By Nadia Khan
5 August 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: For the rural poor of Panama, the expectation of making less that $900 a year is a familiar one. This is the reality for around 10,000 men and women in the five poorest districts of Veraguas, a province in central Panama. Mostly small farmers, landless laborers and unemployed youths, these 10,000 people are standing to benefit from the United Nations International Fund for Agriculture Development’s (IFAD) new program starting this summer.
In an agreement reached in Rome on 15 July, IFAD pledged a $4.2 million loan to back the program, which will span six years and cost a total of $12.3 million at its close. Since 1982, IFAD has funded seven programs, in the form of loans to the Panamanian government, to back development programs such as this one, totally over $76 million in loans.
“[IFAD] has targeted indigenous populations in four of the seven projects. These projects were designed to counter the high rates of poverty and extreme poverty among indigenous groups,” explained Jaana Keitaanranta, IFAD Country Programme Manager for Panama in an interview with MediaGlobal. “Their activities have supported the economic development of indigenous communities, income generation, environmental conservation and natural resource management.”
Keitaanranta is confident the new program will only stand to benefit. “After twenty-five years of initiatives in Panama, IFAD has acquired strengths in a number of thematic and geographic areas,” Keitaanranta said, adding that “in particular, IFAD has gained experience in supporting marginalized rural areas through integrated rural development projects.”
These projects have, through the years, given IFAD the ability to strengthen ties between people and communities on a grass-roots level up through a regional and provincial level. Strong relationships like these are crucial to the prolonged development and success of a rural community by “facilitating the inclusion of isolated and marginalized areas,” explained Keitaanranta.
The newest program aims to help provide basic assistance to small farmers, while bolstering the economies of the communities as a whole with micro-credit and teaching business skills.
Broken down into specific areas of focus, the program will address four major issues affecting the people in these rural communities: “rural poverty reduction through enhanced income-generating opportunities, with an emphasis on the areas of highest poverty incidence; a clear policy mandate and extensive experience in targeting the poor, in particular disadvantaged indigenous and ethnic groups and women; community-driven development, including natural resource management, community infrastructure, and better access of the poor to productive assets; and well-established partnerships with key central and local government,” described Keitaanranta.
One of the highlights of the new program is the implementation of innovative “territorial development councils” (TDC). These TDC’s are a compilation of local government and community representatives, from both official and non-official positions.
“The whole idea of Territorial Development Councils came from the decentralization plans of the Government of Panama,” said Keitaantranta. “In the near future decentralization policies will mean significant budget responsibilities at the local level and its important to canalize the resources to the productive purposes that are in line with territorial priorities.”
In the five districts of Veraguas, where the new program is taking place, the TDC’s will be comprised of the district mayor or his appointed representative (who will also serve as the chair for the TDC), representatives of local health and education offices, a representative from a local NGO in the district, three representatives from small producer organizations, three representatives from base organizations, a representative from the organized private sector (i.e. Chamber of Commerce), representatives of the GOP sector or development projects in the area (i.e. UNDP, ANAM, etc.) and finally a United Nations representative from the Project.
The purposes for the TDC’s include “preparation of an annual infrastructural investment plan, to be presented to GOP programmes; preparation of social development plans for the depressed sector of the district; identification of public and private financial sources for the TDC; and annual selection of extremely poor young indigenous and non-indigenous men and women to be supported by labour skills training assistantships, financed by the project.”
The importance and development of the TDC’s in the new program have come from the areas that IFAD has determined over the years that need to be focused upon: indigenous/regional focus, social inclusion and targeted instruments, political and economic integration, cultural identities and development, and cross-cutting gender strategies.
Through these focuses and the implementation of the TDC’s, which will encourage communities’ and individuals’ participation, inclusion and articulation, IFAD is confident that the newest program will be able provide sustainable cultural and economic development for the people of rural communities in Panama.