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| Project ID: 1338 Rural Development Project in the Eastern Middle Atlas Mountains Who are the beneficiaries? The project will benefit, both directly and indirectly, the 75 250 rural residents of the project area. The direct beneficiaries will consist of over 14 700 poor households living on smallholdings from which they draw their income. The project will also target: (i) impoverished women heads of household to improve their living and working conditions; (ii) girls who possess vocational skills and wish to engage in off-farm income-generating activities; and (iii) young unemployed people interested in starting a microenterprise or acquiring training in agricultural and non-agricultural income-generating activities. Agricultural development activities will yield direct benefits for about 2 780 farms, or some 8 500 households, for a total of approximately 60 000 inhabitants. Financial services are expected to reach about 4 000 beneficiaries to develop income-generating activities, handicrafts and microenterprises that are usually engaged in by women and girls. Functional literacy will directly affect some 3 000 persons, including over 2 000 women and girls. A part of the target group will also benefit from better quality of life thanks to the actions to improve area access, drinking water supply and flood/erosion control. Why are they poor? Poverty in the project area derives from inadequate socio-economic services, poor infrastructure, and limited income opportunities due to the mismanagement of land and water resources. Unemployment rates are high. About 85% of farming families have access to less than 10 hectares, with an agricultural production system based on rainfed cereal production and livestock. The principal constraints that beneficiaries face are derived from non-performing support services and the lack of rural financial infrastructure. Other major constraints include the deterioration of rural tracks, leading to limited accessibility and transfer of appropriate technological packages. What will the project do for them? The project will be implemented over eight years and will focus on: (i) strengthening participatory programming and capacity-building of grass-roots organizations and local government through the promotion of pro-poor local institutions and the training of their staff and board members in participatory development; (ii) creating socio-economic and productive assets, which will involve rehabilitation of small-scale irrigation infrastructure; improved access and drinking water supply; soil and water conservation; and intensification and diversification of agricultural production through development of crop production and improved livestock productivity and husbandry; and (iii) supporting initiatives of rural populations that contribute to increasing and diversifying sources of income by providing sustainable access to local financial services, especially for women and unemployed youth, and by promoting rural microenterprises. Loan amount: Total project cost: USD 34.4 million  Project ID: 1230 Livestock and Rangelands Development Project in the Eastern Region - Phase II The principal objective of the project will be to increase the income and improve the living conditions of the rural poor population. It will do so through local community empowerment favouring sustainable rehabilitation and management of natural resources and the creation of new opportunities for the most vulnerable groups, thus capitalizing on the Eastern Region's potential. Building on the achievements of the first phase, the specific objectives include: (i) strengthening the capability of local public institutions and grass-roots organizations to establish a viable participatory mechanism through which the target group can drive the identification and implementation of investment opportunities; (ii) promoting adapted livestock production systems, leading to higher value added to animal products through local processing, and improved linkage to potential markets, and (iii) diversifying income sources through promotion of income-generating activities and improved access to technical, marketing and financial services. Loan Amount: SDR 4.55 million (approximately USD 6.4 million) on intermediate terms Total project cost: estimated at USD 9.2 million, of which beneficiaries will provide USD 171 000, national Government USD 2.4 million and USD 333 000 from sources yet to be determined. Cooperating Institution: UNOPS
Project ID: 1178
Rural Development Project in the Mountain Zones of Al-Haouz Province The overall objective of this six-year IFAD-initiated project is to contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of the disadvantaged rural population of the mountain zones of Al-Haouz Province (identified among the poorest 14 provinces in the country) through the improvement and diversification of income sources. This is expected to lead to an improvement in living conditions and to the development of sustainable systems of natural-resource management. Specific objectives include: (i) strengthening the participatory capacity of the target-group grass-roots organizations and their involvement in project implementation; (ii) improving the productivity of agricultural and livestock production systems and the value of such products; (iii) increasing and diversifying agricultural and non-agricultural income through income-generating activities that particularly benefit women and the young; (iv) facilitating access of the poorest rural communities to basic socio-economic infrastructure; and (v) rehabilitating, protecting and rationally managing natural resources. Project interventions will concentrate on 17 disadvantaged rural communes where about 96% of farms have less than 5 ha and 50% have less than 1 ha. The target group will consist of the poorest among the 111 773 inhabitants of the project area, with activities directly benefiting some 210 villages for a total population of 50 000 rural men and women. In particular, the project will reach some 5 400 small farms, representing a population of 32 000 and a cropped land area of 14 000 ha. In addition, approximately 3 000 households will benefit from improvement of pastoral and sylvo-pastoral resources, animal health and soil and water conservation. Activities related to training and assistance to establish microprojects will benefit approximately 2 000 women, 1 000 young women and 1 000 young men. Innovative features: The projects participatory approach will promote partnership and dialogue between the communities and animation staff. This will be the first time this approach has been used in the framework of a programme for the development of rainfed agriculture covering many communes. Furthermore, as the project falls within the new strategy of the Ministry of Agriculture, all animation activities will be entrusted to the Amizmiz Extension Centre. The project will apply a decentralized approach to boost the management and local development capacities of rural communities. The project will specifically emphasize the inclusion of target communities as dialogue partners for local government offices to whom the State has entrusted major responsibilities. The project will also pilot new methods of increasing target-group access to productive resources. Women and young people will benefit from various training programmes geared towards the development of new income-generating activities. Microcredit will be provided through village finance associations to target the poorest farmers, who previously have had no access to short- or medium-term agricultural credit. Finally, the monitoring and evaluation of the project will include data on the nutritional status of children as an indicator of food security, and these values can be compared with the results of the survey carried out during formulation. Loan amount: SDR 14.1 million (approximately USD 18.0 million) on intermediate terms. Total project costs: Estimated at USD 30.2 million, of which USD 10.9 million will be provided by the Government, USD 240 000 by Communes, USD 124 000 by UNDP, USD 80 000 by the National Agricultural Credit Bank (CNCA), USD 41 000 by financiers to be determined and about USD 800 000 by the beneficiaries. Cooperating institution: UNOPS. |
