Energy and Environment

Intergrated Drylands Development Programme (IDDP)

The Programme
The programme was developed through a highly participatory approach involving government, NGOs and UNDP staff in 25 countries. The final programme is currently being introduced and implemented in 19 countries; 14 in sub-Saharan Africa and 5 in the Arab States and West Asia. The country matrices attached as Annex 1 provide information of the strategic support provided by the programme.

The programme is helping countries to integrate the needs of their dryland populations into Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and into the broad Country Programmes of UNDP. Local capacities for monitoring and coping with drought are being strengthened, and considerable attention is being paid to local governance and capacity strengthening.

Future Trends
The Integrated Drylands Development Programme has been successfully launched in 19 countries. Efforts will be made to secure funds to permit its expansion into areas of Asia and Latin America and its further expansion in Africa and the Arab States.

As the programme proceeds, a number of priority areas are emerging that require special attention.

Financial Requirements
As little as $50,000 can help a country to design its integrated programme. This permits stakeholders to come together and discuss their needs, allows important studies to be carried out, allows current development efforts to be assessed and a final programme to be designed for approval and validation by government and civil society.

Most countries find that $4 million is sufficient to get started with implementation. This usually comes from a variety of sources. Initial donor funding through UNDP is vital to ensure a well-managed start. UNDP can usually put in significant amounts from its country programme resources and donors can contribute through their bilateral channels. The government of the country involved is expected to contribute significantly - the amount depending on the wealth of the country. Once the programme is under way there are opportunities to fund very effective small scale efforts at the grass roots level for amounts between $20,000 and $200,000. When the programme becomes mature and successful, major investment needs will be identified, and there will be a need for concessionary lending and private sector investment.

A full national programme would cost about $100 million after 7 years. About 10% would come from national sources (in a poor country), 30% through concessionary lending, 20% through private investment and 50% through development cooperation grants (including 20% through UNDP and 30% through bilateral channels).

Start up grants are very important, but initial needs are relatively small, with demand for both grants and lending increasing with time. UNDP is seeking from donors $3 million on average per country to get good integrated programmes going. This will be bundled with funds from other sources and will include small grants for local activities. The total needed will be defined by the number of countries entering the programme. Current indications are that there is demand from at least 18 countries in Africa, 7 in the Arab States, 4 in Latin America, 5 in Central Asia and 4 in South Asia. This adds up to a $114 million over three years from a variety of sources.

• Annex detailing work done in the IDDP Pilot countries