Critical Design Considerations for the Second Phase
Building on the above lessons, successful
implementation of the second phase will require that the project
management team aim to:
· Distinguish between communal/infrastructure
investments (water roads and other infrastructure) that are
public and result in a public good, and those, essentially
private in character, that are in support of income generating
activities (such as those dealing with agricultural and micro-enterprise
development) in order to better facilitate project coordination,
activity planning and resource allocation.
· Integrate the project more closely with the process of
decentralisation and match project implementation with national
policies and legislation.
· Promote joint district/community ownership
within which the district assumes rights and obligations for
planning and implementation of project investment but does
so jointly with the communities that will participate in all
stages of investment planning and delivery, so as to ensure
that infrastructure is delivered in accordance with their
needs and requirements and a sense of ownership and responsibility
for operation and maintenance is developed.
· Harmonize project procedures for public/infrastructure
investment, programming and delivery with those of the Common
Development Fund (CDF) and, as CDF gains experience and increases
capacity, aim to channel an increasing portion of UCRIDP infrastructure
investment through CDF.
· Introduce a system of annual allocation
of project resources among districts that responds to demand
for priority infrastructure investment, is equitable and encourages
efficient use of resources.
· Promote provincial structures as a source of technical
expertise for the districts and a venue for coordination.
· Phase implementation of the district strategy
in several steps with transfer of increasing levels of responsibilities
to the districts as their capabilities build up, their performance
improves and their absorption capacity increases.
· Develop a new advisory role for the PCU in which the PCU
would leave direct implementation to local structures and
provide capacity-building assistance where needed.
· Work, whenever possible, with existing institutions and
channels – strengthening the institutions when needed – rather
than creating new ones.
· Build on the project’s success in forming community-level
savings and credit groups (GRFs and WID groups) but transform
them into more sustainable rural financial organizations that
do not depend on grants.
· Harmonize the operations of PPPMER and UCRIDP, both of
which are funded by IFAD and both of which operated in Umutara
during the first phase.
· Actively pursue cross-cutting themes – gender mainstreaming,
poverty alleviation, unity and reconciliation, land tenure
and environment – and develop practical and dynamic initiatives
that will produce clear and specified results that complement
the full range of project interventions
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