Project ID: 1275
Executive Board document: EB-2006-89-R-29-Rev-1

Small-scale Irrigation Development Project (PPI-2)

The project intends to reach 18,000 households, or 85,000 persons. The target group lives in remote rural areas and has little insertion in the essentially informal economy. Households survive through subsistence mechanisms and are characterized by a lack of communication links, low level of access to public or private services, and high transaction costs. Increased pressure on available resources and severe land degradation accentuate vulnerability in a context prone to natural disaster.

Beneficiaries will participate in all stages of the project, from planning and implementation to monitoring and evaluation. For infrastructure work and microprojects, tripartite contracts will be signed by beneficiaries’ organizations, service providers and the project. Beneficiaries will be expected to contribute 10-25 per cent of microproject costs, adjusted to the capacities of the most vulnerable groups and taking into account health and time constraints. Beneficiaries will play a central role in project monitoring and impact assessment.

The project’s overall goal is to reduce rural poverty significantly in the area of intervention. Its development objective is to improve the livelihoods and incomes of rural poor households in a sustainable manner, especially households in the most vulnerable groups. The specific objectives include (i) sustainable intensification and increase of agricultural production through efficient water management and consolidation of irrigated agriculture on both a collective and individual basis; (ii) development of agricultural production systems and other productive and income-generating activities; and (iii) strengthening of communities’ planning, organization and management capacity in order to facilitate market linkages and access to financial services.

Amount of IFAD loan: SDR 8.8 million (equivalent to approximately US$13.0 million) on highly concessional terms

Total project cost: US$27.0 million

Cooperating institution: United Nations Office for Project Services

Project ID: 1171
Executive Board document: EB-2002-75-R-22-REV-1

Productive Initiatives Support Programme in Rural Areas

The programme will contribute to poverty reduction though diversifying and increasing incomes on a sustainable basis, improving food security and leading to better and sustainable management of natural resources. A gender-sensitive approach will be an integral part of decision-making related to programme activities. Specifically, the programme will: (i) strengthen local and national capacities for development planning and management with the participation of grass-roots organizations, which will constitute the central axis of the programme; (ii) support initiatives related to recapitalization of farms, intensification and diversification of agricultural production, sustainable management of natural resources, processing and marketing of produce, improvement of rural infrastructure, non-agricultural and service microenterprises, etc; and (iii) facilitate sustainable access to financial services by the targeted rural poor, and in particular the most marginal groups.

Participation of the most vulnerable groups of the rural poor in local development planning and management is the raison dtre of the programme. The participatory methodology involves the training of programme staff, private and public partners and beneficiaries, and the strengthening of dialogue between the beneficiaries and local government. Beneficiaries will be involved from the socio-economic diagnosis of their community, through the management of projects, to the elaboration of community development plans (PDCs). The programme will finance beneficiary productive initiatives through contractual arrangements clearly spelling out their rights and responsibilities. Beneficiaries will build their own credit and savings institutions through payment of shares. They will be representated on the main programme steering and consultative committees.

The programme combines policy dialogue and institutional support to rural development and poverty reduction at the national level with field activities in the poorest areas of selected departments. It will establish targeting mechanisms to reach the rural poor, with emphasis on the most marginal groups and enclosed areas. The beneficiaries will therefore be small farmers, the landless, women and youth, and project activities will extend to their economic organizations, womens groups and microfinance institutions. Over a ten-year period, the programme will reach about 80 communes and another 600 communities, with a total population estimated at about 500 000, directly or indirectly benefiting the majority.

Project ID: 1070
Executive Board Document: EB-98-65-R-24-Rev-1

Food Crops Intensification Project Phase II

The Haitian economy is the least developed of the entire western hemisphere, with poverty a mass phenomenon, particularly in rural areas. This seven-year IFAD-initiated project will consolidate the efforts undertaken during the first phase, which were jeopardized by the country's political situation and subsequent loan suspension for more than three years. The second-phase project aims to:

(i)increase agricultural production, particularly food production and thus household food security;

(ii) improve household income and living conditions;

(iii) preserve natural resources; and

(iv) strengthen local development capacities.

To achieve these objectives, the project will seek to:

(i) improve mixed cropping systems;

(ii) intensify food crop and vegetable production;

(iii) develop small-scale irrigation systems;

(iv) recapitalize livestock farms;

(v) develop small rural enterprises;

(vi) improve transport infrastructure and water supplies;

(vii) introduce anti-erosion and soil conservation measures at the farm level;

(viii) promote the capacity of rural organizations and local institutions to conceive, prepare and manage development activities; and

(ix) enhance local participatory decision-making processes.

Project activities will focus on six municipalities, corresponding to the Bas Plateau Central, in which about 95% of the population derive their main revenue from rural ac tivities. Approximately 21 000 small farmers, or 35% of all farmers in the project area, are expected to benefit from project activities. It is also expected that about 100 women's credit groups, or 4 000 women, will benefit from project technical and financial assistance.

Innovative Features:

Given the overexploitation of natural resources and the degree of forest degradation in Honduras, the project is expected to improve family income by preserving the natural resource base. To this end, the project will implement a blend of community micro p rojects and individual productive initiatives focused on indigenous Lencas, as well as women, youth, landless persons and other disadvantaged groups. Community micro p rojects will be implemented through a rural development fund that, on a non-reimbursable basis, will finance small infrastructure and rural development services. Individual initiatives will be supported by a financial services mechanism, consisting of a credit fund and activities to develop the managerial capacity of local, informal financial institutions. The project will provide training to the target group, project managers and contractors of technical services.

Loan amount:

SDR 13.8 million (approximately USD 19.3 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total project costs:

Estimated at USD 22.5 million, of which USD 2.4 million will be provided by the Government and USD 0.8 million by the beneficiaries.

Cooperating institution:

Andean Development Corporation.