Sunamganj Community-Based Resource Management Project

This 11-year project is working to improve participants' access to essential services and resources, to diversify their livelihood options and to empower women in a district that is remote, neglected and characterized by destructive flooding patterns.  The vulnerability and livelihood insecurity of its inhabitants are severe, and households headed by women are particularly vulnerable. Specifically, the project:

• provides access to savings and credit services at the village level, focusing on the promotion of high-value products with established marketing chains (livestock and fisheries)
• supports the transfer of water and land management rights to participants to improve their access to and control over natural resources. It also promotes community-based habitat restoration to increase the production and availability of fish to local fishers
• promotes labour-intensive infrastructure development (including village erosion-protection works and storage facilities) to provide employment opportunities to the poorest and most vulnerable people, particularly women, and to reduce threats of erosion and flooding
• empowers women by addressing strategic gender needs such as access to knowledge and technology, control over productive resources, and development of leadership and management skills

The project's target group includes landless, marginal and small-farmer households and women.

Source: IFAD