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| Project ID: 1256
Programme for the Economic Development of the Dry Region in Nicaragua Who are the beneficiaries? About 60% of the total rural population, including the largest proportion of the countrys rural poor, live in the dry region of Nicaragua, which covers 34% of the national territory. The target group is comprised of 44 600 rural poor families with annual per capita incomes under the official poverty line of USD 430. They live in 33 of the 116 municipalities that form the dry region. The rural poor are generally: (i) seasonal and migrant workers; (ii) small subsistence peasants; (iii) small agricultural producers with linkages to markets; and (iv) non-agricultural microentrepreneurs. The population groups most affected by poverty are youths, woman-headed households and indigenous peoples. Some 12 000 households will benefit directly from the programme, 8 000 of which will receive support through business plans and 4 000 through employment plans. Some 5 400 of the former will also benefit from access to credit services. Around 40% of the beneficiaries will be women. The programme will ensure that woman-headed households, women and youths have priority access to programme opportunities. Since grass-roots organizations, cooperatives, producers associations and municipalities comprise relevant social capital for the promotion of rural development, the programme will also target approximately 300 of these organizations as direct beneficiaries. Why are they poor? According to the Government, poverty has its roots in the civil war of the 1980s, the ensuing economic collapse, insufficient basic social services and human capital weaknesses. Rural poverty is more severe than urban poverty is, and is mainly caused by: (i) lack of local human capital, education and knowledge; (ii) low productivity and poor natural resource management; (iii) obstacles to market access, falling international prices and high transaction costs; (iv) inadequate provision of rural financial and non-financial services; (v) lack of physical and social infrastructure; and (vi) limited employment opportunities. Most of the rural poor live in highly vulnerable regions, which aggravates their poverty. What will the programme do for them? The programme will enable poor peasants and microentrepreneurs to participate in the planning and implementation of business and employment plans. In addition, it will ensure improved access to income-generating activities by: (i) strengthening the target groups capacity to access labour markets, with an emphasis on creating the right conditions for women and youths; and (ii) increasing the supply of financial and non-financial local services. All programme-supported business and employment plans will have to fulfil feasibility and sustainability criteria. The main concepts are human and social capital strengthening and empowerment in order to allow local stakeholders to benefit from programme opportunities. How will beneficiaries participate in the programme? The target group and their organizations will participate in programme activities by: (i) proposing feasible agricultural and non-agricultural businesses and employment plans to be implemented in the existing market context; (ii) taking part in local committees responsible for approving the plans to be supported by the programme; (iii) implementing business and employment plans; and (iv) monitoring and evaluating the impact of their activities and learning from their experiences. Loan Amount: SDR 10.25 million (equivalent to approximately USD 14.0 million) Total programme cost:USD 25.0 million Cooperating Institution: BCIE  |
| Project ID: 1120
Technical Assistance Fund Programme for the Departments of Len, Chinandega and Managua This 12-year programme, initiated by IDA, the Swiss Development Cooperation and IFAD, was developed in parallel with and as part of the broader World Bank-supported Agricultural Technology and Training Programme. It covers five regions of Nicaragua. The main objective of the programme is to improve the productive and marketing capacity of rural small and medium-scale producers and entrepreneurs in order to improve the income and living conditions of their families. The programme s specific objective is to: - ensure that small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs have access to sustainable technical assistance services, based on a competitive supply of services and in accordance with beneficiary-identified needs. The programme will be implemented in three phases, in accordance with the FLM, and is under the overall responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. It will contribute to counteracting the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch and to supporting the Government in its objective to modernize the agricultural sector, which is still a mainstay of thof technical assistance, and 30-40% of the requests for assistance are expectent forms of technical assistance, and 30-40% of the requests for assistance are expected to come from households headed by women. Innovative Features: Experience has shown that technical assistance can contribute to the solution of production and marketing problems only if the services rendered are responsive to the needs identified by the clients themselves. It has also shown that technical assistance services are more efficient if conceived within a market perspective in which suppliers of technology and organizations demanding services are able to purchase the services according to market rules, establishing prices to be paid as well as contractual obligations for both parties. To ensure that these criteria are met in the programme, the following features are in place: - Small- and medium-scale farmers are encouraged to participate in decision-making at all stages. Programme beneficiaries identify their needs and their service requirements, select their preferred service providers, stipulate a contract defining outputs and results and effect payment only upon satisfactory completion of this contract. - Joint investments (by service providers and clients ) are actively promoted, enabling the risks inherent in the introduction of new technologies to be shared; and - A foundation has been created in which public and private-sector institutions jointly manage public funds to promote demand-driven services in research and agricultural extension. Loan Amount: SDR 10.2 million (approximately USD 14.0 million) on highly concessional terms. Total Programme Costs: Estimated at USD 20.6 million, of which a grant of USD 200 000 will be provided by D, USD 3.2 million will be provided by IDA, USD 350 000 by the Swiss Development Cooperation, USD 1.2 million by the Government and USD 1.7 million by the beneficiaries. Cooperating Institution: IDA. |
