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The IFAD-funded Rural Diversification Programme has a strong focus on community-driven development, in which communities take on increasing responsibility for managing their own development. This includes responsibility for the design and implementation of projects. The success of community-driven development requires that the communities build their capacity to take on responsibility. It also requires a culture of public administration that views communities as development partners in their own right rather than simply as recipients of benefits through public expenditure.

"One of the successes of the IFAD-funded programme is how it has managed to assist rural poor people in organizing themselves and helped build a sense of community,” says Moustapha Jeetoo, an economist who works in the Chief Commissioner's office in Rodrigues.

The programme has funded 22 community centres in Rodrigues island. The centres serve as meeting points for women and youth. They house equipment that women need to engage in income-generating activities such as preserving and packing pickles, baking and embroidering.

Equipped community centres which are used as meeting points, social hubs and shelters © Roxanna Samii - IFAD

During cyclone season they serve as shelters for those who do not have cyclone-proof dwellings. The centres can accommodate about 30 to 40 people.

"Before the community centres were built, women and youth did not have anywhere to meet," says Jeetoo. "The centres have become a social hub where women meet to organize themselves and to prepare and package products such as preserves and pickles."

The centres are strategically located to serve at least three or four adjacent villages. Usually they are managed by women's associations. They are used for social activities and for lectures on topics such as building HIV/AIDS awareness, coping with rising food prices, drying fruits and octopus, packaging and marketing artisanal products, food security and embroidery. Typically each community centre serves approximately 200 households.

Centres such as Pointe Coton in north-east Rodrigues, La Ferme in central Rodrigues, Montagne Goyave in northern Rodrigues, and the unfinished Mont Limon are also used by the communities as points for the direct sale of products.

Community centres: social, agricultural and marketing hubs

Yvraise Casmir in her poultry farm © Roxanna Samii - IFAD

The Zotvia poultry farming and marketing cooperative is located in Montagne Goyave, in northern Rodrigues Island.

"The cooperative is composed of 11 women," says Yvraise Casmir, the cooperative's secretary. "The IFAD-funded Rural Diversification Programme gave us 24 chickens. We women joined together and we built a big pen for the chickens," says Casmir. "We've just started. Soon we will be selling the eggs and chicks."

"We need to make enough money to build a fence around the pen so the chickens can move about freely," Casmir says.

The cooperative has a vegetable garden planted with maize, which provides feed for the chickens. Members also grow and sell cassava, sweet potatoes, eggplant, cucumber and pumpkins on the plot, using rainwater to irrigate it.

The cooperative uses the Montagne Goyave community centre as a sales point and gathering point for its members. The centre has the equipment that the women need for sewing, cooking and packaging cakes and preparing preserves.

The women meet every Wednesday to take stock of their achievements and discuss their challenges. Every week, two women in turn are on hand to sell the cooperative’s products. Typically they sell lemon preserves, octopus chillis, straw hats, cakes and vegetables.

"The cooperative's monthly income is approximately 2,000 Rps, which we divide among the 11 women," says Casmir. "On Saturdays, we take products such as our preserves and straw hats to the Port Mathurin market."

"Our immediate challenge is make the chicken business profitable. We need to start selling eggs and chicks," says Casmir. "I hope that we can build the fence around the pen so the chickens can move about without going astray!"

The community centre in the Le Chou district in the highlands of Rodrigues Island is located about 340 metres above sea level and has a magnificent view of the lagoon.

Blandise Leopold is president of the Le Chou Women Planters Association. The association has a plot where the women grow maize.

"You see, I am planting the maize now so that I can harvest in November," says Leopold.

Leopold has ploughed her plot by hand. Maize in hand, she walks the plot and throws the kernels into holes that she covers over with a movement of her bare feet.

"I hope we get a good crop in November," Leopold says. "This way we can make good money. You see, we take the maize for grinding. We pay 2 Rps per kilogram for grinding and we sell a kilogram for 20 Rps."

Rising fuel prices affect earnings

Blandise Leopold planting maize © Roxanna Samii - IFAD

The recent hike in fuel prices has had a negative impact. "We usually take five to six bags for grinding," says Leopold. "Some months ago when I took the maize for grinding I paid [the driver] 20 Rps for myself and 15 Rps for each bag, but now the driver asks for 40 Rps for my transport and 25 Rps for each bag."
"We package the maize in about 60 packs, and once a month a group of us goes down to the Port Mathurin market," says Leopold. "We need to take the bus. The bus driver charges us 15 Rps to carry each basket full of packs, and we pay 80 Rps for the round trip for ourselves."

Total expenses for grinding and for the round trip to market have increased for Leopold to 350 Rps, instead of the 200 Rps it cost previously. Like Lima Casmir and other small-scale producers, Leopold has not yet raised the price of the products. She still sells 1-kilogram packs of ground maize for 20 Rps.

Blandise Leopold planting maize © Roxanna Samii - IFAD

"If we are lucky we sell all 60 packs and make 1,200 Rps," says Leopold. "This may seem like a lot, but once you subtract the processing and transport costs we make roughly 850 Rps, which is divided among 10 of us," she says. "We use our income to buy seeds and use whatever is left over to buy food for the family."

Creating a sense of cohesion and belonging

"The community centres have changed the social dynamics. They've helped the community mobilize itself to meet new challenges as and when these arise,” says Jeetoo. "As a result, now there is more cohesion among the community."

The centres offer an opportunity for people to become involved in a wide range of activities. They promote a sense of belonging and social inclusion. They provide a place where the community can meet and engage in collective activities.

The centres are governed by a steering committee, a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer. There are weekly meetings to decide and agree on the programme of work and to plan various activities. For example, to cover overhead costs such as electricity some centres have discussed the possibility of renting out the space for communal social activities such as birthdays and anniversaries. Others use part of the income from sales of their products to  make improvements such as tiled floors.

"The centres have created a sense of community that previously was not there," says Jeetoo. "We consider this one of the many achievements of the Rural Diversification Programme."

Source: IFAD