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Agreements relating to the ‘Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction “Puthu Vazhvu” Project’ were signed, here today between Government of India, the World Bank, and the State of Tamil Nadu for an IDA (International Development Association) Credit amounting to Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 79.4 million or about US$ 120 million.
The project supports Govt. of Tamil Nadu’s strategy for reducing poverty among the rural poor and other vulnerable groups, through targeted assistance for productive livelihood activities, using the Community Driven Development approach. The project would help empower the poor and improve their livelihood through: (a) developing, strengthening and synergizing pro-poor local institutions/groups (including Village Panchayats); (b) enhancing skills and capacities of the poor (especially women and the vulnerable); and (c) financing productive demand-driven sub-project investments related to livelihoods for the target poor.
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The project includes following three main components:
Component I: Village Livelihood Program - This component will build institutional capacity, synergize and strengthen pro-poor local institutions and fund productive livelihood related investments at the village level.
Component 2 - District and State Support to Village Livelihood Programme - This component would support and strengthen the project teams and support organizations at the state and district levels to respond to the needs of the poor and build institutional linkages and livelihood options for enhanced sustainability of the livelihoods o f the poor and vulnerable.
Component 3 - Project Management - This component will facilitate overall co-ordination, implementation, monitoring and learning of the project at state and district levels. It would include setting up and strengthening state level and district level project management units, and provision of office infrastructure and logistical support.
While Michael F. Carter, Country Director, India, signed the Agreements on behalf of the World Bank, Shri M. Prasad, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance signed for Government of India and Shri L.N. Vijayaraghavan, Secretary, Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme for Government of Tamil Nadu and Shri N. Muruganandam, Project Director and Member-Secretary, Tamil Nadu Puthu Vazhvu Society on behalf of Puthu Vazhvu Society.
BSC/BY/GN/335/05
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