GAMBIA - From LADEP to PIWAMP - An IFAD case study

The Lowlands Agricultural Development Programme (LADEP) Rice land for labour agreements was the first eight-year phase of a 20-year programme for sustainable community-driven reclamation and development of lowland areas to improve traditional rice production, using simple technologies and self-help labour. The current IFAD project on lowlands development, the Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP), will build on the experiences of LADEP and scale up the approach.
John Fye, PIWAMP project coordinator, relates a LADEP innovation through a case study published by IFAD : "Rice land for labour agreements benefiting women". This document of 4 pages (PDF - 630 Ko) can be downloaded here :
www.fidafrique.net/doc/Gambia_casestudy1.pdf

More about PIWAMP on Fidafrique Web site / PIWAMP on IFAD web site

NIGERIA - Planned project: Rural Finance Institution-Building Project

Project area: The project will be national in coverage but will initially be implemented in selected states.
Target group: The project expects to reach rural entrepreneurs (including farmers, craftspeople and petty traders, the poor and the young people) through an incremental number of loans. Women are expected to be the prime beneficiaries. Approximately 330 community banks and 30-50 microfinance institutions are also expected to benefit directly from the project’s capacity-building measures.
Project description: Through the capacity-building of RMFIs component, community banks and microfinance institutions will receive support to improve their outreach and sustainability. The project will also support and strengthen the umbrella organizations of RMFIs to enable them to play a more important role in capacity-building, supervision and self-regulation. It will provide intensive support to about 330 community banks in nine states (starting initially in only three). The capacity-building of CBN component will strengthen the capacity of the CBN as the regulator and supervisor of RMFIs. Capacity-building will include staff training and exposure, infrastructure development of the CBN, training material development for RMFIs, research capacity-building and developing and refining supervisory and regulatory instruments. Under the project management, linkages and policy environment component, the project will: (i) set up a project management unit in the CBN to coordinate and manage project-related activities; (ii) promote linkages between RMFIs and banks, and facilitate access of farmer groups and other client groups supported by ongoing rural development projects to rehabilitated and strengthened RMFIs; and (iii) undertake a wide range of research activities on rural and microfinance to provide policy and decision-makers with accurate information about the changing requirements of the sector with a view to creating a suitable legal and economic environment for RMFIs.
Tentative project start: March 2006

More about Rural Finance Institution-Building Project on IFAD web site

BENIN - Planned programme: Rural Development Support Programme (PADER)

Programme area: The programme will be national in character.
Target group: The target group will comprise rural families living in poverty and at risk of further impoverishment due to rising pressures on land, weakened access to the goods and services needed to boost agricultural productivity and lack of access to remunerative non farm livelihood sources. The programme will target landless (or near-landless) rural producers, with a special focus on women and youths who are particularly disadvantaged in terms of access to the factors of production for land-based economic activities.
Programme description:
Support to income-generating activities – small and medium enterprises. To diversify and increase rural incomes, the programme will support the activities of existing and new IGA groups and individual SMEs in 280 villages. This will be achieved through three subcomponents: (i) support to identification and implementation of IGAs/SMEs; (ii) support to improved marketing; and (iii) construction/management of economic infrastructure in villages not covered by ongoing projects.
Access to financial services. To facilitate access by rural producers to financial services, the programme will consolidate and expand the network of FSAs put in place by IFAD’s Income-Generating Activities Project (PAGER) and its Microfinance and Marketing Project (PROMIC), and assist in establishing the apex institutions that FSAs need to gain official recognition and become fully self-sustaining. The programme will engage qualified contractual service providers to assist the 144 existing FSAs in strengthening their capabilities through training and close follow-up (from the second programme year, these services will be assured by the new apex technical service mentioned below). The programme will also establish, on the basis of clear eligibility criteria, 60 new FSAs in areas targeted by the Fund’s Roots and Tubers Development Programme (PRDT) and its Participatory Artisanal Fisheries Development Support Programme (PADPPA).
Support to grass-roots institutions. To enhance the impact and sustainability of poverty reduction efforts through decentralization and empowerment, the programme will build the capacity of village-level actors and institutions to participate as fully as possible in decision-making and help them develop mechanisms for ensuring that commune development plans are comprehensive, coherent and equitable. Village-level capacity-building efforts will focus on assessing and upgrading existing managerial, organizational and literacy skills, and on promoting greater sensitivity to gender and age. The programme will also promote forums for participatory development planning and monitoring.
Tentative programme start: June 2006

More about Rural Development Support Programme (PADER) on IFAD web site

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO - Planned programme: Agricultural Rehabilitation Programme in the Oriental Province

Programme area: The programme area will cover the District of Tshopo in Oriental Province, an area with very high potential since agricultural production, livestock numbers and fish ponds have been highly developed in the past.
Target group: The programme will target farmers and fishermen/fisherwomen in the Tshopo district of the Oriental Province, estimated at about 200 000 poor households. The programme will particularly target the most vulnerable strata of the rural community including women, youth and soldiers who are willing to enter into the agricultural sector. Women will be key actors in decision making, implementation and major beneficiaries of the programme support activities.
Programme objectives: The overall goal of the programme will be to improve food security and livelihood standards for about 200 000 small producers and fishermen/fisherwomen households. The development objective will be to rehabilitate agricultural and fisheries production as well as the delivery of key social services including education, health and nutrition and potable water to the targeted households in a sustainable and equitable manner. The specific objectives will be to: (i) rehabilitate agricultural and fishery production; (ii) rehabilitate the marketing system and increase farmers and fishermen capacity to access markets in an equitable and sustainable manner; and (iii) rehabilitate and improve communities’ access to basic social services.
Tentative programme start: June 2006

More about Agricultural Rehabilitation Programme in the Oriental Province on IFAD web site