EDITOR’S NOTE: World Bank, the best friend of dictators and the primary source of Africa’s misery, approves more money to be given to the terrorist regime in Ethiopia led by tribal dictator Meles Zenawi. If and when a government that stands for the interest of Ethiopians comes to power, one of the first things it needs to do is to kick out the World Bank and IMF out of the country.
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World Bank Press Release No:2008/342/AFR
Washington, May 29, 2008 – The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank today approved US$ 80 million International Development Association financing (of which US$56.6 million as grant and US$23.4 million as a credit) to the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) in support of the second phase of the Pastoral Community Development Project.
The project will be implemented in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in 57 woredas of the Afar, Somali, SNNPs and Oromya Regions. About 600,000 rural households or approximately 45% of pastoral and agro-pastoral woredas in Ethiopia will benefit from the PCDPII project.
The objective of the Pastoralist Community Development Project II is to enable pastoralists to better withstand external shocks and to improve the livelihoods of targeted communities. The project will empower local communities by increasing their engagement in woreda processes and local development decision making. It will also provide them increased access to social services; and better access to support for savings and credit activities. In addition, the project seeks to improve and expand the pastoral early warning system and the responsiveness of the disaster mitigation and contingency funds.
‘PCDP II represents a great opportunity for the Government of Ethiopia to realize its commitment to decentralized development in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Ethiopia,’ said Ingo Wiederhofer, World Bank Task Team Leader for this project. According to him, the Project will support an approach to local development in which citizens are empowered to determine and implement their social and economic priorities. It will also help to expand and institutionalize systems that will enable the country to better identify and manage disaster risks in these fragile areas in a proactive manner adapted to pastoral livelihood systems.
The project has the following four components:
The Sustainable Livelihoods Enhancement component will further strengthen decentralized and participatory planning at the community/ kebele and woreda levels. Women and men in pastoral communities will identify, prioritize, design, and implement micro-projects that reflect their local development priorities. The Community Investment Fund (CIF) subcomponent will finance micro-projects related to water supply, micro-scale irrigation, health care, education, rangeland management, etc. The Rural Livelihoods Program (RLP) sub-component will finance income generating activities identified by beneficiary community groups, and will help to extend savings and credit cooperatives systems to pastoral areas.
The Pastoral Risk Management component will support the expansion of the participatory Early Warning and Response Program to all pastoral and agro-pastoral communities. The system will provide information to trigger early non-food responses to declines in the welfare of pastoralist communities using the proven Household Economy Approach. In addition, technical assistance and staff capacity building will be provided to support the development of regional Disaster Preparedness Strategy and Investment Programs in four regions.
The Knowledge Management and Participatory Learning component will support Participatory Action Learning pilots in selected woredas to develop methodologies for demand-driven approaches to participatory knowledge generation and innovation development. In addition knowledge management and information exchange will be supported at federal and regional levels.
The last component will support overall Project Management.
The World Bank will support the Pastoral Community Development Project II in partnership with the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD). Implementation of the project will be overseen by the Federal Project Coordination Unit of the Ministry of Federal Affairs, with regional governments playing a key role.
For more information on the World Bank in sub-Saharan Africa visit: www.worldbank.org/afr
For more information on the World Bank in Ethiopia visit: www.worldbank.org/ethiopia
For more information about this project click here.
Contacts:
In Washington: Aby Toure +1 (202) 473 8302
[email protected]
In Addis Ababa : Gelila Woodeneh (251-1) 662 77 00
[email protected]