Contacts: Brasília – Denise Marinho (+55-61) 3329-1099 dmarinho@worldbank.org Washington – Gabriela Aguilar (+1 202) 473-6768 gaguilar2@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, July 23, 2009 – The World Bank today approved a US$ 30 million additional financing for the Bahia State Integrated Project: Rural Poverty, in Northeast Brazil. The new loan will enable the Bahia State Government to include an estimated 360,000 people (72,000 families) in the ongoing project, which aims to increase social and economic opportunities for the rural poor by improving their access to basic socioeconomic infrastructure. Currently, the project benefits some 810,000 people (about 18% of the Bahia’s rural poor). “The Produzir Project is an important part of the State Government’s efforts to empower small producers and raise the Human Development Index in the poorer regions of rural Bahia,” said Jaques Wagner, Governor of Bahia. “I am a great believer in this ongoing partnership between the Government and the small scale producers, as a way to take sustainable development to all of the State’s regions and reduce inequality. This is the philosophy of our Government. The World Bank’s support has been essential for this.” The new loan will scale-up the results of the Bahia State Integrated Project, which had a US$ 54 million loan approved by the Bank in September 2005. The project builds on the successful and well-established community-driven approach, in which community associations directly choose and implement the social and productive investments they need. The project also seeks to strengthen cross-sectoral integration and provide emphasis on education, health, culture, natural resources management and environmental sustainability. Participatory mechanisms, which form the heart of the project, have enabled it to integrate with other State and Federal programs, thereby leveraging its poverty impact. The financing will support an additional 800 community subprojects through matching grants for small-scale socio-economic infrastructure, education, health, cultural, environmental and productive investments. The project will also ensure that the poorest communities and traditionally marginalized groups such as the quilombola and indigenous populations have access to project benefits. “Beyond expanding its reach, the new operation also marks a second phase of the program, in which producers will increasingly access markets both in Brazil and abroad, thereby closing the sustainability circle,” said Edward Bresnyan, World Bank Project Task Manager. Specifically, the additional financing will support: (a) improving access to basic social and economic infrastructure and services; (b) enhancing small farmers’ productive activities and their linkages with national and international markets, using community-driven development techniques; and (c) scaling up the impact of public investments on rural poverty by using the skills, social capital and experience of the municipal councils and community associations to improve the relevance, efficiency, sustainability, targeting and outcomes of non-project State and Federal investments in rural Bahia. The World Bank has been a partner of Bahia since 1950, and has helped finance over 40 projects in the State, totaling approximately US$ 1.8 billion, mainly for rural poverty reduction, transport, water resources management and education initiatives. For additional information on the project, please visit: http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P110617 For more information on the World Bank in Brazil, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/br |
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