Pilot Community Development Project

closed

The Pilot Community Development Project seeks to test a decentralized, participatory, bottom-up development approach as a way to improve the quality of life and social inclusion of poor rural and marginal urban communities in three departments on the southern border of Paraguay. The project will contribute to the development of the capacity of local communities to implement poverty alleviation and community development activities. There are two main project components. The first component finances small-scale, demand-driven subprojects prepared and submitted by groups of eligible beneficiaries. Income generation subprojects will include projects aiming at agricultural diversification (e.g., raising pigs, chickens, flowers, etc.), and will include small enterprises, artisan workshops, eco-tourism, services such as laundries, processing facilities, community markets, and the like, as well as community development subprojects for activities complementing productive investments such as child care facilities, community centers, and child/youth development, among others. This component also finances technical assistance for subproject identification, preparation, and implementation. The second component strengthens the capacity of local communities to design and implement community development activities and facilitates their participation in overall project implementation.