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Water and the Rural Poor

Interventions for improving livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa

Year of publication 2008

Product type Book (stand-alone)

ISBN 9789251059821

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This publication is the result of a joint effort by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to address the linkage between water and rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. It takes stock of past experiences and demon-strates that there are many opportunities to invest in water in support of rural livelihoods. Its aim is to help decision-makers make informed choices on where and how to invest. It emphasizes the need for an approach where investments in infrastructure are matched with interventions in institutions, knowledge and finance in ways that yield optimal returns in terms of poverty reduction. It highlights the extreme het-erogeneity of situations facing rural people across the region and the diversity of challenges and oppor-tunities facing different categories of rural operators, stressing the need to adapt responses to these realities. It recognizes the multiple dimensions of the rural water challenge, and shows how peoples livelihoods depend on reliable water sources for a wide variety of uses.

Language English

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