; and functional literacy for 44,000 people. Rehabilitation and development of agriculture: 50,000 vulnerable houses in receipt of agriculture and livestock packages for sustainable agriculture; livestock restocking through a chaîne de solidarité starting with 400 cattle, 11,500 sheep and goats and 650 pigs; soil and water conservation by establishing 1 150 nurseries to supply 54,000 households with soil-fixing grasses and plants and 270,000 households with fruit and agroforestry species; better trained and more effective extension services; and environmental improvements from national reserve rehabilitation and retraining of 50 gardiens de la paix as nature wardens. Rehabilitation and development of rural infrastructure: health and labour benefits from rehabilitation of 310 km of reticulated potable water systems and development of 600 safe wells; greater access to inputs and markets from 325 km of rehabilitated rural roads; and new access to productive land for up to 9,320 households through up to 2,330 ha of swamp reclamation; and immediate additional income to local people employed as construction labour on these rural works. Landless people will have preference for employment on civil works, access to newly developed swamp land, receipt of small ruminants and support for income-generating activities.

Loan Amount

SDR 11.3 million (equivalent to approximately USD 16.4 million)

Total project cost:USD 32.7 million

Cooperating Institution:

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Project ID: 1105
Executive Board Document: EB-99-66-R-15-Rev-1

Rural Recovery and Development Programme

Burundi's socio-political crisis, compounded by economic sanctions imposed by neighbouring countries, has led to economic decline and increasing impoverishment (per capita income is estimated to have fallen from USD 180 in 1992 to a low of USD134 in 1997). This seven-year IFAD-initiated programme has, as its objectives, the reduction of rural poverty and the promotion of sustainable market-led growth. The overall goal is to strengthen the enabling socio-economic environment in a manner conducive to the reduction of rural poverty. The programme seeks to accomplish this goal by creating a stakeholder economy based on equitable partnerships, co-investment and the achievement of national reconciliation. To achieve its strategic goal, the programme's specific objectives are to:

- enhance the productive capacity of marginalized, poor communities;

- promote household food security;

- promote community-driven development as a means of ensuring people and gender empowerment with a view to furthering reconciliation; and

- contribute to environmental preservation and the restoration of rural livelihoods.

The programme will use an interactive, community-based participatory approach to programme planning, implementation and monitoring. Since the crisis began in 1993, more than 100 000 people have lost their lives, and over 800 000 people have been displaced and are living in camps. The primary target group is those households that were displaced and have now either resettled in their original villages or plan to do so. In households headed by women or orphans, direct support to production capabilities is likely to have a rapid impact on domestic food supply and nutritional status.

Innovative Features:

- The programme will systematically apply community development methodologies and promote the empowerment of women over a vast geographical area. A few NGOs already apply such methods here and there in Burundi, often at the commune level. However, for the first time, a specialized NGO will be involved at the national level.

- Although programme leaders are acutely aware that the pace of technological innovation should never be forced (especially under post-crisis conditions in which large sections of the population are primarily concerned with recovering their former economic and social status), the programme will promote those production methods and technologies deemed to be more effective and capable of gaining acceptance by the target population. Biological soil conservation and protection methods clearly come under this heading, especially if they can be associated with intensive livestock management and improved crop production in marsh-lands. Finally, the programme will test and promote the establishment of bench terraces for annual cultivation.

Loan amount:

SDR 14.8 million (approximately USD 20.0 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total Programme Costs:

Estimated at USD 34.2 million, of which USD 8.3 million will be provided by the OPEC Fund, USD 1.2 million by WFP, USD 3.5 million by the Government and USD 1.2 million by the beneficiaries.

Cooperating Institution:

UNOPS.