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| Project ID: 1348
Post-Tsunami Sustainable Livelihoods Programme for the Coastal Communities of Tamil Nadu The goal of the programme is to enable thousands of tsunami victims living in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu to return to a stable and productive way of life. A community-driven livelihoods approach will be adopted. Components involve: (i) coastal areas resource management; (ii) rural finance and risk-transfer instruments; (iii) employment generation and skills training; (iv) community-based sea-safety and disaster management; and (v) programme management. Activities will be coordinated with medium-term rehabilitation work undertaken by government and other relief agencies. The target group comprises coastal dwellers, including coastal fishers, wage labour employed in the fisheries sector, farmers, agricultural labourers and other groups. The programme will specifically target marginalized groups, including woman-headed households and scheduled castes. Communities will be enabled to manage coastal resources on a sustainable basis and to have secure access to financial services and a social safety net in the form of insurance of life and other assets, including fishing gear. Women will control the fish market and obtain fair value from the sales of produce. Loan Amount SDR 9.95 million (equivalent to approximately USD 15 million Cooperating Institution: United Nations Office for Project Services  Project ID: 1226
Livelihoods Improvement Project in the Himalayas The project's primary objective is to improve the livelihoods of vulnerable groups sustainably by promoting greater livelihood opportunities and strengthening the local institutions concerned with livelihood development. Specific objectives are to: (i) promote a more sensitive approach to the design and implementation of development interventions; (ii) enhance the capabilities of local people to select appropriate livelihood opportunities, access required financial resources, and manage new technologies and institutions at the village level; (iii) increase incomes through more sustainable income-generating cultivation systems and the establishment of non-farm enterprises at the micro and small-scale level; and (iv) establish effective and appropriate delivery systems for inputs and for the maintenance of assets and resources, with emphasis on microfinance, savings and thrift, and microinsurance products, along with access to business development services that will link household-based livelihood activities with the larger economy. Loan Amount: SDR 27.90 million (approximately USD 39.9 million) on highly concessional terms Total project cost: estimated at USD 84.2 million, of which beneficiaries will provide USD 9.5 million, domestic financing institutions USD 23.4 million and local governments USD 11.4 million. Cooperating Institution: UNOPS Project ID: 1210
Livelihood Security Project for Earthquake-Affected Rural Households in Gujarat The project will support the target group in drought-proofing and increase availability of drinking water by constructing wells and rainwater-harvesting tanks on roofs, and by renovating and constructing village ponds. It will help beneficiaries to diversify their sources of livelihood through a variety of on- and off-farm activities (crafts, gum collection and salt production) and create access to microfinance services, including microinsurance. The project will also offer guidance and supervision on the incorporation of earthquake-resistant features in constructions and ensure that the poor have access to housing funds. It will build the capacity of communities to develop appropriate strategies and contingency plans for coping with disaster and increase women’s productivity through the provision of health services. The project’s target group will be households affected by the January 2001 earthquake. They live in about 400 selected villages in 12 blocks of three districts in Gujarat, comprising a rural population of about 1 million people or 200 000 households. Villages are characterized by a large mix of ethnic groups, many facing considerable social stratification. The project will give priority to salt workers, other landless households and woman-headed households. The area has an incidence of poverty of about 37% and lags significantly behind the rest of India in a number of other social and economic indicators. Representing a mix of arid and semi-arid lands that encompass salty marshes, sandy undulating plains, sand dunes and gravely areas, the region is highly water-stressed and its natural resource base is declining over the long term. These phenomena are affecting agricultural production and making groundwater increasingly unusable. The result is a breakdown in the traditional economies of animal husbandry and dryland agriculture. Moreover, the area is highly vulnerable to earthquakes, drought and cyclones. The latest earthquake therefore only put further pressure on communities whose coping strategies were already overstretched. Its impact was greatest among the poorest, who are least able to cope with crises. While the earthquake focused attention on these communities, the project needs to respond comprehensively to securing the livelihood of the most vulnerable in these disaster-prone areas. Given this context, the target group requires greater livelihood security and better preparations to meet future crises. To this end, the project will: (i) strengthen the capacities of existing membership-based community organizations to support their members in expanding livelihood opportunities and improving their abilities to resist crises; (ii) assist marginalized groups (the landless, marginal farmers, etc.) in identifying needs, accessing resources and negotiating improved entitlements with better-off groups within the community and with public and private delivery systems; (iii) improve the preparedness of communities and households to cope with disasters; (iv) better the livelihood initiatives of the poorest in both natural resource and non-land- based activities; (v) augment the productivity of the natural resource base sustainably and equitably; and (vi) spread risks by diversifying livelihood activities and helping beneficiaries to save, take out insurance and gain access to credit. Loan amount: SDR 11.65 million (equivalent to approximately USD 15.0 million) Total project costs are estimated at USD 24.0 million of which World Food Programme (WFP) contributes USD 4.9 million and SEWA USD 1.7 million Cooperating Institution United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) |
| Project ID: 1155
Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme The programme will seek to ensure sustainable improvements in the food security and livelihoods of poor tribal households by promoting a more efficient, equitable, self-managed and sustainable exploitation of natural resources. This will be achieved by building the capacity of marginal groups (both individuals and grass-roots institutions) so that they become more capable of planning, implementing and managing their own development and negotiating improved entitlements. The programme will emphasize enhancing poor tribal people’s access to land, water, forests resources, financial services and markets, and it will also facilitate off-farm enterprise development. In addition, it proposes to strengthen the institutional capacity of government organizations, local self-government institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and to build programme interventions on indigenous knowledge and values blending these with technological innovations. The programme has made specific provisions for encouraging the development of an enabling, pro-tribal policy environment. To cater to the heterogeneous groups of poor, the programme will offer a wide menu of options for all categories from the poorest to the relatively less poor, namely wage employment, microfinance services, and short- and medium-term investments in agriculture and related activities. The programme will support a number of activities related to capacity-building for empowerment and livelihood enhancement, analysing and implementing appropriate policies, programme management and food handling. It also has made provision for a flexible fund for creating community infrastructures relevant to the needs of the people. The Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme will cover 30 blocks in eight districts of western Orissa, one of the poorest and most deprived regions of India. With three fourths of the population living below poverty line, it has a total rural population of 1.4 million people belonging to over 390 000 households. Of these, the programme will directly benefit some 338 000 people belonging to 75 000 households living in over 1 000 villages. Some 61% of the total population are members of various tribal groups, and 12% are scheduled castes. Since the tribal population is the most disadvantaged among the social groups and their development has been accorded very high priority by the Government of India, the programme’s choice of target group is well justified. Because poverty is broad-based in the region, the programme will adopt an ‘inclusive approach’, targeting all households living in the participating villages and hamlets. To be eligible, a watershed will have to have a population consisting of at least 60% tribals and scheduled castes. Within this, the programme will pay special attention to marginalized groups, namely women, un(der)employed youth and children, primitive tribal groups, hill cultivators, landless and marginal farmers and scheduled castes. Loan amount: SDR 16.05 million (equivalent to approximately USD 20.0 million) at highly concessional terms Total project costs are estimated at USD 91.2 million Cooperating institution: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) |
| Project ID: 1121
National Microfinance Support Programme The overall goal of this seven-year IFAD-initiated programme is to expand the horizontal and vertical outreach of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and programmes and to mainstream them, in terms of their access to resources available in the financial sector, so as to enhance the access of the poor to microfinance services. To achieve that goal, the programme will contribute to the development of a more formal, extensive and effective microfinance sector on a national scale, better able to serve the poor and assist in the evolution of an appropriate enabling environment for the development of sustainable microfinance institutions. This, in turn, will contribute to increasing income and employment, eliminating poverty and empowering the poor and their communities. In line with IFADs strategy for reaching the poor, the programme will support development of grass- roots MFIs through capacity-building and provision of funds for on-lending, the latter being the main focus of IFAD funding under the programme. The target group will encompass all strata of the poor in rural and urban areas in need of microfinance services (approximately 1.3 million men and women). IFAD funds, however, will be restricted to rural and semi-rural areas. About 540 000 persons are expected to be direct borrowers of the credit funds that the Foundation for Microcredit provides to MFIs and formal financial institutions. The remaining 800 000 persons will receive loans from member savings or benefit from savings facilities through the MFI self-help groups. Targeting will be ensured through the establishment of ceilings on loan sizes and self-selection procedures that impose discipline within self-help groups. Innovative features: While building on the successes of past IFAD-assisted projects in India, this programme introduces a number of innovative features. With an input of USD 22.0 million, the programme has been able to leverage a total grant fund of USD 23.5 million and a total loan and equity fund of USD 89.0 million. Additionally, the programme has been built on the clear vision of moving towards commercial principles in a sector that is historically subsidy-oriented. Charging a near-commercial rate on loans to MFIs, allowing MFIs to charge market rates for their on-lending, and above all passing on exchange-rate risk and guarantee charges on IFAD lending directly to SIDBI are important steps in commercializing the microfinance sector. Loan amount: SDR 16.4 million (approximately USD 22.0 million) on highly concessional terms under the flexible lending mechanism (FLM). Total programme costs: Estimated at USD 134.0 million, of which USD 88.5 million will be provided by SIDBI and USD 23.5 million by DFID. Cooperating institution: UNOPS. |
| Project ID: 1063
Bihar-Madhya Pradesh Tribal Development Programme In spite of the significant amount of resources allocated to the development of tribal people, who are among the poorest in India and constitute 40% of the displaced population, benefits have not trickled down to them and their living conditions have not improved. The overall objective of this eight-year IFAD-initiated programme, which will be direct ly supervised by the Fund, is to promote a replicable model that ensures household food security, livelihood opportunities and an improved overall quality of life for tribal people, based on sustainable and equitable use of natural resources. Specific objectives are to: - empower tribal grass-roots associations and users' groups to plan, implement and manage their own development activities; - promote activities that generate sustainable increases in production and productivity of land and water resources; - generate alternate sources of income outside agriculture, particularly for the landless; and - improve the quality of life and income of marginal groups through sustainable natural resources management. The principal beneficiaries are tribal households in two of the three states with the highest proportion of tribal population, namely, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Special attention is being paid to marginal households and to groups that are in the process of being marginalized, such as women, the landless, hill cultivators and tribal groups that have been classified as primitive by the Government. Approximately 74 000 households (270 000 people) are expected to benefit. Innovative Features: - The programme proposes to strengthen the role of community-based organizations by formalizing them and by increasing their capacity to plan and execute development activities. The programme is highly process-oriented and flexible, and it emphasizes the empowerment of beneficiary groups and their active participation in self-development. Towards this goal, the programme will introduce the concept of autonomous tribal development societies within each state. This approach is designed to promote professionalism and accountability in programme management. - Laws affecting tribal populations will also be studied. To support this study, a legal defence fund will be established to cover any costs that may be incurred in defending the rights of tribal househo lds. - A holistic approach to natural resources management also plays an integral part in the programme. The programme will introduce, for the first time, watershed management as part of its overall approach to the protection/management of natural resources. Loan Amount: SDR 17.0 million (approximately USD 23.0 million) on highly concessional terms. Total Programme Costs: Estimated at USD 41.7 million, of which USD 10.5 million will be provided by the Department of International Development (United Kingdom), USD 4.8 million by the Government and USD 3.4 million by the beneficiaries. Cooperating Institution: The programme will be supervised directly by IFAD. |
| Project ID: 1040
North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project for Upland Areas The overall objective of this seven-year project is to improve the livelihood of vulnerable groups through environmentally sound, improved management of their resource base. To engender a greater sense of ownership of development initiatives by the communities, the project seeks to strengthen their capacity to manage the implementation of their development initiatives. All sectors of the community (including women, youth and marginalized groups) will be represented through the establishing of a village development committee as an arm of the traditional village council. Project components are: - capacity-building of communities and participating agencies; - economic livelihood activities to support on-farm investments; - community-based b iodiversity conservation; - social-sector activities to improve access to safe drinking water, better health care and more relevant education; - village roads and rural electrification; and - project management. The project will be implemented in phases. During the pilot phase (project years 1-3), the project will cover six hill districts in the States of Meghalaya, Manipur and Assam. For the expansion phase (project years 4-7), project support will be extended to other hill districts within the initial states and to upland areas in other states within the region. Principal beneficiaries will be the most vulnerable households, which are solely or heavily dependent on jhum cultivation. Of these, an estimated 131 000 persons will benefit directly, with special attention to women and unemployed youth. More than 440 000 jhum cultivators will also benefit from project interventions. The on-farm employment generated in the long run will provide employment to around 6 400 persons. Loan amount: SDR 16.6 million (approximately USD 22.9 million) on highly concessional terms. Total project costs are estimated at USD 33.2 million, of which USD 1.2 million will be provided by institutional financing, USD 5.6 million by the borrower and USD 3.5 million by the beneficiaries. Cooperating institution: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). |
