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Project ID: 1272
Dencentralized Programme for Rural Poverty Reduction in Ha Giang and Quang Binh Provinces The programme incorporates a number of specific mechanisms to ensure that activities are targeted to the poorest households and women, and that they are able to participate. These include: (i) selecting communes where poverty rates are highest; (ii) apportionment of programme resources among the villages using criteria weighted in favour of poorer villages; (iii) providing poor households with preferential access to credit, training and input-supply opportunities; (iv) providing poor households with preferential access to wage labour opportunities, particularly in infrastructure development; (v) tailoring programme activities and support programmes to be more attractive to poor households; (vi) reserving a portion of local development budget funding for women-identified activities; and (vii) ensuring that women are fully represented in needs assessments and decision-making processes. There will be specific consideration of capacity-building and information dissemination to ensure that the poor participate in the programme. Specific benefits will include: (i) improved food security and living standards for the poorest households; (ii) development of strong grass-roots institutions that are better able to manage community resources and better equipped to engage in the development process; (iii) improved institutionalization of decentralized development approaches; (iv) improved socio-economic status of women; (v) improved village-level infrastructure; and (vi) improved management of natural resources. The integration of activities and benefits in a programmatic approach presents a practical and replicable model of highly decentralized community-driven development, helping to operate the Government's 'grassroots democratisation' legislation. It is estimated that well over 50% of total programme funding will be under the direct control of target communities. This flexibility is achieved through the establishment of highly flexible local development budgets under the direct control of target communities and the Development Reserve Fund, for which usage is determined at mid-term review. Highly decentralized, participatory implementation processes that emphasise basic principles of transparency and accountability, involving representatives from target groups in programme monitoring and feedback mechanisms, will be put into practice. Loan Amount SDR 16.10 million (equivalent to approximately USD 24.12 million) Grant: SDR 430 000 (equivalent to approximately USD 631 000) on highly concessional terms Total programme cost: USD 38.78 million Cooperating Institution: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) |
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| Project ID: 1202
Rural Income Diversification Project in Tuyen Quang Province A participatory impact and needs assessment carried out before formulation identified a number of priority needs, namely: increased training in agriculture and animal husbandry, credit, marketing, food storage and processing, gender issues, and health care; access to credit and marketing opportunities; better health, education and child care facilities; development of village, inter-village and inter-commune roads; and the completion and rehabilitation of existing irrigation schemes. For the ethnic minorities in particular, it was recommended that agricultural training be combined with demonstration plots that would show the results of new techniques and new varieties grown under local conditions and constraints. The primary target group of the project are poor households in upland areas of Tuyen Quang Province, with particular emphasis on ethnic minorities, women and destitute households. The project will target 49 000 households living in 936 villages located in the 66 poorest communes of the province. Of these, 42 communes have been classified as most disadvantaged by the Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas because of their mountainous, remote locations, poorly developed infrastructure and low human development indicators. Within the 66 communes, ethnic minorities account for 74% of all households and 83% of the poor, respectively. Moving forward from achievements under the IFAD-funded Participatory Resource Management Project Tuyen Quang Province, the new project will further extend the decentralized and participative implementation approach followed with a view to empowering communities to participate in the development process. Beneficiary priorities will be initially identified by gender and subsequently consolidated into annual village, commune, district and provincial plans. The project will institutionalize participatory impact assessment. Each year, the Village Development Boards (VDBs), supported by community organizers, will assess both the impact of the project and of the strengthened village-level institutions, including savings and credit groups, user groups and VDBs. User groups will be involved in the planning and implementation of facilities and responsible for post-construction operation and maintenance. Loan amount: SDR 16.4 million (equivalent to approximately USD 20.9 million) on highly concessional terms Total project costs are estimated at USD 30.4 million Cooperating Institution: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) |
| Project ID: 1091
Ha Tinh Rural Development Project In spite of the remarkable economic success achieved over the last decade, Viet Nam is still one of the poorest countries in the world, with half its population classified as poor. Within this context, the primary objective of the proposed six-year IFAD-initiated project is to improve the incomes and living standards of poor households in the coastal province of Ha Tinh in north-central Viet Nam and increase their participation in the development process. Associated benefits will be improved food security and general well-being for all the target group, reduced isolation and improved market access. To achieve these objectives, the project seeks to: - establish a microfinance programme that provides access to credit for a range of financially rewarding small enterprises; - improve the physical infrastructure of the project area; - improve technical support services; and - encourage beneficiary participation in the selection of activities to be undertaken, in providing/monitoring feedback to enable ongoing adjustment and improvement, and in taking responsibility for the managerial aspects of the project. Farm sizes in Ha Tinh are very small, averaging 0.3 ha per household, and agricultural productivity is low. Approximately 36% of the population of 1.3 million live below the poverty line, and both poor and very poor households face considerable food insecurity. Project activities are targeted to areas where concentrations of poverty are the highest. Initially, 137 of the 262 communes in the eight poorer rural districts are targeted, and infrastructure activities will be implemented in the 48 poorest communes. The project is expected to have a significant positive impact on women. Interventions aim for a marked improvement in household food security. Women's access to production technology will be increased through their inclusion in farmer training and field demonstrations and through the formation of women's savings and credit groups with the support of the Viet Nam Women's Union. Innovative Features: The following features are new in the context of IFAD-supported projects in Viet Nam: - development of a self-reliant model for an area development project that is based on decentralization of decision-making and control of funds to the technical departments, accountability of project implementing agencies to the project's clientele, and reliance on national management and technical expertise; - adoption of a process approach to ensure that project activities are n ot pre-identified before commencement of the project but reflect the priorities of the communities as identified through annual participatory planning exercises; - provision of a community development fund, which allows communities to finance small-scale infrastructures; - provision of a development initiative fund, which provides the flexibility to direct additional resources to the areas of highest priority, as expressed by the communities, and to the best-performing components; - introduction of a farmer-led extension service based on farmer field schools, rather than re-establishment of paid, government, commune-level extension workers, which is not sustainable given the provincial Government's budgetary constraints; - collaboration with ongoing IFAD-supported projects in terms of provision of technical assistance for project management and participatory development; - introduction of a commune-level revolving credit fund as a sustainable mechanism to promote savings and credit activities; and - participation of independent national advisors and representatives of NGOs in the Project Steering Committee and in the Project Microcredit Development Board as quality-control mechanisms. Loan amount: SDR 11.4 million (approximately USD 15.4 million) on highly concessional terms. Total project costs: Estimated at USD 19.1 million, of which USD 50 000 will be provided by the private sector, USD 2.3 million by the Government and USD 1.4 million by the beneficiaries. Cooperating institution: UNOPS. |
| Project ID: 1025
Ha Giang Development Project for Ethnic Minorities This six-year project aims to: raise the standard of living in marginal areas by improving residents' use of natural resources and reducing food inse curity in the poorest households; support the development of appropriate rural and social infrastructure; and develop environmentally sustainable and culturally viable development models that can be replicated elsewhere in the northern provinces. Project components are: - rural infrastructure; - agricultural development; - income diversification; - social development; and - project management and coordination. The project will be implemented in Ha Giang Province (one of the poorest in the country) in a remote area characterized by its concentration of poor ethnic minorities. It will target communities that are most vulnerable in terms of nutritional status, i.e., having annual food-shortage periods ranging from three to seven months. Drawing on IFAD's previous experience in Viet Nam, the project will use targeting criteria that are specified by the local communities and therefore consistent with their socio-cultural identity. Approximately 40% of the province's total number of about 40 000 households will benefit directly from the project. Loan amount: SDR 9.2 million (approximately USD 12.5 million) on highly concessional terms. Total project costs are estimated at USD 18.4 million, of which USD 2.3 million will be provided by the United Nations Development Programme in the form of a grant, USD 800 000 by the Swedish International Development Agency in the form of a grant, USD 2.2 million by the borrower and USD 600 000 by the beneficiaries. Cooperating institution: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). |
