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

2. Rural development in Western and Central Africa 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

3. Rural development in Western and Central Africa 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

4. Rural development in Western and Central Africa Regional workshop : Objectives Exchanges experiences and learn from each other oLatin America (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador) oAFD (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 oBetween 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

5. Rural development in Western and Central Africa 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…

6. Rural development in Western and Central Africa Learning from the regional workshop 2/3 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

7. Rural development in Western and Central Africa Learning from the regional workshop 3/3 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

8. Rural development in Western and Central Africa 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’

9. Rural development in Western and Central Africa 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

10. Rural development in Western and Central Africa Thank you VI th ANNUAL DONOR MEETING 9-11 May 2006 Casa San Bernardo - Rome, Italy