395 Districts of the Central Highlands Will Benefit from Productive Projects
WASHINGTON, April 2, 2013 – About 31,600 households in Peru’s poorest areas will benefit from an additional US$20 million financing to the Sierra Rural Development Project, the Support Program for the Rural Productive Alliances of the Highlands (ALIADOS) of the Ministry of Agriculture, which was approved today by the Executive Board of Directors of the World Bank.
“We are pleased to learn that the new funding is provided based on the lessons learned in the implementation of the original project and has a strong systematization component that will eventually allow for the implementation of similar successful projects at the national level,” said Milton Von Hesse, Minister of Agriculture. “Social inclusion becomes a reality through these types of projects,” he added.
All initiatives are directly managed by beneficiaries. In addition to matching funds, they also receive specific technical training for their productive activities. Revenues obtained will allow producers to expand their activities, contributing overall to the sustainability of their projects.
The streamlined procedures applicable to rural business plan subprojects and territorial development projects are an innovation in this second phase of Aliados.
“Producers will still work in close coordination with the Rural Agricultural Production Development Program –AGRO RURAL– of the Ministry of Agriculture and with regional and local governments in order to get a quick approval of subprojects. Unlike past communal development projects, territorial development projects now include a component of coordination with other local stakeholders involved in natural resource management,” said Susan Goldmark, Regional World Bank Director for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
This additional financing will help extend the partial subsidy for the preparation and implementation of nearly 700 new rural business plans, as well as 375 territorial development projects in 395 districts of Peru´s central area.
The total amount of households that will benefit from the original project and its extension would exceed 85,000 in 395 districts in the regions of Apurímac, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Huánuco, Junín and Pasco. The districts were selected based on the results of the poverty maps.
The US$20 million loan with variable spread will have an implementation period of three years. It considers a reimbursement period of eight years and a grace period of four years.
