Rural Enterprise Project

Rural Enterprise Project

The project, which was approved in 2001, is addressing the needs of some 3,000 households that depend on farming and microenterprises in 41 poor rural communities. Through appropriate strategies, which include spreading risks and ensuring access to a range of food and income sources, it is offering rural households a chance to enhance their income by helping them recognize and realize economic opportunities.

The aims of the project include:

• fostering efficient sector and market linkages
• strengthening communities so they can take responsibility for their own development
• supporting rural service providers so they can meet community needs
• encouraging a diverse range of income sources that are sustainable in the long term

The project is adopting a gender-equity approach in all of its activities, with the aim of reducing gender inequities nationwide. It includes livestock development activities to help poor rural families generate income and improve their nutrition. Intense efforts are being made to involve young people in the development process and to encourage them to remain on their farms and transform them into productive assets.

Source: IFAD