Contacts: In Washington: Stevan Jackson (202) 458-5054 ajackson@worldbank.org In Brasilia: Mauro Azeredo (55-61) 3329-1059 mazeredo@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, October 19, 2006 —The World Bank’s Board of Directors today approved a US$30 million loan to the State of Pernambuco in Northeast Brazil to help expand the Pernambuco Rural Poverty Reduction Project. “The additional financing will boost community-driven, small-scale infrastructure and income-generating investments for poor people in rural areas. It will also promote closer integration of rural development policies, programs and projects at the State and municipal levels,” said John Briscoe, World Bank Director for Brazil. The project aims to assist the State of Pernambuco reduce its levels of rural poverty by: - Improving the well-being and incomes of the rural poor through better access to basic social and economic infrastructure and services, using a community-driven approach;
- Increasing the capacity of rural communities to organize collectively to meet their own needs; and
- Enhancing local governance by greater citizen participation and transparency in decision-making through the creation and strengthening of community associations and municipal councils.
Specifically, the loan will finance the following activities: - Matching grants to community associations to finance the implementation of about 1,100 small-scale socio-economic infrastructure, education, health, culture, productive, environmental and other investments;
- Technical assistance and training to mobilize and strengthen community associations in their role of identifying, preparing, operating and maintaining subproject investments; and
- Capacity-building for Municipal Councils and technical advice for the State Technical Unit for their expanding roles.
“We estimate that some170,000 rural poor people, or about 38,000 families, will benefit from the additional financing of this project by achieving improvements in their quality of life and incomes,” said Jorge A. Muñoz, World Bank task manager for the project. “These beneficiaries are primarily small-holders, tenants, sharecroppers, and landless laborers, who will identify, prepare, implement and maintain community infrastructure and productive investments financed under the project.” The original loan for US$30.1 million was approved by the World Bank’s Board of Directors on June 26, 2001. The new US$30 million fixed-spread loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a repayment period of 17 years, including five years of grace. ### For additional information on the project, please visit: http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P050880 For more information on the World Bank’s work in Brazil, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/br |
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