SHILLONG, May 21 - The Northeast Community Resource Management Project (NERCOMP) has turned out to be one of the �strong� projects funded by North Eastern Council (NEC) and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).
An international team of evaluators from IFAD visited some of the project sites in Meghalaya to assess the impact of such projects on the rural communities.
The IFAD team comprised Josefina Stubbs, Chief Development Strategist, Oscar A Garcia, Director of Independent Office of Evaluation, Fabrizio Felloni, Lead Evaluation Officer and others.
Stubbs said, after evaluating the projects, NERCOMP has fared better than others and now the challenge is to expand this project to other parts of the region. �Of all the projects NERCOMP has the best performance,� Stubbs said.
Currently the second phase of the project is on and is being implemented in six districts of NE region which includes Meghalaya (West Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills), Assam (Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills) and Manipur (Senapati and Ukhrul).
As part of the project�s expansion in the third phase, it would be implemented in Arunachal (Tirap and Changlang) and Manipur (Chandel and Churachandpur). The IFAD officials also informed that the third phase of NERCOMP would be entirely funded by NEC.
Stubbs further added that IFAD is set to design a new strategy, together with the Central Government, to define its new line of work for both the old and upcoming projects in India. There are 13 new and old projects that are being assisted by IFAD throughout the country.
The IFAD officials said now the focus was on market linkages. The organisation would also assist the communities to produce high value products which then could be sold in niche markets within India and abroad for better profit.
