Ruta, Unidad Regional de Asistencia Técnica, Boletín Informativo

RUTA TOWARDS THE FUTURE

With RUTA’s support, IFAD prepares a work strategy in Central America for 2007-2010

Enhancing the role of agriculture to fight poverty in Mexico and Central America will continue to be the main focus of IFAD’s work in the coming years.

At a strategic meeting held in May, RUTA and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) defined their main priorities for joint work in Mexico and Central America for the next four years.

The meeting, held in Costa Rica, was attended by 39 specialists and authorities from both agencies, including the Director of RUTA and the 12 directors and 5 officers of IFAD’s projects in Mexico, Central America and Panama. Also present were the coordinators of the IFAD-AMERICA regional programs, PREVAL and SERFIRURAL, IFAD’s Operations Manager for Nicaragua and Honduras, the Chief Economist and the Liaison Officer for Nicaragua. Other participants included representatives of financial institutions such as CAF, UNOPS, the World Bank and CABEI, as well as special guests from IICA, LAC-Forum and MAGA.

This expert group analyzed the current situation at IFAD, organizational aspects in the Central American isthmus, IFAD’s current project portfolio in Central America and the regional problems faced by RUTA, SERFIRURAL, PREVAL and IFAD-AMERICA. This discussion provided elements to define the continuation and renewal of IFAD and RUTA’s subregional work strategy for the period 2007-2010.

An IFAD subregional team, with RUTA’s support, was entrusted with the design of the Subregional Strategy, which will be ready in September of this year. Its main focus will be poverty reduction and rural development. This implies strengthening the role of agriculture in efforts to address poverty, enhancing the productivity of poor rural populations and providing more social infrastructure, among other essential elements (see box).

Active project portfolio

IFAD is currently executing 12 projects in Mexico and Central America, with a total investment of US$280 million. Three of these projects are in their closing phase: PROSOC in Honduras, PRODAPEN in Costa Rica and PRODERNOR in El Salvador.

Elements to consider in the IFAD-RUTA Subregional Strategy for 2007-2010

	The role of agriculture in poverty reduction.
	The increase of the poor population in rural areas, the need to promote their productivity and invest more in social infrastructure.
	The importance of natural resources for developing projects, whose equilibrium depends on local planning
	Strategies to fight poverty ...what has been their impact?
	The gap between poor households headed by women.
	The impact of debt relief on the HIPC countries (Honduras and Nicaragua).
	Actions by countries to implement many small projects, without these being part of a comprehensive strategy.

Another four projects are still in the process of ratification and compliance with conditions for effective implementation: PRODEMORO in El Salvador, Ecotourism in Mexico, and two in Guatemala –one in the western region and another in the eastern part of the country. With regard to pre-investment, progress has been made with the COSOP in Honduras, Inception/Formulation for Nicaragua and an ex-ante evaluation of a project in Costa Rica.

In addition, five donations for a total of US$2.77 million are being executed, corresponding to two regional donations (RUTA and SERFIRURAL) and three country donations (Mexico/AMUCCS, Costa Rica/Country Donation, and Guatemala/Hurricane Stan). Similarly, IFAD’s Latin America and Caribbean Division has a network of regional programs that currently includes seven technical assistance grants. These support and create synergies with the projects in Central America.