Project ID: 1250
Executive Board document: EB-2005-86-R-15-Rev-1

Rural Development Support Programme

Who are the beneficiaries? The beneficiaries of the Rural Development Support Programme (PADER) will be vulnerable rural households at risk of further impoverishment due to rising land pressures, declining productivity and low-return non-farm income sources. The target population comprises the inhabitants of 280 villages, about 200 of which were once or are now covered by previous and ongoing IFAD-supported projects. Within these communities, the target group is defined as comprising: (a) people lacking skills, technologies, finance and access to markets; (b) people with basic skills but lacking the rest; and (c) existing operators unable to expand for want of access to training, technologies, finance and markets. Special attention will be given to reaching socially disadvantaged women and their groups, unemployed and underemployed young people and landless households. About 56 000 persons, at least half of them women, will benefit directly from support to 830 groups and 350 micro-businesses. Membership in financial services associations (FSAs) will increase by about 43 000 by the end 2010, bringing the total to about 100 000.

Why are they poor? Rural poverty in Benin is due mainly to the narrow range of livelihood sources, aggravated by rising pressure on natural resources. The poor are increasingly forced to work as casual wage-labourers because they lack skills, or are locked into low-return activities for want of knowledge of markets and improved technologies, or of access to finance. Benin’s rural producers have not been able to take advantage of rising purchasing power in the urban areas, where poverty has actually declined. For social and cultural reasons, women and young people are particularly disadvantaged in terms of access to livelihood resources.

What will the programme do for them? The programme will help reduce rural poverty by assisting groups and individuals in starting or expanding mainly non-farm income-generating activities (IGAs) that can increase their incomes, create employment and improve local living and working conditions. The FSA network initiated by two IFAD-supported projects will be expanded and endowed with the apex body needed to enhance their ability to deliver financial services effectively and in a self-sustaining manner. The capacity of IGA groups and village development committees (VDCs) to address their own development constraints and opportunities will be strengthened. Programme efforts will be fully integrated within the ongoing decentralization process, with a view to ensuring that beneficiary villages will have the knowledge and skills to participate actively in deciding what is to be done, how and by whom.

Loan amount:
SDR 6.95 million (equivalent to approximately USD 10.00 million)

Total programme cost: USD 14.79 million

Project ID: 1211
Executive Board Document: EB-2001-74-R-13-Rev-1

Participatory Artisanal Fisheries Development Support Programme

The programme aims to support the Governments efforts to reduce rural poverty by providing the resources needed to promote the rehabilitation and environmentally-sound use of the natural resource base of fishing communities, while enhancing local living conditions and fostering sustainable improvements in the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor within those communities. Access to credit will be improved through support to existing decentralized financial systems, and strong emphasis will be placed on capacity-building as a tool for promoting the empowerment of fishing communities, their organizations and leaders.

The programme will combine the sustainable livelihoods approach which places people at the centre of the development process with the community-based natural resources management approach (gestion du terroir). Both concepts emphasize the need for a genuinely participatory approach that will help populations to identify, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate their own solutions, with support services and technicians as advisers to support the beneficiaries in analysing the advantages and drawbacks of the solutions identified. Beneficiaries will also benefit from support in identifying and undertaking more environmentally-sound alternative economic activities, such as fish farming, small animal husbandry, vegetable growing and handicrafts.

The direct target population comprises some 600 000 persons living in about 450 villages in the fisheries zones (pcheries) and about 80 fishing camps along the coast. This includes poor fisherfolk households (about 300 000 persons) as well as approximately 4 000 women who process and/or trade in fish, mostly on a very small scale, using wood-smoking methods that are both wasteful and dangerous to health. The population of the inland fisheries zones in the south, which accounts for the vast majority of the target group, were identified in 1994 as the poorest of the countrys poor. Their poverty has increased since then due to serious overfishing and a lack of alternative sources of livelihood. While most of the country?s 80 000 fishermen are vulnerable to poverty, about 50 000 (60%) are ranked as absolutely poor.

Loan amount:

SDR 7.85 million (equivalent to approximately USD 10.0 million) on highly concessional terms

Total programme costs are estimated at USD 26.0 million of which USD 10.0 million will be provided by AfDF and USD 3.3 million by DFIs in cofinancing.

Cooperating Institution:

AfDB

Project ID: 1127
Executive Board Document: EB-2000-69-R-16-Rev-1

Roots and Tubers Development Programme

The overall objective of this seven-year IFAD-initiated programme is to increase the incomes of the more vulnerable strata of the rural population sustainably by means of improved production, processing and marketing of roots and tubers, with special attention to the activities of women, who constitute more than 90% of all processors. This nationwide programme will cover part of the four agro-ecological areas of the country, where conditions are most suitable for the cultivation of roots and tubers. Over 70% of the total population, estimated at 3.9 million persons, is rural and relies on agriculture for its livelihood. Of the estimated 350 000 rural households, over 80 000 will belong to the target group of resource-poor smallholders. The programme will generate direct benefits to approximately 15 000 small farmers, 10 000 women processors and 1 600 young school leavers in 408 villages. At least as many other small farmers and processors are expected to benefit indirectly. Given the major role of women in the subsector, the programme will strengthen womens organizations and facilitate their access to labour-saving technologies, training and credit. Employment opportunities for youth will be created through jobs as service providers to local producers and as instructors and trainers in literacy and managerial skills. By adopting a comprehensive, community-based approach, the programme will strengthen local capacity to undertake and manage development actions.

Innovative features:

Lack of information and knowledge necessary for decision-making and of access to needed services are root causes of poverty. These constraints are addressed through a focus on market knowledge, animation, information, education and communication. Other innovative features include: an emphasis on enhancing security of access to land as an incentive for making the recommended soil fertility/protection investments; adoption of an advisory services approach as an alternative to public services; linkage to other roots and tubers programmes developed by IFAD in Nigeria and Ghana, through memoranda of understanding, networking, exchange visits, a regional market study on cassava and the organization of workshops; and establishment of a strong partnership with IITA through linkages with an IFAD grant-financed programme for the dissemination of improved cassava and yam technologies.

Loan amount:

SDR 9.8 million (approximately USD 13.1 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total programme costs:

Estimated at USD 19.3 million, of which USD 3.9 million will be provided by BOAD, USD 2.2 million by the Government and USD 70 000 by the beneficiaries.

Cooperating institution:

BOAD.

Project ID: 1028
Executive Board Document: EB-98-63-R-15-Rev-1

Microfinance and Marketing Project

This six-year IFAD-initiated project, will build upon experience and lessons learned from two previous IFAD-financed interventions concerned with establishing innovative rural finance mechanisms and marketing and supporting women's income-generating activities. The main objectives will be to:

(i) facilitate access of rural poor households and women to financial services adapted to their specific needs;

(ii) increase women's incomes and empowerment;

(iii) increase market opportunities and reduce constraints to market transactions; and

(iv) promote the establishment of self-managed and self-financed local enterprises for the provision of financial and commercial services.

Innovative Features:

The project evolves around financial service associations. Training activities tailored to the beneficiaries' needs will accompany the entire project process, culminating in the establishment of a financial service association in each participating village. Individual associations will be responsible for their own management, supervision and internal control, and shared capital will be raised from the membership. Such capital will be recycled for the purpose of financing social and economic needs at the village level, thus ensuring ownership and control of the operations by the village shareholders. Women's marketing activities will develop experimental organizational methods, thus allowing for improved participation and accounting at the group level.

Loan amount:

SDR 9.2 million (approximately USD 12.2 million) on highly concessional terms.

Total project costs:

Estimated at USD 15.1 million, of which USD 1.4 million will be provided by the Government and USD 1.5 million by the beneficiaries.

Cooperating institution:

The project will be supervised directly by IFAD.