CDD and the Transformation Agenda M. Manssouri, Country Program Manager, IFAD Informal Workshop on Community- Driven Development (CDD) in WCA

Since the 1970s and 1980s…  IFAD has evolved from supporting area-based projects, mostly: first co-financed then stand-alone ‘beneficiary-oriented’, or ‘delivery-oriented’, rather than citizen- or user-oriented  …and from which a lot of lessons have been learned…  …which have helped to bring about a clearer focus on rural poverty reduction, and the concomitant mandate, empowering IFAD’s target group, to access to credit and technology (‘green revolution’)

Area-based project experience was capitalised in terms of…  Shaping IFAD’s identity and comparative advantage, as well as for fine-tuning partnership arrangements (with whom to work or not to)  Moving from ‘input/output-driven’ projects… …to anchoring participatory approaches in the concrete realities of CBOs… …and fostering the linkages of these CBOs with wider systems… …whilst recognising that these systems are determined by the quality of policy and governance settings  However, ‘Input/output-driven’ projects focused on (formal) organisations and their development…

Towards system-building in the late 90s…  The new focus is on institutions, including the wider processes (the ‘game’) of which organisations are part (players)  Particular emphasis is placed on higher-level systems covering… - institutional - delivery - policy …aspects…dynamically evolving through learning mechanisms  Policy aspects govern the system, i.e. the linkages between stakeholders

System-building (continued)  This system-building approach uses a range of different entry points, from: State/government reform, to Sector reform, to Private sector reform, to Delivery systems reform, to Building Community-Based Organisations (CBOs)  Recently appraised projects include an institutional transformation agenda: CDD, rural financial services, support to decentralization, support to ME, commodity chains…  This new generation of projects is more process- oriented, actor-focused, seek to integrate people in wider processes, working at policy-level (the rules of the game), and at actor-level (the players of the game)  Use of new processes such as multi-stakeholder approaches, learning and scaling up mechanisms

CDD is an approach from the bottom-up  With CDD as a vehicle for collective action at the grassroots level  As a means for mediation between the individual / citizen / household level and the wider levels…  In CDD, CBOs are not bodies that merely execute project activities… but are viewed in their wider institutional context, within which are distinguished:  Organisations managing public goods,  Common Interest Groups incl. farmer groups…  …both of which are organised around concrete stakes…  …with projects focusing more on facilitating linkages and contributing to fostering autonomous decision- making at various levels

Focus on linkages, processes, principles…  The role of projects and programmes is increasingly leading to fostering: - Integration into the market/private sector - Integration into the global community - Integration into civil society  In a constructive tension between: Competition <> Exclusion Cohesion / Inclusion Efficiency + Equity Dynamic over time >> Efficiency >> Equity >> Stability >> Growth  A work on the dynamics of the systems (e.g. balancing outreach and sustainability) to understand and accommodate the inherent complexity of agricultural and rural livelihood systems

In this context, enabling the rural poor to overcome their condition means… o Recognizing that the rural poor and their institutions are agents of change  Facilitating institutional transformation: Specialization and segmentation to foster emergence of farmer, trade organizations, CSOs, private sector organizations, CIGs, etc. Communities to internalize the separation / boundaries, especially in pre-capitalist societies… Policy change to gain leverage in more complex institutional systems  Adopting a contextual approach to project design and implementation to allow for innovation and flexibility  Multiplicity of Instruments  Time Frame

CDD as Part of a Larger Transformation Agenda  CDD stock-taking efforts in PA, PT and other Divisions  Positioning of CDD as compared to NEPAD, PRSP, MDBS, SWAPs: where do top-down and bottom-up approaches meet?  Institutional Analysis Guidelines: filling a methodoligical gap;  PBAS: A recognition of the importance of Governance  RIMS: Indicators for CDD?  Field Presence: can it be a means for fostering CDD?  Dakar-based Multi-stakeholder Hub: What should be its role in terms of policy change, and knowledge sharing…  Fidafrique: a medium for a productive tension between the global, the regional and the local levels – knowledge and dialogue  Policy forum: can it be a vehicle for advancing the CDD agenda, improving IFAD interventions’ coherence while contributing to developing more empowering policies and instruments