Rural Enterprise and Economic Development Project

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The objective of the Rural Enterprise and Economic Development Project for Nepal is to strengthen rural market linkages and entrepreneurship ecosystem and to create job opportunities as the recovery actions from COVID-19. The project has five components. (1) Strengthening Market Linkages through Productive Partnerships component will build productive partnerships to promote rural-based value chains, including: (i) conducting a comprehensive communications campaign, including a targeted communication campaign for women; (ii) brokering support for prospective buyers and POs to prepare simple joint profiles; (iii) provision of technical assistance to POs with the development of mutually-agreed business plans; (iv) provision of Start-up Grants for POs to fulfil the terms of their business plans; and (v) supporting formalization of POs as legal entities. (2) Strengthening the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the Federal Structure component will build the capacity of provincial and local governments and related agencies in the agriculture sector in: (i) agriculture services development; (ii) climate-induced risks and challenges and strengthen climate resiliency (iii) strategies to enhance efficiency and resources use along the agri-business value chains; (iv) food safety and certification of organic food; (v) reducing post-harvest losses; (vi) developing mechanism and framework to deepen extension of advisory services; (vii) development of digital platform for market information at local level; (viii) fiduciary and audit capacity; and (ix) implementation of local level agriculture development plans. (3) Restoring and Strengthening COVID-19-Disrupted Food Supply Chain and Local Economy component will finance investments in: (i) municipal agriculture centers for safe food and seed storage and supply, including distribution of seeds and other agricultural inputs to local population, agri-businesses, producers and farmers; and (ii) upgrading and building demand-driven market and value chain related infrastructure and demand-driven semi-public infrastructure at local level, including through financing of labor-intensive works, which could include regional market centers, collection centers, storage centers, cold-chain centers, packaging and processing centers, value addition facilities. (4) Project Management component will provide support to Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives as well as the respective provincial and local governments for Project implementation and management, including support for procurement, financial management, environmental and social risk management, monitoring and evaluation and reporting; provision of Training and Incremental Operating Costs. (5) Contingent Emergency Response Component will provide immediate response to an Eligible Crisis or Health Emergency.