Rural Access Programme

Fact Sheet

Enhancing and Protecting Interventions

Introduction to Enhancing and Protecting Interventions (EPIs)

Conventional infrastructure and road building projects have usually benefited people who are relatively better off. It is necessary therefore, for a pro-poor focus, that infrastructural development
projects encompass a strong element of sound pro-poor development practices. This is to assist poor, socially excluded people, women and men, to be involved in the development process, to have less vulnerable livelihoods and to generally take greater control over their own lives.	*EPIs are the ‘plus’ element of RAP. The interventions are targeted towards the poorest and most excluded groups who do not usually benefit from access programmes.*

RAP has been designed to combine best practices in road construction techniques e.g. ‘The Green Road Concept’, with extensive, quality, pro-poor activities. In RAP the principle activities designed to strengthen the position of poor people are Enhancing and Protecting Interventions (EPIs). EPIs are not a separate pre-defined set of interventions, they are related to, and are applied in conjunction with, all other activities within the RAP programme at any time and are not restricted to the road corridor. They are designed to ensure that the benefits of RAP are accessible in the short, medium and long term to local communities and that any negative impacts from the programme are mitigated. Gender considerations are viewed as of critical importance in RAP.

EPIs are activities specifically designed so that funds are effectively used and targeted at poor and excluded people.

EPIs will be implemented primarily by Social Mobilisers and managed by NGOs recruited through the DDC supported by RAP TA in the districts through the district-based Socio-Economic Development Officers (SEDO).

Three types of EPI have been identified: Mitigating and Protecting, Enabling and Enhancing Interventions.

Mitigating and Protecting Activities:

Many road projects have been detrimental to the livelihoods of the poorest people, particularly women. The RAP activities are therefore planned to reduce the potential negative impacts of road construction. The mitigating and protecting activities include the following:

Awareness-raising

This informs people of the potential impacts and of the opportunities from the programme. Impacts: E.g. Social costs such as drugs, including alcohol, trafficking of girls and young women, HIV/AIDS, prostitution, gambling and discrimination against women. It also raises health, safety and welfare issues. Opportunities: E.g. Short term off-season employment, savings schemes, functional literacy and numeracy training for Personal and Social Capital Accumulation (PSCA) and information and support for viable income generation activities (IGA).

Working with Programme Affected Families (PAFs)

Inform PAFs of the potential impacts of the construction.
Establish local committees to address issues of compensation for loss of livelihoods for PAFs.
Support alternative livelihood opportunities for PAFs who are already poor and socially excluded.

Ensuring transparency

Ensure that systems are in place to allow for transparency in all activities.
Establish and support accountability and transparency through community audit systems.

Forming Road Building Groups (RBGs)

Ensure the poorest people are identified to work on RBGs.
Ensure the welfare, health and insurance of RBGs.
Ensure that gender and child labour issues are addressed satisfactorily.

Enabling Activities:

The activities enable poor people to make optimum use of the benefits from RAP, by reducing barriers, ensuring equity and ensuring that the practical and strategic needs of the poorest and excluded women and men are addressed. The enabling activities include the following:

Working with the poorest sectors of the community (the primary stakeholders)

Identify the poorest people from communities on a location specific basis.
Identify profiles for RBGs and agree with the VDC, LRCC, community institutions and CBOs.

Working with other stakeholders (Elected politicians at all levels, civil servants – LDO, LRCCs, VDC secretaries etc., NGOs, CBOs, other community based women’s groups, government professionals working in the area including health workers, teachers, agricultural officers, RAP-RBGs etc.)

Initiate dialogue and meetings with all.
Sensitise consultants to the RAP/EPIs approach.
Encourage consensus between all stakeholders in local decision making.

Provision of training

Train NGOs to support RBGs.
Specifically targeted functional literacy and numeracy training for PSCA for all RBGs.
Give RBGs training in group formation and operation, women’s rights, literacy and numeracy for PSCA, savings and credit, running meetings, administration, book-keeping and accounting, first aid, federation of groups and transparency of all operations.

Provision of support by DDC/RAP

Promote transparent decision making within RAP.
Assist mobilisation processes.
Monitor agreed system of payment of RBGs and ensure absolute transparency throughout.
Ensure RBGs have, as far as possible, a minimum of 30% women.
Provide opportunity for women only groups, including Sahajkarta and supervisors.
Administrative support and provision of materials to RBGs.
Provision of health and first-aid training and equipment.
Ensure child labour laws and childcare are upheld.
Ensure solidarity networks are supported.

Co-ordination with other donors/development initiatives for parallel funding

Enhancing Activities:

These ensure that longer term benefits from RAP interventions, such as ‘access to valued goods and services’, are accessible to the poorest sectors of communities. RAP emphasises the importance of gender considerations in all its enhancing activities. The enhancing activities include the following:

Working with pro-poor sustainable groups

Provide group specific functional literacy and numeracy training for PSCA.
Ensure that groups formed are representative, strengthened and sustainable.
Provide information on appropriate income generating opportunities (IGA/P).
Build capacity and ensure that appropriate forums exist for ‘excluded people’ to voice their concerns/needs. (Improve their communication skills, leadership skills, confidence building and advocacy.)
Ensure effective ‘demand’ skills are inherent.

Ensuring location specific enhanced facilities/services

Improved access to education, good health facilities and appropriate markets.

Creating pro-poor investment linkages/economic development

Liaise with official lending institutions for group loans.
Liaise with marketing organisations to promote increased trade.
Support the linkage of pro-poor groups into federations/cooperatives.
Support VDCs and other village level organisations in development planning.

EPIs therefore, are activities responsive to differing social, economic and political environments, which enable and protect those people who hitherto have been socially excluded.