Agricultural Development Support Project to Seila

The project’s goal was to increase the food and income security of poor rural people by helping them achieve and sustain increased farm productivity and income, and by encouraging them to diversify crop and livestock activities. Women were an important part of the target group, which also included returned refugees, internally displaced persons, mine victims and unemployed youth.

The main objectives of the project were to:

• support agricultural development activities tailored to the needs of the target group
• empower local communities to maintain and manage productive resources
• strengthen the capacity of local institutions to target and manage investment programmes in a participatory way
• assist NGOs and microfinance institutions in providing financial services

The project piloted a new mechanism for financing rural services by channeling funds through the Rural Development Bank, which acted as a credit wholesaler.

Source: IFAD