No. 15 - January 2000
No. 15 - Janvier 2000
No. 15 - Enero de 2000

In this issue: 

• Taking on New Challenges

• Ecuador: "Etnodesarollo": una Nueva Visión para Grupos Étnicos

• Kosovo: Relaunching the Rural Economy

• Kosovo: EBRD to Assist Agribusinesses

• Bay of Bengal: Sustainable Management of the Bay's Large Marine Ecosystem

• Brazil: Assessing Knowledge Gained from Integrated Land Management in Santa Catarina

• Afrique de l'Ouest: Développement socio-économique des zones libérées de l'onchocercose

• Briefly noted

• Projects approved for financing

In 1999, the Investment Centre assisted over 100 countries to mobilize funds to improve the food security and welfare of their rural populations, and to move towards sustainable systems of natural resource management. Many countries have adopted new policies which expose farmers more directly to market forces, change the relationship between governments and the private sector and, through decentralization, give rural people a greater say in setting priorities. At the same time, most of the international financing institutions with which the Centre collaborates have gone through a process of reform, leading to the emergence of new procedures, lending instruments and documentation requirements. Significantly, all of the financing institutions have strongly reiterated their commitment to reduce the scourge of poverty which, most often, is heavily concentrated in rural areas. 

Much of the Centre’s 1999 work programme again targeted poverty reduction, especially in work with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme. The year saw a significant increase in interaction among the three Rome-based UN agencies, reflected in several joint operations and much inter-agency consultation. 

One of FAO’s highest priorities is assisting governments in meeting the goals set at the 1996 World Food Summit, in halving the number of chronically malnourished people by 2015. FAO’s Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) is proving a practical instrument for stimulating low-cost innovation, focusing on affordable ways of improving productivity and enhancing small farmers’ incomes. In many of the low-income food-deficit countries targeted by the SPFS, Centre staff have assisted in the Programme’s design and in forging links between it and the lending programmes of its cooperating financing agencies, to both enrich and expand SPFS’s outreach and impact. 

1999 was a year of expansion of the Investment Centre’s work in the environmental field, particularly with the Global Environment Facility. GEF is becoming an increasingly important source of grant funding, enabling countries to expand their investments in protecting vulnerable resources, in particular unique ecosystems. The Centre’s environment staff work closely with FAO experts in forestry, fisheries, biodiversity, soils and water resources in advising countries on GEF project design. As GEF projects are often tied to projects aided by international banks, the Centre is well placed to provide formulation assistance for projects which combine funding from GEF, the World Bank and regional banks. 

Improving the productivity of farm land and ensuring its sustainable use is at the heart of the Soil Fertility Initiative (SFI), launched during the World Food Summit as a joint programme by the World Bank, International Fertilizer Development Center, FAO and the International Center for Research in Agroforestry. In 1999, there was a sharp upturn in SFI activity, with over 20 African countries embarking on the preparation of SFI Action Plans that emphasize practical field activities for small farmers, aimed at shifting to more sustainable and productive systems of land husbandry. FAO support for the SFI is provided jointly by the Land and Plant Nutrition Management Service and the Investment Centre, building on FAO’s long experience in promoting sustainable land management systems in Asia and Latin America, especially Brazil, generating knowledge of major use in Africa. 

The pace of change and impact of investments in rural areas depends heavily on the effectiveness of agricultural support services in facilitating farmers’ interest in innovation and in helping them to access knowledge that can improve their livelihoods. World Bank and FAO staff involved in agricultural education, research and extension are in the process of developing a shared strategic vision and set of principles to guide their member countries in investing in more effective agricultural knowledge and information systems. 

Nowhere are the problems of poverty, environmental degradation and the need to improve rural institutions greater than in countries affected by natural disasters and conflict. The Investment Centre is becoming increasingly involved in developing recovery strategies, helping to set priorities among the vast list of demands and quickly preparing proposals to mobilize needed finance, often building on FAO’s Special Relief Operations Service emergency work. The Centre recently helped to prepare a major irrigation rehabilitation project to improve food security in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, provided planning assistance to Central American countries to revitalize their rural areas devastated by Hurricane Mitch, formulated projects in 11 West African countries to aid socio-economic development in areas freed from onchocerciasis (river blindness), and helped the people of Kosovo begin to put their rural economy back on its feet again. 

This issue of UPDATE offers a sample of the wide range of tasks already involving the Investment Centre at the start of this challenging new millennium.

Con participación del Centro de Inversiones, en el Ecuador se han iniciado unas actividades que abren nuevas perspectivas de desarrollo para grupos étnicos no sólo de América Latina sino también de otras partes del mundo. Se trata del "etnodesarrollo", que incorpora al clásico enfoque del desarrollo rural los condicionantes culturales de grupos étnicos tradicionalmente apartados del desarrollo. Un elemento básico de este nuevo enfoque ha sido la activa participación en la preparación y ejecución del proyecto de los beneficiarios de etnias indígenas y negros.

A solicitud del Gobierno del Ecuador y del Banco Mundial, el Centro, a través de su Programa de Cooperación FAO/Banco Mundial, ha proporcionado asistencia técnica en la formulación y funcionamiento del Proyecto de Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas y Negros, aprobado en 1998 por un total financiero de EU$50 millones con el apoyo del Banco Mundial (EU$25m) y el FIDA (EU$15m).

La labor del Centro se dirigió inicialmente a la elaboración y transferencia de un sistema de participación de las comunidades y sus organizaciones en todas las decisiones relacionadas con inversiones a nivel comunitario, y en la evaluación financiero/económica del proyecto. Ahora que este está en ejecución, el Centro contribuye también al desarrollo de sistemas de gestión, monitoreo y autoevaluación apropiados para las organizaciones que constituyen el corazón del proyecto.

Desde su concepción, el diseño del proyecto ha sido responsabilidad de un Comité de Gestión formado por representantes del Comité del Decenio de los pueblos indígenas y negros, constituido por las principales organizaciones indígenas y negras del país y representantes del Gobierno.

La población meta del proyecto, que se concentra en 288 parroquias rurales, es la población indígena perteneciente a diez grupos socioculturales y la población negra ecuatoriana. Se estima que el proyecto atendería alrededor de 800,000 personas en 22 ámbitos étnicos de intervención. El proyecto está orientado a disminuir los niveles de pobreza, diversificar fuentes de ingreso y empleo, fortalecer la autogestión y lograr una integración democrática de los pueblos indígenas y negros. Este incorpora su propia visión del desarrollo potenciando sus actuales recursos y su capital humano y social.

La estrategia del proyecto apunta a establecer la necesaria capacidad técnica, legal e institucional de las organizaciones indígenas y negras, para que éstas fomenten el desarrollo sostenible. Aproximadamente dos terceras partes del presupuesto del proyecto se dedican al financiamiento de inversiones rurales, respondiendo a una gama amplia de necesidades, identificadas por las proprias comunidades. Entre las más de 100 inversiones financiadas en los primeros 12 meses de ejecución se incluyen invernaderos, guarderías infantiles, caminos de acceso, lombricultura, ganado, talleres artesanales, mejoramiento de suelos y reforestación de microcuencas. Otros componentes incluyen: fortalecimiento de las organizaciones indígenas y negras; regularización de la tenencia de la tierra y los derechos de agua; fortalecimiento institucional estatal; y organización, administración y evaluación del proyecto.

El proceso de elaboración de herramientas, guías y software para permitir a los grupos indígenas identificar, preparar y realizar inversiones que respondan a sus propias necesidades culturales, ambientales y económicas, ha resultado en un instrumento de utilidad más allá del proyecto. Bajo el nombre de "RuralInvest" se están aplicando las mismas herramientas en varios países latinoamericanos para apoyar el proceso de desarrollo comunitario y autogestionado.

Contactar Aidan Gulliver ([email protected]) o Dino Francescutti ([email protected])

In June 1999, the United Nations initiated a Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for the South Balkans crisis, to which donor response was fast and positive. This strong commitment enabled FAO to expand emergency relief operations in the region, especially in Kosovo. FAO’s Investment Centre has since been working closely with the European Community (EC) and World Bank (WB) Task Force to formulate short- and medium-term reconstruction and recovery programmes for Kosovo, building where possible on the field experience being gained by FAO’s Special Relief Operations Service.

A Second Donors’ Conference, held in November 1999 in Brussels, approved proposals by the EC/WB Task Force for a new "Towards Stability and Prosperity Programme for Reconstruction and Recovery in Kosovo". The Programme, prepared with substantive input from the Investment Centre, will cover external financing requirements for the year 2000, giving particular attention to restoring agricultural productivity that has been damaged by the conflict and previous neglect. Investments of US$74 million are proposed. The medium-term strategy includes a programme for 2001-2003 that the Investment Centre also helped to formulate, aimed at relaunching the rural economy in Kosovo, in particular its private sector. It also provides support for institution capacity building.

In the context of this strategy, the Centre, in collaboration with the World Bank, prepared a Kosovo Emergency Farm Reconstruction Project, following a province-wide survey in July 1999 by a joint Albanian and Kosovar team contracted by FAO to assess conflict damage and needs in the agriculture sector. This project, presently pending approval, involves some US$25 million in total investments.

Additional long-term interventions have also been identified for livestock and animal health services, farm mechanization, the agro-industrial sector, irrigation and drainage, forestry, and agricultural institutions and services.

Contact Benoist Veillerette ([email protected])

Kosovo: EBRD to Assist Agribusinesses

In October 1999, under its cooperation agreement with FAO, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Technical Cooperation Committee approved a project for US$230,000 (70% financed by EBRD, 30% by FAO) to provide technical, financial and management advice to Kosovar private entrepreneurs in the agricultural/agribusiness sector. In undertaking this project, the Bank will bring its expertise in the formulation and assessment of private business proposals to the joint effort.

With the Centre's assistance, the Bank will use FAO's presence in the province to implement the project. A small business advisory centre will be created to help local entrepreneurs formulate their business and financial plans, find suitable funding sources available in the province and apply for loans.

The first phase, presently underway, is establishing the advisory centre and identifying sources of finance. The Centre is assisting in project supervision and providing technical expertise to support local entrepreneurs as needed. A second phase may follow depending on the outcome of this first initiative.

Contact Emmanuel Hidier ([email protected])

In response to requests from the Bay of Bengal reparian countries, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) recently approved funding to protect the Bay’s fragile marine ecosystem. FAO has long been active in helping to implement the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP), a multi-donor effort that has been assisting Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand to improve the welfare of 7 million small-scale fisherfolk through sound fisheries practices. The GEF initiative grew out of the countries’ increasing concern about the environmental threats to the fisheries resources. FAO’s Investment Centre and Fisheries Department will assist the BOBP countries and Myanmar in the preparation of a Strategic Action Programme for the sustainable management of the Bay’s ecosystem. This GEF initiative aims to mobilize national and regional efforts to protect the health of the Bay and to improve the food and livelihood security of the region’s coastal population.

Recognizing that the threats to the Bay extend beyond the mandates of the national fisheries departments and ministries, the GEF project will draw in all stakeholders concerned, especially the communities whose livelihoods depend on the Bay’s resources. National partners include fisheries, agriculture, environment, planning and finance institutions, non-governmental and community-based organizations.

The Investment Centre has secured co-financing to supplement the GEF grant. Sweden, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, the World Bank and World Conservation Union, will collaborate as donors or sources of technical advice. Several other potential donors have also indicated interest in supporting the activity.

GEF is an international financing mechanism that provides grants and concessional loans to eligible countries to meet agreed incremental costs of measures to achieve global environmental benefits in the areas of biodiversity, international waters, climate change and the ozone layer. Land degradation, particularly desertification and deforestation as they relate to these focal areas, is also addressed by GEF.

The Centre is FAO’s focal point for liaising with the GEF Secretariat and its Implementing Agencies: the World Bank, UNDP and UNEP. FAO is strengthening its partnership with GEF in the priority areas of biodiversity (particularly agricultural biodiversity), sustainable fisheries management, and land and water conservation and management. FAO has so far been involved in the preparation or implementation of over 25 GEF projects. The Centre also serves as a gateway for GEF to access FAO’s technical expertise, and assists countries in identifying and preparing projects for GEF financing.

Contact Barbara Cooney ([email protected])

Brazil: Assessing Knowledge Gained from Integrated Land Management in Santa Catarina

In addition to its better-known work in helping to formulate agricultural and rural development investment projects, the Investment Centre also prepares project implementation completion reports that identify lessons useful for future project design. A recent report assessed the environmental and economic impact of integrated land and watershed management in Santa Catarina from 1988-1997. Work involved gathering and analyzing indicators of achievements obtained under the Land Management II Project (1990-1999), prepared with Investment Centre help and implemented by the State of Santa Catarina with a World Bank loan. A team of land and water engineers, economists and environment specialists worked throughout the project cycle from preparation and supervision to the completion report. Project objectives were to increase agricultural production, productivity and farm incomes while promoting sound management of natural resources. Major conclusions and lessons learned were:

• It is possible through changing tillage systems and managing vegetative cover, not only to reduce land degradation but to increase farm incomes;

• Success of project components promoting participation, organization, environmental education and extension depended on sustainable production activities that profited farmers;

• Decentralization of research and extension was necessary to achieve project objectives;

• Environmental monitoring costs were relatively low (about 1% of project cost). Without such monitoring it would not have been possible to evaluate the results of efforts carried out in the microcatchments; and that

• Introduction of better micro-watershed management including "zero-tillage" in Santa Catarina was more than just a technical improvement. It became a social movement that impacted positively on the relationship between communities and the natural resources on which they depend for their livelihood.

Contact Katia Medeiros ([email protected])

Depuis 1974 la Communauté internationale, sous la responsabilité de 4 Agences de l'ONU au sein desquelles siège la FAO a entrepris une lutte contre cette endémie portant sur 11 pays (Bénin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinée, Guinée Bissau, Mali, Niger, Sénégal, Sierra Leone, Togo).

Dès les premières interventions d'éradication de l'endémie est apparue la nécessité d'appuyer ce programme par des actions à caractère socio-économique pour un développement durable des zones libérées.

En 1995 la FAO est chargée de coordonner l'élaboration de plans d'action au niveau des pays concernés. C'est au Centre d'Investissement qu'échut la responsabilité de préparer ces projets d'investissement. A cette date 7 pays ont fait l'objet de telles formulations selon une approche largement participative recourant au Programme de Coopération Technique de la FAO et à des financements bilatéraux; les interventions en 2 pays ont été temporairement différées, et 2 pays devraient être rapidement concernés.

Afin de faciliter la mobilisation des financements de ces projets pilotes une présentation des activités conduites par la FAO a été faite lors de la conférence des donateurs (Paris, 12-14 octobre 1999) et de la réunion du Comité Conjoint du Programme de lutte contre l'onchocercose (La Haye, 6-8 décembre 1999).

Un intérêt certain a été exprimé par divers partenaires au développement et le Comité a tenu à indiquer avoir "pris avec grand intérêt connaissance des progrès réalisés sur le terrain en ce qui concerne l'appui au développement socio-économique des zones libérées sous la direction de la FAO".

Compte tenu du défi posé par ces projets de développement et leur ampleur (17 millions de personnes concernées à terme), une large sensibilisation des partenaires potentiels s'impose tant de la part des pays impliqués que de la FAO au cours de ses formulations.

Contacter Aziz Tabet ([email protected]), Philippe Ardouin-Dumazet, FAO IC

Briefly noted . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 

AFRICA

Identification work was undertaken for rural development projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda (WB); livestock development in Kenya (AfDB); food security in Chad, Lesotho, Malawi and South Africa (TCP and SPFS); and rural development priorities in Madagascar (AfDB). Project formulation assistance was provided for: the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire (TCP); soil fertility in Guinea, Eritrea, Lesotho and Tanzania; rural infrastructure in Guinea and Mali; rural development in Nigeria and Tanzania; soil and water management in Rwanda and Senegal; agricultural research and training in Uganda (WB); smallholder horticulture in Côte d’Ivoire (IFAD); and food security in Ghana and Mauritania (AfDB); Mozambique, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe (SPFS) and Liberia (TCP). The Centre helped supervise and evaluate projects in Mali and Zambia (WB); Mauritania (AfDB); Burkina Faso and Kenya (WFP), and Ghana (IFAD). Sector reviews were carried out for soil and water management in Burkina Faso, rural development in the Gambia, small-scale irrigation in Senegal, land reform in South Africa and agricultural statistics in Uganda (WB). The Centre contributed to appraisal of rural development projects in the Gambia and Mali (WFP), marketing projects in Mozambique and Zambia (IFAD), and a rural development project in Ghana (WB). It also undertook a socio-economic and production systems study in Lesotho (IFAD).

The Centre helped identify a rural development project in Thailand and a community-based rural infrastructure project in Viet Nam (WB). It carried out a pre-feasibility study for agrarian reform in the Philippines (WB). Projects were formulated for integrated agricultural development in Bangladesh (AsDB) and land titling in Sri Lanka (WB). The Centre supervised and evaluated WB projects in Bangladesh, China, Laos, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand, and a WFP project in China. It participated in a round table meeting for food security in China and in planning South-South cooperation in Nepal (SPFS), provided implementation assistance for a research and extension project in India (WB), helped appraise irrigation projects in Bangladesh and Indonesia (WB) and a poverty alleviation project in China (WFP), took part in an appraisal of a market-assisted/community-managed land reform project in the Philippines (WB), and participated in negotiations among co-financing agencies for a rural development project in Bangladesh (WB, FAO).

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

Project identification was undertaken for soil rehabilitation in Chile, water resources management in Ecuador, and fisheries in Nicaragua (WB). The Centre helped formulate projects for fisheries and forestry in Argentina, sustainable management of the Amazon and environment in Brazil, environment in Central America, water resources management and environment in Chile, rural development in Ecuador, land administration in El Salvador, natural resources management in Guatemala, land funds in Guatemala and Honduras, agricultural technology in Nicaragua, irrigation in Panama (WB), rural development in Chile (TCP), public investment management in Nicaragua (IDB), and rural development in Argentina (TCP). Staff participated in a review of RUTA in Central America (FAO), and in appraisal of agricultural technology in Nicaragua (WB). The Centre evaluated or supervised projects for WB in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela, and for WFP in Central America.

NEAR EAST

The Centre helped in project formulation work for export development in Jordan and on-farm irrigation in Kyrgyzstan (WB), spate irrigation in Yemen (WB, IFAD) and rural development in Tunisia (AfDB). It carried out evaluation and supervision of WB projects in Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia and Yemen, and evaluation of WFP/NGO partnerships in Gaza and Egypt. It undertook a survey on grain marketing in Kazakhstan (WB).

EUROPE

The Centre participated in assessing reconstruction needs and project identification in Kosovo (FAO, WB). It helped formulate projects for irrigation in Armenia, agricultural research in Georgia, emergency farm reconstruction and agriculture reconstruction in Kosovo, agri-business in FYR Macedonia, agricultural services in Moldova (WB), and a grain receipt programme in Bulgaria (EBRD). It took part in appraisal of an irrigation/drainage project in Albania and an environment project in Turkey (WB). It supervised and evaluated WB projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Latvia and FYR Macedonia. It contributed to a forestry sector review in Turkey and assisted with preparation of a Country Economic Memorandum for Bulgaria for the World Bank.

Projects approved for financing. . . . . . . . . .

From June to December 1999, 20 projects formulated with substantial inputs from the Investment Centre were approved by financing institutions and governments for total investments of US$1,176.09 million (the balance between total project cost and loan or grant is provided by the recipient government and beneficiaries): ALBANIA: Irrigation/Drainage Rehabilitation II $41m ($24m IDA, $10m The Netherlands/Kuwait); ARMENIA: Dam Safety $30m ($26.6m IDA); AZERBAIJAN: Agricultural Development and Credit $34m ($30m IDA); BENIN: Ouémé Rural Development II $23.82m ($16.20m AfDF, $3.17m Nordic Development Fund); BULGARIA: Grain Receipt Programme $27m ($27m EBRD); Restructuring of Wholesale Markets $32m ($10.0m EBRD); EGYPT: Private Sector and Agricultural Development $479.06m ($225m WB, $75m IDA); THE GAMBIA: Peri-Urban Smallholder Improvement $7.94m ($7.04m AfDF); GUATEMALA: Rural Development Programme for Las Verapaces $26m ($15.0m IFAD, $5m OPEC Fund); INDIA: Integrated Watershed Development Hills II $193m ($85m WB, $50m IDA); KENYA: The Aberdares Natural Resources Development $23.94m ($21.51m AfDF); DPR KOREA: Rehabilitation of Pyongnam Irrigation I $33m ($10m OPEC Fund); MADAGASCAR: Rehabilitation Lower Mangoky Rice Scheme $23.6m ($13.9m AfDF, $8.2m OPEC Fund); MAURITANIA: Irrigated Agriculture Development $46m ($38.1m WB), Artisanal Fisheries II $13.38m ($6.85m AfDF, $5.02m OPEC Fund); NIGERIA: Roots and Tubers $36.09m ($23.05m IFAD); PERU: Agricultural Research and Extension $14.8m ($9.6m WB); POLAND: Upgrading of Dairies $33.80m ($25.35m); SRI LANKA: North and East Irrigated Agriculture $32.40m ($27m IDA); TANZANIA: Participatory Irrigation Development Programme $25.26m ($17.05m IFAD).