Development Project for Rural Poor Economic Organizations of the Border Area
Development Project for Rural Poor Economic Organizations of the Border Region
The aim of the project is to help reduce poverty and extremely poverty among the numerous poor small-scale farmers in 11 western provinces on the border with Haiti. Building on the farmers' productive and organizational capacity and knowledge, the project will:
- provide them with the means to benefit from niche market opportunities in domestic and international markets
- improve consistency in project quality
- increase volume on a sustainable basis
- ensure food security
The objective is to increase the income and assets of men, women and youth who are members of rural economic organizations, through a participatory, equitable and environmentally sustainable development process. The project is designed to benefit directly small farmers who are members of local and community-level economic organizations, and actual and potential microentrepreneurs linked to selected value chains.
There will be a focus on reaching the poorest groups, particularly poor people living in mountain areas, and on addressing social, ethnic and gender diversity. In this context, there will also be a focus on the Haitian immigrants who represent the majority of agricultural wage labourers in the border provinces.
The specific objectives are to:
- achieve improved, effective and systematic linkages between participants' agricultural and non-agricultural organizations and local, regional, national and external markets
- develop and consolidate the planning, management and marketing capacities of the participants' formal and informal economic organizations
- improve the competitiveness of participating farmers and their economic organizations in response to the demand and requirements of value chains and markets
- capitalize economic organizations and facilitate their access to sustainable financial markets
Decentralization is a key feature of project implementation, and there will be a strong emphasis on strengthening institutions and building the capacities of the farmers and their organizations to endure sustainability.
Innovative features include:
- a shift in focus that targets farmers' economic organizations rather than individuals or households
- a gender-sensitive and inclusive economic development process based on market-driven productive activities and strong partnerships with the private sector at various stages of the value chains
- a comprehensive rural finance strategy based on a combination of loans, matching grants and pilot risk-sharing mechanisms, to build the organizations' own assets and facilitate their access to local, natonial and international sources of financing
Source: IFAD
