MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE ACCOUNT-ARMENIA SELECTS TIMING OF VILLAGES FOR WATER-TO-MARKET TRAINING
ARMENPRESS
Aug 15 2007
YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS: Millennium Challenge Account –
Armenia (MCA-Armenia) has selected the timing during which villages
will participate in the training component of the Water-to-Market
Activity of the MCA-Armenia Program.
The Water-to-Market Activity, implemented by ACDI/VOCA, Arcadis
Euroconsult, and their local partner VISTAA Plus, focuses primarily
on providing training to help farmers transition to more profitable,
market-oriented agriculture. The training programs within this activity
will prepare 60,000 farmers over a period of five years.
MCA-Armenia has now identified the communities to be served in the
next four years of the program following the completion of a pilot
phase in September.
To ensure fairness and transparency, random selection of the
communities was determined to be the best method. Mathematica Policy
Research, a US based independent evaluator contracted by the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC), provided technical support to MCA-Armenia
in developing a software program and making the actual selection.
Villages to be provided training in the second, third, fourth and
fifth year of the program were grouped by Marzes and the Water
User Associations in which they are members. 120 village clusters
were selected for year 2008, 77 for years 2009 and 2010, and 80 for
2011. 69 village clusters were included in the pilot phase.
An additional 82 village clusters have been identified as currently
having inadequate water; they will become eligible as water improves
through irrigation rehabilitation efforts. (Village clusters are
usually one, two or three villages grouped together based on geography
and agricultural conditions.) Farmers in some of these villages will
be surveyed as part of the MCA-Armenia Program evaluation.
The Millennium Challenge Compact, signed on March 27, 2006 with Entry
into Force on September 29, 2006, aims to reduce rural poverty through
a sustainable increase in the economic performance of the agricultural
sector. Armenia plans to achieve this goal through a five-year program
of strategic investments in rural roads, irrigation infrastructure
and technical and financial assistance to improve the supply of water
and to support farmers and agribusinesses.
The program will have a direct impact on approximately 750,000 people,
or an estimated 75 percent of the rural population, and is expected
to reduce the rural poverty rate and boost annual incomes.
The Compact includes a USD 67 million project to rehabilitate up
to 943 kilometers of rural roads, more than a third of Armenia’s
proposed "Lifeline Road Network." When completed, the road network
will ensure that every rural community has road access to markets,
services, and the main road network.
Under the Compact, the Government of Armenia will be required to commit
additional resources for maintenance of the road network. The Compact
also includes a USD 146 million project to increase the productivity
of approximately 250,000 farm households (34% of which are headed
by women) through improved water supply, higher yields, higher-value
crops, and a more competitive agricultural sector.
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government corporation
designed to work with some of the poorest countries in the world, is
based on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces
good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people that
promote economic growth and elimination of extreme poverty.
Millennium Challenge Account-Armenia (MCA-Armenia), a State Non
Commercial Organization established by the Government of Armenia,
is responsible for overseeing the transparent implementation of the
Compact signed between the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the
Government of Armenia.