![]() Prior to the earthquake, IFAD had three ongoing projects in Haiti, for a total amount of $50 million, and was the second-largest financier of the agricultural and rural sector. In its April 2010 meeting, the Executive Board of IFAD approved a debt-relief package that provides the basis for permanent debt forgiveness of Haiti’s debt burden to the organization. The programme will raise incomes in the region through enhanced production, sustainable natural resource management and development, and stronger community organizations.Īnd while 2010 was a challenging year for Haiti, we are working with the government to build a long-reaching plan that includes programs that will improve access to credit, markets, tools and training. In Nicaragua, we have the US$15 million Development Programme for the Agricultural, Fishing and Forestry Productive Systems in the Indigenous Territories of RAAN and RAAS (NICARIBE). Heading down the Central American Isthmus to Honduras, the US$37 million Sustainable Rural Development Programme for the Southern Region (Emprende Sur) will facilitate participation of small rural enterprises in value chains, expand their access to national and external markets, increase food security and reduce vulnerability to climate change. The programme also seeks to expand agro-entrepreneurial associations and create more opportunities for small businessmen and women. Next door in El Salvador, the US$40 million Rural Territorial Competitiveness Programme (Amanecer Rural) will help to increase employment, incomes and food security for family farmers. In Guatemala, the US$41 million Sustainable Rural Development Programme in El Quiché places an emphasis on women and young people, but its benefits will extend to the business operators, family farmers, wage labourers, craftspeople, and microentrerenuers in the region. While rich in culture, northwestern Mexico is particularly poor in natural resources due to the degradation of the land and limited access to resources.įrom there we go to Central America, where our innovative market-access and value-chain programs have been proving successful. This program will work in concert with the Development Project for Rural Poor Economic Organizations of the Border Region, which will be implemented in 11 provinces in the western area bordering Haiti, where poor smallholder farmers are cultivating high-quality organic coffee and bananas, but lack the resources to bring their produce effectively to market.Īlso in the Caribbean, the US$7.5 million Market Access and Rural Enterprise Development Programme (MAREP)will increase the incomes of unemployed or self-employed young men and women in rural areas. It will do this by building strong organizations and by creating mechanisms for these organizations to access markets and value chains. In the Dominican Republic, the US$48.5 million Rural Economic Development Project in the Central and Eastern Provinces will increase the incomes and assets of poor men, women and young people. The Latin America and Caribbean Division also continued working with our ever-evolving regional portfolio, as well as on a number of grants that provide the backbone of our knowledge-management and policy dialogue platform. In 2010, the IFAD Executive Board approved six large programs in the region. There are projects in 20 member countries with a total investment portfolio of around US$700 million. IFAD’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division currently funds 33 ongoing programs in the region. More importantly, these projects strive to leverage our collective wisdom to create better lives for the rural people living in poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.Īnd while we must look forward to bigger projects, greater challenges, and a whole lot of work in 2011, I think it’s important to reflect first a little on our past. These projects will work in places like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti and Honduras to improve market access for family farmers, ensure long-term sustainability, increase territorial approaches to multiply (and magnify) economic opportunities, and facilitate pro-poor policy dialogue. In the upcoming year, we hope to bring over 10 new project-funding requests to our Executive Board for approval – plus a half dozen country and regional grants. And as we break into 2011, the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s Latin America and the Caribbean Division is dreaming big. The coming of a new year is always a time for dreamers. This year’s mid-term review of the Productive Initiatives Support Programme in Rural Areas (PAIP) in Haiti will provide unique insight into the challenges facing the rural sector. Giant Steps: Taking stock as we move into 2011
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |