SNV partners with World Bank in USD$ 16.6 million agreement

SNV is pleased to announce that it has partnered with The World Bank on "Projet de Développement des Pôles de Croissance dans le Bas-Congo" (PDPC) project, as part of a USD$114 million project which aims to diversify the economy, accelerate growth and create employment through the development of Agricultural value chains in DR Congo. SNV will develop and strengthen agricultural capacity and productivity for cassava, palm oil and rice production and high value processing, to benefit an expected 50,000 households in central Congo.

The project will invest in six pre-selected areas, or growth poles, of the central Congo region: Lukula, Tshela, Boma, Kimpese, Mbanza Ngungu and Inkisi. The project will develop the value chains of three commodities - cassava, palm oil and rice - to generate employment (specifically accessible to women), household income, food security, market development and economic growth. Over five years 50,000 farmers are expected to directly benefit from the project, of which 40% will be women, and an estimated 11,000 jobs could also be created.

SNV will provide capacity building and broker multi-stakeholder relationships to facilitate the development of these value chains, via six multi-service platforms in the growth pole areas. These multi-service platforms will engage with 50 rural service centres providing essential agri-business services to organised farmer producer groups and cooperatives. SNV will coordinate multiple stakeholders including the provincial ministry of agriculture, farmer platforms, seed producing enterprises, and private sector processing companies, to improve agri-business for inputs, the capacity for high value processing, and profitable market linkages.

SNV CEO Allert van den Ham together with Alain Lungungu, DRC project coordinator signed the agreement in Kinshasa on 11 February 2016. Dr Allert van den Ham noted that the implementation of this project will enable SNV to increase tenfold the number of beneficiaries it will reach in DR Congo.

For more information please contact Sarah Mbago, SNV Country Director DR Congo:
smbago@snv.org