Rural Development Strategy
Implementing the Poverty
Reduction Strategy in Rural Areas
May
2003
The Government of Yemen
(GOY) has initiated the preparation of a rural/local development strategy
(RLDS) to address the implementation issues of the country’s poverty
reduction strategy in rural areas. The strategy provides a mechanism to
prioritize projects and programs identified in the Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper (PRSP) and to organize their implementation at the local
level, through the new institutional environment created by Law No. 4 of
2000 concerning the Local Authority.
At the MNA regional
consultations on rural development strategies, held in Beirut, Lebanon
from March 21-22, 2001, the Yemeni delegation expressed keen interest in
having the Bank help prepare an action-oriented rural/local development
strategy for Yemen, consistent with the Bank’s and the MNA Region’s rural
development strategy, entitled “Reaching the Rural Poor.” Since then,
Yemen has been selected as the focus country for the MENA Region’s rural
development strategy.
This emphasis on rural
development reflects the GOY’s goal, as outlined in “Yemen’s Strategic
Vision 2025 and the Second Five-Year Plan (SFYP),” of fostering
decentralized, holistic development of rural areas, so they may contribute
and participate more effectively and sustainably to the country’s overall
development and to poverty alleviation. Rural/local development is
therefore an important dimension of the PSRP prepared by GOY in
consultation with the civil society and endorsed by IMF and the Bank’s
Boards in July/August 2002.
This report, “Rural/Local
Development Strategy”(the Strategy), builds upon the Agricultural Strategy
Note, the Fisheries Strategy Note and the Yemen-Towards a Water
Strategy-An Agenda for Action. It also complements the Urban Sector
Strategy recently prepared by MNSIF and the Rural Energy Strategy for
Yemen currently under preparation with the support of ESMAP, as well as
the ongoing Poverty Update and the Public Expenditure Management work
carried out by MNSED, the Education Strategy Note and the Rural Access
Strategy supported by the Rural Access Program.
The continuing importance of
the rural areas in Yemen lends special significance to this task. With
the rural population defined as living in agglomerations of up to 5,000
inhabitants, 74 percent of the country’s population (18.4 million in 2000)
continues to reside in rural areas. Poverty is widespread, and the
poverty percentage reflects the share of total population living in rural
areas. In particular, Yemen has the lowest life expectancy (51 years),
lowest adult literacy rate (38 percent), highest fertility rate (7.5
percent) and the highest infant mortality rate (11.7 percent) of all MNA
countries. Access to basic services is also much better in urban than in
rural areas. For example, water supply is 87 percent urban, 20 percent
rural; electricity is 92 percent urban, 24 percent rural; and sewage is 54
percent urban, almost zero percent rural. Moreover, management of Yemen’s
water resources (particularly the rapidly depleting deep groundwater
aquifers) is a key issue for rural livelihood in the Highlands. The
growing competition for scarce water among various uses, rural (including
agriculture, drinking and sanitation), urban and industrial, remains a
major challenge yet to be addressed. Agriculture, still a major source of
livelihood for the rural poor, requires a series of policy, institutional
and resource allocation realignments to reflect its fragile resource base,
including the predominant marginal lands and water scarcity.
To prepare an
action-oriented strategy and ensure synergy with other ongoing
initiatives, the GOY has established a Supervisory Committee chaired by
the Minister of Planning and Development (MOPD), with representatives from
the MOPD, Ministry of Local Administration (MOLA), Ministry of Agriculture
and Irrigation, Ministry of Fisheries Wealth, and Ministry of Finance, as
well as an inter-ministerial Technical Committee chaired by MOPD’s Deputy
Minister for Macroeconomic Affairs, which includes representatives of the
MOPD’s various sector General Managers and key line ministries.
The overall objectives to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in an equitable way have
already been spelled out in different documents: the Second Five-Year Plan
(2001-2005), the Vision for the Year 2025 and, more recently, the PRSP.
Regarding local development, Law No 4 of 2000 concerning the Local
Authority provides the framework for decentralization and empowerment of
elected representatives at the district and governorate levels, and for
cooperation between and central and local authorities. In addition, the
recently passed Water Law begins to address a major constraint for rural
development and water scarcity in Yemen.
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