Project ID: 1255
Executive Board Document:EB-2003-80-R-25-REV-1

Oasis Sustainable Development Programme

Within the framework of the PRSP, the programme aims to reduce, in a sustainable manner, the high incidence of poverty among rural populations in the five oasis regions. The proposed eight-year programme will pursue this goal through: (i) the development of grass-roots organizations of the target populations; (ii) the promotion of sustainable oasis agricultural systems through the development and dissemination of appropriate technical and managerial know-how and through marketing support; (iii) financial support for essential community-based social and economic infrastructure; and (iv) the consolidation of viable decentralized rural finance systems. The programme will focus on building the capacity of rural institutions at the grass-roots level, including community organizations, women and youth associations, decentralized financing institutions and rural communes. Access to social services will be improved through a programme to improve rural roads and basic social and economic infrastructure.

Loan Amount:

SDR 7.90 million (approximately USD 11.4 million) on highly concessional terms

Total project cost: estimated at USD 34.0 million, of which beneficiaries will provide about USD 1.4 million, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) USD 11.6 million, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) USD 2.8 million and national Government USD 6.8 million.

Cooperating Institution:

AFESD

Project ID: 1180
Executive Board Document: EB-2002-76-R-14-REV-1

Maghama Improved Flood Recession Farming Project Phase II

This second-phase project aims to consolidate the two major achievements of the first phase: expansion of the areas agricultural development potential; and more equitable land tenure arrangements. The project will implement a three-pronged strategy in its efforts to reduce rural poverty and improve living conditions in the area. First, it will help the rural populations to rehabilitate, establish and/or strengthen existing social and economic infrastructures, particularly rural roads, to reduce the target populations isolation and facilitate access to markets.

Second, it will help to develop the social capital of the rural poor in the project area. This will be achieved through support to their grass-roots organizations and local development institutions, promotion of functional literacy, and establishment of participatory planning processes for local development, in which the traditionally marginalized groups be able to participate effectively. In addition, women will benefit from information, education and communication (IEC) programmes targeted at their specific problems. Third, the project will also aim to improve the income opportunities of the poorest groups by helping them to better exploit the large agricultural potential developed during the first phase and to identify and exploit existing opportunities, providing them with technical and managerial know-how, facilitating access to markets, and promoting the emergence of sustainable local financial services.

The project beneficiaries will include most of the rural population in the project area, estimated at about 75 000 persons. The project will target about 50 village communities that are among the poorest in the area, focusing support on some 1 500 small subsistence farm families who depend on dry farming activities for their livelihood. Women are particularly vulnerable due to their high levels of illiteracy, extremely limited access to resources, information and know-how, and traditional exclusion from local decision-making processes.

Local-level participatory diagnostic and planning processes have been designed to ensure that target beneficiaries, particularly women and young people, will be able to participate in setting local development priorities for basic social and economic infrastructures and services. User associations and other community-based and beneficiary organizations will be provided with technical and financial support to help them take responsibility for the proper operation and maintenance of community infrastructure, particularly for the flood recession scheme established during the first phase. Services will be provided in support of income-generating activities based on requests from womens cooperatives, producer associations and other beneficiary organizations. Beneficiary participation will be enhanced through targeted adult functional literacy programmes and systematic capacity-building of service-oriented beneficiary grass-roots organizations.

Loan amount:

SDR 7.6 million (equivalent to approximately USD 10.1 million) at highly concessional terms

Total project costsUSD 11.5 million

Cooperating Institution:

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)

Project ID: 1179
Executive Board Document: EB-2001-73-R-13-Rev-1

Poverty Reduction Project in Aftout South and Karakoro

The project has been designed as a major instrument for the implementation of the countrys poverty reduction strategy. Its aim is, first, to establish the necessary conditions for sustained and equitable economic growth at the local level. This will be done through the establishment of functional basic social and economic infrastructure. Second, the project will help to develop the social capital of the rural poor in the project area. This aim will be achieved through support to their grass-roots organizations and local development institutions, the promotion of functional literacy, and the establishment of participatory planning processes for local development, in which the traditionally marginalized groups can effectively have a voice. Third, the project will also aim to improve the income opportunities of the poorest groups by helping them to identify and exploit existing opportunities, providing them with technical and managerial expertise, and promoting the emergence of sustainable financial services.

The main causes of poverty in the area can be attributed to the isolation of the target population from the countrys economic, social, political and cultural mainstreams. Largely neglected by government support services and by donors, these populations have limited human and social capital, live in a severely enclosed area and have little access to basic infrastructure and services. They have a very limited capacity to improve their incomes because of their rudimentary technical know-how and constrained access (if any) to markets and financial services.

Project beneficiaries will include most of the rural population in the project area, estimated at about 150 000 persons. The project will target the traditionally marginalized and vulnerable communities, called the adwaba, where many former slaves and nomads with limited farming experience live. The project will focus its support on subsistence farmers who depend for their livelihood on dry farming activities. Women and youth are particularly vulnerable groups, traditionally excluded from decision-making processes, and face severe access problems to resources and information.

Loan amount:

SDR 8.80 million (equivalent to approximately USD 11.3 million)

Total project cost are estimated at USD 22.9 million of which USD 3.5 million will be provided by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund for International Development

Cooperating Institution:

United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)