RURAL SMALL AND MICROENTERPRISE
PROMOTION PROJECT

THE PROJECT

1 Project Area and Target Group
2 Objectives and Scope
3 Components
4 Costs and Financing
5 Procurement, Disbursement, Accounts and Audit
6 Organization and Management
7 Economic Justification
8 Risks
9 Environmental Impact
10 Innovative Features

Project Area and Target Group

Project area. The project aims gradually to cover the entire country and will particularly seek complementarity with other IFAD and donor-funded projects active in rural areas. From the outset, special attention will be given to developing the capacity of local professional organizations and the private sector will be mobilized to assume responsibility for sustainable service delivery to SMEs.

Due to the heterogeneous nature of the intervention area, project approaches will vary in each zone. Zone 1 covers the provinces of Ruhengeri, Byumba and Umutara. Building on the achievements of the first phase of RSMEPP, the project will gradually withdraw from this zone, fully transferring SME service delivery to professional organizations. This experience will serve as the basis on which to develop the project’s exit strategy for the other provinces. Zone 2: In the provinces of Kibungo and Kigali Ngali (Rural Kigali), activities will complement the Smallholder Cash and Export Crops Development Project and particularly support agroprocessing and diversification of income-generating activities. Zone 3 takes in the provinces of Kibuye, Gisenyi and Cyangugu, which border part of Lake Kivu. Due to its high proportion of vulnerable people, priority will be given to Kibuye. Starting from year three in Gisenyi and Cyangugu, the project will cooperate with projects funded by AfDB and planned by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Zone 4 covers the provinces of Butare, Gikongoro and Gitarama (from year three). Coordination, cooperation and complementarity of activities will be observed with all development partners, especially with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), which has joined the NGO Forum and complements artisanal support activities. The approaches developed will serve as a model for the other project zones.

The main target group consists of the rural poor and their organizations with particular attention to vulnerable groups2, which include: (i) women and woman-headed households; (ii) uneducated rural youth; (iii) children and orphans who are household heads; (iv) the landless rural poor; (v) families affected by HIV/AIDS; and (vi) former soldiers resettled in rural areas.