RY SOCIAL FUND DEVPT

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The Social Fund for Development Project seeks to reduce poverty by improving living conditions and providing income generation opportunities to the poor. To achieve this objective, the project will establish a demand-driven mechanism to: (1) provide community development services to poor communities; and (2) support income generation activities through development of small and microenterprises. The project has three components: (1) community development; (2) small and microenterprise development; and (3) capacity building. The first component comprises small-scale labor-intensive works that provide income generation opportunities and temporary employment while improving basic services in disadvantaged communities; and the delivery of community services involving government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and communities through subprojects that will serve as models for larger sectoral operations. The second component will deliver credit, technical assistance, and training to microenterprises through NGOs and to banks and other financial intermediaries in order to assist the latter in developing a portfolio of small enterprise loans. The third component will develop capacity in NGOs, community groups, and the private sector for involvement in small-scale development activities; help strengthen training, procurement, and accounting capacity; and monitor poverty nationwide.