Rural development in Western and Central Africa VI th ANNUAL DONOR MEETING 9-11 May 2006 Casa San Bernardo - Rome, Italy Mohamed Manssouri, IFAD Outcomes.

Rural development in Western and Central Africa

VIth ANNUAL DONOR MEETING

9-11 May 2006

Casa San Bernardo - Rome, Italy

Mohamed Manssouri, IFAD

Outcomes of the Regional Workshop on Community-Driven Development: The Way Forward


Washington 2005: Outcomes on CDD/Local development

General consensus

– Supporting local development operations and global intervention principles

– Need for a more comprehensive approach at both central and decentralized levels

– Two different but complementary approaches based on the communities and the territory

– Difficulty to measure real impact of local development projects– Need for more focused local development projects

Perspectives– Need to exchange on operational aspects for better harmonization

and better quality of interventions– Platform to be spearheaded by IFAD and UNCDF

Way forward

– Electronic conference– Regional Workshop


Electronic conference

• October 2005 – March 2006• A prelude to the regional workshop• Two hundred participants

• Themes tackled : Definition, Principles, Menu, Targeting, Monitoring and Evaluation, Local Tax System, Institutional development

• Outcomes– Definitions / concepts (partially) clarified

– Key stakeholders identified

– Issues and interrogations identified


Regional workshop : Objectives

• Exchanges experiences and learn from each othero Latin America (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador)o AFD (Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso), ACORD (Chad), World Bank (Mali, Burkina,

Senegal, Ghana), IFAD (Cape Verde; Ghana; Burkina, Mali; Senegal; Guinea, Mauritania), UNDP; Council of Europe; FAO; CIRAD; Dutch Cooperation; farmer organizations; local politicians; central and local governments

o Between 15 to 20 projects and operations

• Clarify meanings and issues regarding CDD approaches, and identify issues for further research

• Define decision tools and guidelines for CDD activities including specific indicators for benchmarking and measuring results

• Explore the creation of a platform for knowledge sharing and learning on CDD in WCA


Learning from the regional workshop 1/3

Meanings and definitions of concepts relating to CDD– CDD is about empowering communities to drive their own development

– CDD is a matter of degree (level of empowerment, accountability of the

institutions…)

– Choice of domain: need to be governed by principle of subsidiarity

– CDD models linking communities to civil society organizations in addition to local

government tend to promote more pluralistic governance arrangements and to

generate more solidarity

– Equity is at the centre of CDD approaches: Community Development is about more

rational and efficient public choice

– Poverty is addressed by CDD through social cohesion;

– As the poverty agenda tends to be lost at higher institutional levels, CDD is an

appropriate instrument for poverty reduction

– Inter community (area-based) targeting is easier; intra-community targeting is

practicable if based on intra-community social cohesion and solidarity mechanisms

– Community Development is a means for promoting citizenship

– CDD can be combined with other approaches : clusters (filières), NRM…



Approaches and methods of CDD

– Asset-based approach would lead to more self reliant responses, build more

self esteem and unleash local initiatives and energy (Cf. Latin America)

– Community’s needs or project’s ability and mandate that should determine the

menu of development?

– Importance of local and beneficiary contribution

– Citizenship, solidarity economy, fair trade, social cohesion

Agreement on the DT

- Need to operationalize / apply them within the context of the ongoing programs

- Need to translate them in practical / measurable benchmarks and indicators for

monitoring results



A few Innovations identified

– Positive discrimination to promote gender equity

– Decentralized cooperation

– Communication as a direct means for empowerment

(mobile video, rural radio…)

– Combination of CDD with private sector-based approaches

(Micro-enterprise / microfinance / filière development)

– Composite planning and budgeting: use of the web-based

tools to share information and reduce transaction costs


Way Forward 1/2

Apply the learning of the workshop to existing and new CDD ventures:

• Refine and operationalize the Decision Tools• Develop benchmarks, indicators and monitoring tools • Consolidate and articulate the various approaches to CDD

Promote learning and knowledge management in the WCA Region at

project, country and regional levels:

• “Capitalize” project’s knowledge (Fidafrique)• Promote and facilitate exchange and learning amongst partners• Promote dialogue between projects and countries (Platform)• Facilitate and promote the identification, documentation and sharing of

CDD ‘innovations’


Way Forward 2/2

Help mainstream CDD within IFAD:

Develop an approach/concept paper on CDD• Facilitate a corporate approach to CDD within IFAD• Advocate and promote the adoption of CDD approaches in the other regional

divisions• Promote the CDD Decision Tools

Help mainstream Institutional Analysis in IFAD: • Refine the institutional analysis method• Establish an informal working group of ‘trainees’ of the institutional analysis

training workshops• Table institutional analysis issues and implications • Provide training in institutional analysis

Hold an annual review for learning and strategic planning


Thank you

VIth ANNUAL DONOR MEETING

9-11 May 2006

Casa San Bernardo - Rome, Italy

Rural development in Western and Central Africa VI th ANNUAL DONOR MEETING 9-11 May 2006 Casa San Bernardo - Rome, Italy Mohamed Manssouri, IFAD Outcomes.

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