Project ID: 1301
Executive Board document: EB-2005-84-R-14-Rev-2

Rural Livelihoods Improvement Programme in Attapeu and Sayabouri

Who are the beneficiaries? The target group will consist of 26 200 poor and food insecure households in the upland and households that have recently resettled from the remote uplands to more accessible areas. Women will be an important part of the target group because of their disadvantaged position in society and their important role in productive and reproductive activities. Unemployed rural youth will be a more general part of the target group because of their potential role in national and local economic development and social stability.

Why are they poor? They are poor because of: (a) insufficient paddy land, short, shifting cultivation cycles and lack of irrigation water, technical knowledge and skills; (b) loss of animals due to livestock diseases; (c) lack of cash to invest in livelihood improvements; (d) natural disasters; (e) lack of access to government support services, safe drinking water, primary education, health care and rural access roads; and (f) the presence of unexploded ordnance.

How to benefit the target group? The programme would benefit the target group through: (a) improvement in the capability of the target group in the effective use of their natural resources and services available for their own social and economic development through participatory community development; (b) the transfer of sustainable farming and natural resource management systems and technologies to increase the incomes and farm productivity of the target group through a farmer based extension and demonstration programme; (c) the provision of access to safe drinking water, primary health services and road communications to improve the health, labour productivity and marketing opportunities of the target group; and (d) the provision of institutional support to strengthen the local capacity for effective service delivery and the promotion of the poor in the policy-making process.

Innovative features include: (a) a programme approach that supports the National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy through an investment programme focusing on the poor and very poor districts identified through the strategy; (b) a mechanism whereby experience gained from programme implementation can feed back through a policy analysis subcomponent into policy development with respect to poverty reduction and decentralization; and (c) assigning to the village administration committees a greater development orientation and capacity rather than establishing separate and parallel village development committees.

Loan and grant amount:
Loan: SDR 11.30 million (equivalent to approximately USD 17.30 million) Grant: SDR 450 000 (equivalent to approximately USD 693 000)

Total programme cost: USD 25.94 million

Project ID: 1207
Executive Board document: EB-2002-75-R-20

Oudomxai Community Initiatives Support Project

The project will benefit the target group by: (i) improving the capability of the poor and their organizations to make efficient use of their natural resources and the services available for their own social and economic development through a process of community mobilization and participatory development; (ii) transferring simple and proven production technologies to increase household incomes and farm productivity and to reduce reliance on shifting cultivation and opium production through a community-based extension and natural resource management programme; (iii) rehabilitating and/or constructing small-scale irrigation and water control schemes to improve farm productivity for both wet season and dry season crops; (iv) providing access to safe drinking water and road communications to improve beneficiaries? health, labour productivity and marketing opportunities; (v) providing a school dormitory programme to selected schools to build capacity of the ethnic minorities in remote villages; (vi) providing rural financial services to support investment in on- and off-farm income-generating activities; and (vii) providing institutional support to local service providers to strengthen their capacity for effective delivery of services to the target group in a demand-driven and participatory manner.

The project will support the target groups initiatives, adapting participatory development as its basic approach to ensure their participation in and ownership of the project and hence its sustainability. Villagers will participate in community development, participatory planning, field demonstrations, farmers training as village extension and veterinary workers, and construction of rural infrastructure works. They will contribute to the construction of irrigation and water supply facilities and village access roads and have full responsibility for their operation and maintenance. They will participate in the decision-making process and beneficiary impact assessment at the village, district and provincial levels.

Project beneficiaries will include about 29 000 households, or nearly 177 000 people who live below the national poverty line in the province of Oudomxai. The second-poorest province in the country, Oudomxai has a poverty index of 73.2%. Most targeted households belong to ethnic groups living in the midland and upland areas who practise shifting cultivation and opium production. Women are an important part of the target group because of the major role they play in on- and off-farm farm activities. By the end of the project period, 64 200 people (10 000 households) in 187 villages, or about 27% of the rural population in Oudomxai, will benefit directly from the project.

Innovative features include the following for IFAD in Laos: (i) the first project financed by an external loan to support the implementation of the National Poverty Reduction Programme; (ii) emphasis on cultivation, harvesting and group marketing of non-timber forest products linked to sustainable management of the forest areas; (iii) provision of support for the Lao Womens Union to mainstream gender issues in all project activities; (iv) internalization of project implementation within existing government systems without creating parallel project structures to ensure institutional sustainability; (v) inclusion of community mobilization, community development and participatory planning as the entry point and linkage for all project activities at village level; (vi) institutionalization of beneficiary impact assessment; (vii) a capacity-building programme to provide young people with basic skills enabling some to work as village volunteers; and (viii) a focus on capacity-building at the village and district levels in line with the Governments decentralization policy.

Loan amount:

SDR 10.80 million (equivalent to approximately USD 13.41 million) at highly concessional terms

Total project costs are estimated at USD 21.14 million

Cooperating Institution:

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Project ID: 1099
Executive Board Document: EB-98-65-R-19-Rev-1

Xieng Khouang Agricultural Development Project Phase II

Building upon the experience of Phase I, the main objectives of this six-year IFAD-initiated project are to reduce poverty, increase household food and income security and improve nutrition for the poor, and to increase the availability of alternatives to opium poppy cultivation in Xieng Khouang Province. These objectives will be achieved by:

(i) encouraging agricultural development, including irrigation, crop and livestock production;

(ii) providing income-diversification opportunities through savings and credit;

(iii) removing the isolation of poor, remote communities through the construction of rural access roads; and

(iv) providing drinking water supply in order to improve the health and productivity of the local population.

The province is one of the poorest in the country, with some 83% of households living below the national poverty line. About 24 500 rural households (approximately 167 000 people) in the targeted villages will benefit directly from the project's productive components of agricultural development and diversification. The Lao Women's Union, a grass-roots organization, will assist in enhancing women's access to productive resources and technology; and it will play a major role in women's training, sensitization and social mobilization for participation in project activities and in the promotion of savings and credit programmes.

Innovative Features:

One of the cornerstones of the project is that of allowing farmers to express their demands and aspirations and choose the farming alternative that suits them best. The beneficiaries will organize themselves into community-based groups (savings and credit groups; irrigation water user groups; drinking water user committees), and participate in labour-based rural works such as road building and water supply. This will both empower them in financial terms and raise their standard of living. Agricultural development activities will involve irrigation, livestock and crops; and the project will introduce options for growing crops during the dry season in areas that are irrigated and during the wet season in the uplands.

Loan amount:

SDR 5.0 million (approximately USD 6.9 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total project costs:

Estimated at USD 9.0 million, of which USD 0.9 million willl be provided by the United Nations Drug Control Programme and USD 0.7 million by the Government and USD 0.5 million by the beneficiaries.

Cooperating institution:

UNOPS.

Project ID: 1041
Executive Board Document:

Northern Sayabouri Rural Development Project

This six-year project focuses on poverty alleviation and will specifically seek to:

increase food production and income security through the rehabilitation of small-scale irrigation schemes, extension services and crop/income-diversification programmes;

encourage agricultural development and income-diversification activities through the provision of rural financial services in order to enable broad participation in social and economic development;

improve social infrastructure, including health services, supply of potable water and primary schools; and

upgrade rural access roads to facilitate new marketing and economic development opportunities for the target population.

Project components are:

- agricultural development;

- income diversification;

- rural infrastructure development; and

- institutional strengthening.

The project will be located in the four northern districts of Sayabouri Province (Hongsa, Khop, Ngeun and Xienghon) where poverty is widespread, particularly among ethnic groups in the midland and upland areas.

The target group will be approximately 13 000 rural households (77 000 people) in 200 villages. Women will be an important part of the target group because of their role in the area's emerging cash economy and their involvement in many of the activities to be promoted under the project.

Loan amount:

SDR 5.3 million (approximately USD 7.3 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total project costs are estimated at USD 10.2 million, of which USD 1.5 million will be provided by the United Nations Development Programme in the form of a grant and USD 1.5 million by the borrower and the beneficiaries.

Cooperating institution:

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).