Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

The First Mile ProjectUnited Republic of Tanzania

An IFAD initiative supported by the Government of Switzerland

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

IFAD’s approach to ICT

• Focus on people and not technology• Connectivity is only the tip of iceberg• ICT is a tool not a solution• Emphasis on communication• Process more important than access• Relevant content more important than machines

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

Innovative approach to learning and sharing• Documenting learning and project impact through

photography, video and text • Thematic approach focusing on:

– overall conditions for meaningful use of ICTs by rural poor people

– geographic, economic and cultural isolation

– learning and its impact on livelihoods of rural poor people

– responsiveness to community demand

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

The term ‘First Mile’

Bridging the connectivity gap that separates a village with no electricity and no telephone line from the nearest online computer

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

First Mile project

• Rural communities as the starting point of connectivity and not the end point

• Two-year pilot project :– Supported by Government of Switzerland

– Implemented in collaboration with the IFAD funded Agricultural Marketing Systems Development Programme (AMSDP) in Tanzania

– Technical assistance provided by the International Support Group

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

AMSPD

• 7 year programme for a total of US$42.3 million with an IFAD loan of US$16.3 million

• Goal is to increase rural poor people’s food security and incomes by improving the structure and performance of the country’s crop marketing systems

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

First Mile project objectives

• Help small producers, processors, traders and others in the market chain to:– Communicate better

– Form partnerships

– Learn from each other

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

It is about

• People• Technology• Sharing and learning

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

The challenges

• Access by rural poor people to:– information and knowledge and to ICTs such as

mobile phones, the Internet and email

– other key people in the market chain, including traders, processors and even consumers

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

Emerging lessons

• Build collaboration before infrastructure• Blend the old and the new• When local innovation drives technology, it also

drives change• Local knowledge is relevant knowledge

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

Next steps

• Use ICTs to support learning:– Training of learning groups on use of internet-based

learning support service

– Assess level of local interest and take actions to build market chains

Enabling the rural poor to overcome poverty

The First Mile ProjectUnited Republic of Tanzania

An IFAD initiative supported by the Government of Switzerland