Ceara Regional Economic Development: Cidades do Ceara

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The objective of the Ceara Regional Economic Development Project (Cidades do Ceara - Cariri Central) for Brazil is to promote economic development, improve urban infrastructure, and enhance regional management capacity in the Central Cariri region of Ceara, which includes the nine municipalities of Barbalha, Caririagu, Crato, Farias Brito, Jardim, Juazeiro do Norte, Missao Velha, Nova Olinda, and Santana do Cariri. There are three components to the project. The first component is the infrastructure improvements. This component will comprises investments in infrastructure at the regional and municipal levels of Central Cariri to address critical infrastructure deficits, protect and restore the environment, and improve public services for local residents and tourists. Regional infrastructure includes transportation infrastructure to reduce congestion, increase mobility and access to the main tourism sites, and a regional sanitary landfill to provide an environmentally sound disposal site for solid wastes generated in the region. The second component is the cluster-based local economic development. This component will initially facilitate the growth of the tourism and footwear clusters in the Central Cariri Region to enhance their competitiveness through business environment improvement, technology upgrading, training and market outreach, and provision of infrastructure for cluster development. Finally, the third component is the regional management and institutional strengthening. This component will support promoting effective governance at the municipal, regional and state levels through activities in i) regional management; ii) municipal institutional strengthening; and iii) implementation support.