Community based integrated rural development program for Siliana Province, Tunisia

The Community Development Foundation (CDF) in cooperation with the Ministry of Planning, the governorates, and other ministries will implement the project. Projects implemented by the CDF during Phase I will be used as demonstration sites for training an estimated 100 local government service workers and administrators. After conducting a training needs assessment, the CDF will offer two types of training. Demonstration training will involve visits by teams of 2-5 persons to local project sites and participation in both structured and informal review and discussion of community-based development. Skills transfer will focus on providing intensive instruction in community-based development project planning and evaluation techniques for 6-12 staff from three different local organizations. A total of 14 joint projects will be implemented to benefit an estimated 1,400 people. Compared to Phase I, projects will be fewer, concentrated in South Siliana and North Kasserine, better integrated, and designed to better convey the community-based development methodology. Projects will be in the areas of: (1) agriculture, emphasizing rural dryland farmers" need for irrigation as well as different cropping systems, raising small animals, and new seed varieties; (2) productivity, focusing on improving access to raw materials and markets, establishing an additional productivity center, and intensifying general education sessions; (3) appropriate technology, including planning, implementing, and evaluating the use of windmills, greenhouses, passive solar heaters, and ferro-cement granaries; and (4) improving health and nutrition, especially of women and girls, through multifacteted activities.