World Bank has initiated a US $200m Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) initiative, which is set to benefit 21,000 women and youth in Nigeria. The APPEALS Specialist, Heather Akanni, made the disclosure at a workshop for the facilitators of the project in Lagos earlier on this week.
According to media reports, the six states slated to benefit from the project are Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Kogi, Enugu and Cross River. Mrs Akanni, who is the National Women, Youths and Livelihood Specialist at the National Coordinating Head Office of APPEALS, said the 21,000 women and youths formed 35% of a total of 60,000 people that are expected to benefit from the initiative across the six states.
She further added that people living with disabilities would be incorporated in the percentage allocated to women and youths in the initiative. Meanwhile, the World Bank International Development Association Project Appraisal Document on the proposed US $200m credit stated that the project was programmed for 60,000 individuals at 10,000 per state and 300,000 farm household members as indirect beneficiaries.
The document stated that the project monitoring and evaluation and information system will include a gender-tracker to ensure adequate documentation on different categories of project beneficiaries. Additionally and according to the 92-page document, the project development objectives include increased productivity of agricultural value chains by project-supported farmers.
