Chad: Promote municipal development and provide basic services

Project description

Title: Rural Development in Northern Chad
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Co-financed by: European Union (EU), Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
Country: Chad
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Economics and Development Planning and International Cooperation
Overall term: 2018 bis 2023

Context

A large part of Chad's population suffers from food insecurity. This is associated with an economic downturn or economic stagnation. Climate risks in agriculture are also a factor. The provinces Borkou, Ennedi and Tibesti in the far north of the country (BET region) suffer from multiple risk factors: the nomadic lifestyle, an extremely dry climate, land mines and minimal basic services.

The regional capital cities Faya, Fada and Bardaï are faced with the challenge of providing urgently needed basic services, which is made more difficult by a lack of resources, limited capacity to act and insufficient experience in public administration. The municipalities are unable to fulfil their duties, especially with regard to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), reproductive health and agriculture. Most of the population in the region has no access to clean drinking water and toilets.

Objective

Access to basic services with regard to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene measures, reproductive health and agriculture has been improved in the target region – particularly in the municipalities of Faya, Fada and Bardaï.

Approach

The project works with the local authorities and focuses on disadvantaged groups: women and young people. The project strengthens the structures of local and civil society stakeholders, in order to provide and maintain basic services in the areas of WASH, reproductive health and agriculture.

To this end, it creates conditions to facilitate the participatory planning of measures, such as joint project selection and design with local participants. The project implements necessary construction projects, such as building latrines and rehabilitating the drinking water supply. Furthermore, it contributes to the body of knowledge on northern Chad by performing and publishing socio-economic studies.

The project provides transitional development assistance and builds on, among others, work done by the Programme to Strengthen Resilience and Peaceful Coexistence in Chad (PRCPT). PRCPT has already established a participatory development committee and drafted local development plans in the last few years. Therefore, the capacity development approaches adopted by the new project tie into the existing development plans and use existing relationships with local stakeholders.

The European Union (EU) and the French development agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD) have supported the project activities with additional financial resources since August 2019.

Results

The first objectives of the local development plans were achieved in 2019. In Faya, access to drinking water was restored for 5,000 people using chlorination systems.

As part of the effort to combat COVID-19, the project provided hygiene and awareness-raising materials to the local authorities of Faya-Largeau in May 2020. The project distributed hand washing stations, soap and reusable cloth masks, among other things. Training courses on hygiene rules were also conducted.

Last updated: February 2021