Project ID: 1284
Executive Board Document: EB-2004-83-R-22-Rev-1

Microfinance for Marginal and Small Farmers Project

The goal of this six-year project is to improve the livelihoods of 210 000 poor small and marginal farmer households. The project will seek to meet this goal by financing three components: (i) microfinance services: (ii) capacity building and market linkages; and (iii) project coordination and management. The objectives of these components are to: (i) establish viable microfinance institutions to provide opportunities to 210 000 small and marginal farmer households to invest in on- and offfarm enterprises; (ii) increase agricultural production through access to information, the adoption of new technologies and linkages to markets; and (iii) develop and mainstream PKSF operational procedures for lending to farmers and related agro-enterprises.

The project area includes 14 districts in north-west and northcentral Bangladesh, selected on the basis of high levels of poverty and good agricultural potential. The project target group will consist of poor small and marginal farmer households, identified as those households operating between 0.5 and 2.5 acres of land. The total population of the target districts is 28 million (of which 1.7 million households constitute the project target group). It is expected that by the end of the project period, some 210 000 households (man- and woman-headed) will have directly benefited. Participatory wealth ranking during the design missions identified additional targeting criteria to ensure that the project focuses on the poorest farm households. These criteria include, inter alia, (i) the principle occupation being agriculture and the main source of household income being crops, horticulture, livestock, fisheries or agro-related enterprises; (ii) households that experience a food shortage of over two months a year (less than three meals a day); and (iii) especially disadvantaged households (woman-headed, unemployed youth, tribals).

Participatory development will be ensured as follows. Building on the success of the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation's approach of wholesaling credit to NGO partner organizations, the project will support the creation of 11 500 new savings and credit groups (210 000 members, of which approximately 80% will be women). The project will provide training to such members in social development, technical skills and business development. Beneficiaries will participate in savings and credit groups; a field-level training and demonstration programme; farmer field days and farm visits; and a market linkage programme. The target group will also participate in the process of beneficiary monitoring and impact assessment.

Loan Amount

SDR 13.40 million (equivalent to approximately USD 20.06 million) on highly concessional terms

Total programme cost: USD 29.74 million

Cooperating Institution:

Andean Development Corporation

Project ID: 1235
Executive Board Document: EB-2003-78-R-28-REV-1

Microfinance and Technical Support Project

Who are the project beneficiaries? Of the 4.3 million households in the 13 districts of the project area, an estimated 2.2 million are now below the poverty line (i.e. consuming equivalent to 2 112 kilocalories (kcals)/person/day). The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the number of poor by 2015 corresponds in the project area to 1.1 million fewer poor households. It is conservatively projected that the project will directly benefit 276 000 households (25% of the MDG target for the project area). The target group will be comprised predominantly of landless women (approximately 90% of projected direct beneficiaries). Some 25% of beneficiaries will be selected from the hard-core poor (i.e. consuming less than 1 805 kcals/person/day).

Why are they poor? A livelihoods analysis cofinanced by the Department for International Development (United Kingdom) during project formulation identified the major poverty issues in the project area. First, in terms of vulnerability, the poor live in an area characterized by extreme yearly flooding. Vulnerability is increased by dependence on moneylenders, the seasonality of income, and emergencies due to illnesses. Second, in terms of the institutional, legal and policy framework that shapes the livelihoods of the poor, the formal government services for rural development (agriculture, livestock, fisheries) at the local level are limited. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are present but mainly provide only savings and credit services. The private sector is growing in importance every year as a result of privatization programmes. Third, in terms of peoples access to livelihood assets, the target group have limited access to land, and human and social capital are not well developed.

How to benefit the target group? To address the above livelihood constraints, the project will seek to mitigate vulnerability, improve access to essential services and resources, and support a pro-poor livelihoods component (livestock). It will reach the target group through a four-pronged design approach. (i) Focusing on the promotion of high-value products (with established marketing chains and not requiring large landholdings), the project will provide access to savings and credit services. (ii) Following the draft Poverty-Reduction Strategy Paper and to improve technical service provision to beneficiaries, the project will support contracting input supply and service provision through NGOs and the private sector. (iii) To enhance human capital, the project will provide a programme of skills development for beneficiaries and also for NGO staff. (iv) To address the vulnerability of women, the project will aim to meet strategic gender needs such as access to knowledge and technology, control over productive resources, and generation of leadership and management skills.

How will they participate in the project? Building on the success of the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) approach of wholesaling credit to NGO partner organizations, and in line with the draft PRSP, the project will ensure participatory development by: (i) supporting the creation of 11 700 new savings and credit groups (234 000 members, approximately 90% women); and (ii) providing social development and technical skills training to these new members and to an additional 42 000 existing group members (this will include training village-level technicians and NGO staff to provide technical support to beneficiaries). Beneficiaries will participate in: savings and credit groups; a fieldlevel training, demonstration and adaptive research programme; and training by NGOs and village extension workers. Beneficiaries will also participate in monitoring and impact assessment.

Loan Amount:

SDR 11.9 million (equivalent to approximately USD 16.3 million)

Total project cost:USD 20.2 million

Cooperating Institutions:

NGO partner organizations (POs)

Project ID: 1165
Executive Board Document: EB-2001-73-R-19

Sunamganj Community-Based Resource Management Project

To address the above livelihood constraints, the project will seek to: mitigate vulnerability; improve access to essential services and resources; support diverse livelihoods components (livestock, fish and crops); and support empowerment through mainstreaming gender. In particular, it will seek to reach the target group using the following approach: (i) focusing on the promotion of high-value products with established marketing chains (livestock and fisheries), the project will provide access to savings and credit services at the village level; (ii) to enhance the target group’s access to and control over natural resources, the project will support transfer of water and land management rights to beneficiaries, and focus on community-based habitat restoration as a means of ensuring increased production and availability of fish to the target group; (iii) to provide employment opportunities to the poorest and most vulnerable population groups, and in particular to women, and to ensure reduced threats of erosion and flooding, the project will promote labour-intensive infrastructure development (including, inter alia, village erosion protection works and village storage facilities); (iv) to mitigate the vulnerability of women, the project will aim to address strategic gender needs such as access to knowledge and technology, control over productive resources, and generation of leadership and management skills.

The target groups are landless, marginal and small-farmer households and women. In Sunamganj this translates as 246 000 rural households (86% of the district’s total). As Sunamganj is a neglected and remote district characterized by destructive flooding patterns, the vulnerability and the livelihood insecurity of the target group are high. Woman-headed households are particularly vulnerable. It is expected that, by the end of the project period, the project will benefit some 135 000 households (man- and woman-headed).

First, the poor live in an area characterized by extreme annual flooding events. Erosion of homesteads and destruction of crops by flash floods are frequent. The remoteness and poor communications of the district and the associated lack of services (government, health, emergency and so on) exacerbate vulnerability. Second, with regard to the institutional, legal and policy framework, the formal government presence is limited because of the remoteness of the district. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are present but have very limited outreach; donors are virtually absent. While the Government supports redistribution of land and water rights to the poor, implementation of this policy has been ineffective and not enforced. Third, the target group has limited access to the benefits of the resource base, which is controlled by local elites. In areas prone to crop damage by floods, they struggle to subsist by cultivating one crop of rice a year (51% of households own less than 0.2 ha, and a further 35% own less than 1 ha). The poor have limited access to savings and credit facilities, as NGOs have only reached 12% of rural households in the district. The obvious indicator of underdevelopment is the lack of physical infrastructure and the poor state of roads and embankments, which are eroded annually.

Loan amount:

SDR 17.55 million (equivalent to approximately USD 22.0 million)

Total project costs are estimated at USD 34.3 million

Cooperating Institution:

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Project ID: 1076
Executive Board Document: EB-99-66-R-18-Rev-1

Smallholder Agricultural Improvement Project

As one of the poorest countries in the world, Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to floods and cyclones, which destroy crops, livestock and property and cause loss of life. This six-year IFAD-initiated project seeks to boost the food production and household incomes of the rural poor in the districts of Jamalpur, Mymensingh and Sherpur in the north-centre of the country. Its overall goal is to improve food security and living standards, while enhancing the economic infrastructure servin g targeted rural households. An important secondary objective of this project is to strengthen the implementation capacity of key institutions, including community groups, the Department of Agricultural Extension, the local Government Engineering Department and NGOs. To this end, the project plans to:

- contract suitable NGOs to form cohesive beneficiary groups and provide them with training and support;

- strengthen extension services and reorient their approaches to ensure beneficiary participation in the planning and implementation of activities;

- increase employment opportunities for the landless, functionally landless and women through provision of collateral-free credit for income-generating activities;

- promote a number of activities to benefit minority groups, and improve basic infrastructure, with a focus on providing adequate access roads and marketing and training facilities.

The target group encompasses the landless and marginal or small farmers, with particular attention to women heads of households, Adivasi (indigenous families) and Charlanders (people who live on newly formed riverbanks). About 131 000 households are targeted, of which 13 000 are Adivasis and 5 000 Charland households. The project will benefit the entire population of the project area by improving basic infrastructure and living conditions.

Innovative Features:

- To ensure that target beneficiaries have access to credit, the project will establish pilot revolving funds (savings and credit) administered by the community with support from and under the supervision of suitable NGOs. Private commercial banks will be invited to participate in credit supply and to support selected NGOs.

- The project targets minority populations, namely the Adivasi and Charlanders, and addresses their unique vulnerabilities. In the case of the Adivasi, project funds will be channelled into a development fund exclusively for the use of these tribal communities. The main focus of suppor t to the Charlanders is flood protection for both poor individual families and for communities.

- The project will test six pilot ecological villages, incorporating community biogas plants and energy-saving stoves, to improve village living conditions.

Loan Amount:

SDR 13.7 million (approximately USD 18.6 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total Project Costs:

Estimated at USD 25.7 million, of which USD 1.7 million will be provided by WFP, USD 4.4 million by the Government, USD 650 000 by participating banks and USD 320 000 by the beneficiaries.

Cooperating Institution:

UNOPS.

Project ID: 1074
Executive Board Document: EB-98-63-R-17-Rev-1

Aquaculture Development Project

Building on experience gained and lessons learned from the IFAD-funded Oxbow Lakes Small-Scale Fishermen Project, this seven-year IFAD-initiated project will focus on two disadvantaged groups of the rural poor, namely:

(i) the landless, the near-landless and women, a category that covers the majority of the small-scale fishing population; and

(ii) the marginal and small-scale farmers, including a large number of aquaculture households.

The overall goal of the project will be to improve the living standards and conditions of fishing communities and women's groups in some of the poo rest districts of the country, where 49% of the households live below the absolute poverty line. The specific objectives will be to:

(i) boost fisheries/aquaculture production and incomes;

(ii) establish and strengthen community organizations to ensure that the target groups have access to water bodies, and the provision of technical and social services on a sustainable basis;

(iii) imp rove the status of women by including them in the project mainstream activity of pond aquaculture and providing s upport for income-generating activities;

(iv) upgrade the resource base through the rehabilitation of sui table large water bodies and fish ponds; and

(v) facilitate access to and from rural communities through the upgrading of rural roads, thereby improving marketing possibilities for the inhabitants of 450 project villages (about 43 300 people will benefit directly). The project will benefit some 24 220 households, including 9 000 fishermen and fish farmers.

Innovative Features:

One of the greatest problems facing poor fishing communities in Bangladesh is the difficulty of obtaining access and user rights to water bodies. Until recently, water bodies were leased from the government by rich landowners, who then hired the fishermen to work on them as labourers. IFAD has persuaded the government to lease water bodies directly to fishermen's groups who can use their new-found security of tenure to develop such areas and maximize their fishing capacity. Land tenure allows people to make and implement long-term plans and reap their benefits. As a means of empowerment, the aquaculture project has reintroduced the concept of land owned by the community for the benefit of the community. By enabling the fishermen to organize themselves into groups, IFAD helps them to exploit and manage such waterways directly. To ensure beneficiary participation and empowerment, the project aims to engage NGOs both to train and help rural people establish beneficiary groups.

Loan amount:

SDR 15.0 million (approximately USD 20.0 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total project costs:

Estimated at USD 23.8 million, of which USD 1.2 million will be provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) and USD 2.6 million by the Government and the beneficiaries.

Cooperating institution:

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). possibilities for the inhabitants of 450 project villages (about 43 300 people will benefit directly). The projec t will benefit some 24 220 households, including 9 000 fishermen and fish farmers.

Project ID: 1062
Executive Board Document:

Third Rural Infrastructure Development Project

The main objectives of this seven-year project are to:

accelerate agricultural, non-farm economic and social development in the 13 project districts and reduce the extent of poverty through the improvement of basic rural transport and trading infrastructure;

strengthen the participation of beneficiaries in the planning, implementation and maintenance of the proposed infrastructure works; and

provide direct employment and create income-generating opportunities in the farm and non-farm sectors for the rural poor, including poor women.

Project components are:

development of the rural road network;

improvement of growth centre markets and boat loading/unloading areas;

adversity-response initiatives and development of participation; and

institutional development and project support.

The area comprises two zones:

an eastern zone covering five districts (Mymensingh, Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Jamalpur and Sherpur) and

a western zone covering eight districts (Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Niloharmari, Dinaipur, Panchagarth and Thakurgaon), for a target population estimated at about 25 million.

Loan amount:

SDR 8.5 million (approximately USD 11.7 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total project costs are estimated at USD 181.0 million, of whic h USD 70.0 million will be provided by the Asian Development Bank (AsDB), USD 7.2 million by the Swedish International Development Agency in the form of a grant, USD 50.7 million by the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan and USD 41.4 million by the borrower.

Cooperating institution:

AsDB.

Project ID: 1029
Executive Board Document:

Agricultural Diversification and Intensification Project

The main objectives of this seven-year project are to: boost agricultural production and the income of the rural poor; establish and strengthen community organizations; increase employment opportunities; strengthen government services and NGOs in order to support farmers; and develop basic rural infrastructure. Project components are:

- agricultural development;

- community development;

- rural savings and credit;

- community infrastructure improvement; and

- project management.

The project area covers four districts, with a target group of about 1.4 million families.

Loan amount:

SDR 13.7 million (approximately USD 18.9 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total project costs are estimated at USD 32.4 million, of which USD 5.1 million will be provided by the World Food Programme in the form of a food-for-work grant, USD 1.5 million by the Agrani Bank, USD 4.9 million by the borrower and USD 1.9 million by the beneficiaries.

Cooperating Institution:

The project will be directly supervised by IFAD.