Empowerment of Rural Poor Organizations and Harmonization of Investments (Paraguay Rural) Project

Empowerment of Rural Poor Organizations and Harmonization of Investments Project (PPR)

This six-year project, which will be completed on 30 September 2013, aims to create and strengthen social capital by providing training and technical assistance to poor rural people and their organizations. Its desired outcome is to ‘graduate' smallholder farmers' organizations so they can participate in project activities and gain access to the services of other investment initiatives.

The project directly benefits 19,000 poor rural families, including:

• Small-scale producers who are affected by the declining success of traditional cotton production models and lack the financial or technical capacity to adopt new technologies or diversify production
• Small-scale farmers whose production units have very low productivity and limited potential
• Women heads of household, young people, indigenous communities and other vulnerable groups.

Project participants are generally organized in cooperatives, producers' associations, committees and neighbourhood groups. Through a demand-driven, participatory process, the project helps them identify possible new ventures and develop business plans in order to be eligible for funding. Community members sit on the selection committees that evaluate these proposals, and on the project steering committee. When possible, the project provides funds directly to rural organizations in order to implement the proposed ventures.

A related programme, funded by an IFAD grant, strategically linked this project with the Federation of Production Cooperatives, or FECOPROD. The purpose of the grant-funded programme was to improve small-scale producers' access to financial services by connecting their organizations with commercial banking and finance institutions.

Source: IFAD