Village Development Fund Project

Ségou Village Development Fund Project

The aim of the Ségou Village Development Fund Project was to provide villagers with the means to increase agricultural productivity and to improve their well-being, while respecting the traditional organization of villages and their capacity for self-management.

The programme aimed to:

• encourage viable, self-managed farmer institutions covering different functions such as marketing, supply, storage, equipment management, distribution, basic education and public health
• establish an independent system of saving and credit for grass-roots communities

Despite difficult conditions, including recurrent drought in 1984 and 1987, the project achieved positive results, helping villagers to create cereal stock, coordinate and market production surplus, irrigate horticulture and build warehouses. However, the support activities for infrastructure development made slower progress than planned and there were problems in the management of credit operations.

Phase II of the project focused on education and literacy training for the villagers, as well as on the creation and strengthening of existing institutions.

Source: IFAD