Notice of Entering Into a Compact With the Republic of Niger, 52464-52466 [2016-18756]
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52464
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
III. Conclusion
Table V
As discussed herein, LSC will
implement these final estimates for
Basic Field—Agricultural Worker grants
by distributing funding among all of the
existing Agricultural Worker grant
service areas for 2017 grants at a 50%
implementation level (compared with
the 2016 distribution) and then for 2018
and successive years at a 100%
implementation level. LSC will also
obtain updated population estimates of
agricultural workers every three years
for recalculation on the same statutory
cycle as LSC obtains updated povertypopulation data from the U.S. Census
Bureau for the distribution of LSC’s
Basic Field Programs appropriation.
LSC is publishing on its Web site the
following revised tables showing the
final estimates and their effects on Basic
Field-Agricultural Worker grants
(presuming for comparison constant
total LSC funding for Basic Field
Program grants during the relevant grant
years). See www.lsc.gov/ag-worker-data
(August 2016 Notice—Final Estimates,
Tables I–VI). Descriptions of these tables
are included below.
Number of LSC-Eligible Agricultural
Worker Dependents by State:
Comparison of February 2016 and Final
Estimates. The data in this table show
the differences between the final
estimates of the number of agricultural
worker dependents and the estimates
published in February 2016.
Table I
Table VI
Number of Unauthorized and BelowPoverty Farmworkers Eligible for LSCFunded Services Pursuant to AntiAbuse Provisions of 45 CFR 1626.4 by
State: Comparison of February 2016 and
Final Estimates. The data in this table
show the differences between the final
estimates and the estimates published in
February 2016 of the number of
unauthorized and below-poverty
farmworkers eligible for LSC-funded
services pursuant to anti-abuse
provisions of 45 CFR 1626.4.
Dated: August 3, 2016
Mark Freedman,
Senior Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2016–18753 Filed 8–5–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7050–01–P
Final National and State Estimates of
the LSC-Eligible Agricultural Worker
Population—Summary Table: This table
provides summary information about
the major data sources and calculations
used to derive the updated estimates.
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE
CORPORATION
Table II
[MCC FR 16–02]
LSC-Eligible Agricultural Worker
Population by State: Comparison of
Current (Fiscal Year 2016) Population
Estimates and Final Estimates. The data
in this table show the differences
between the final estimates of the
agricultural worker population and the
population estimates on which Fiscal
Year 2016 grant allocations were based.
Notice of Entering Into a Compact With
the Republic of Niger
Table III
LSC-Eligible Agricultural Worker
Population by State: Comparison of
February 2016 Estimates and Final
Estimates. The data in this table show
the differences between the final
estimates of the total LSC-eligible
agricultural worker population and the
estimates published in February 2016.
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
Table IV
Number of LSC-Eligible Agricultural
Workers by State: Comparison of
February 2016 and Final Estimates. The
data in this table show the differences
between the final estimates number of
the number LSC-eligible agricultural
workers and the estimates published in
February 2016.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
Millennium Challenge
Corporation.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
Notice.
In accordance with Section
610(b)(2) of the Millennium Challenge
Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701–7718) as
amended (the Act), and the heading
‘‘Millennium Challenge Corporation’’ of
the Department of State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Programs
Appropriations Act, 2015, the
Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC) is publishing a summary of the
Millennium Challenge Compact
between the United States of America,
acting through the Millennium
Challenge Corporation, and the
Republic of Niger. Representatives of
the United States Government and Niger
executed the Compact documents on
July 29, 2016. The complete text of the
Compact has been posted at https://
assets.mcc.gov/documents/nigercompact-signed.pdf.
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00068
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Dated: August 3, 2016.
Sarah Fandell,
Vice President and General Counsel,
Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Summary of Millennium Challenge
Compact With the Republic of Niger
Overview
Niger, one of the poorest and least
developed countries in the world, has
consistently ranked last on the United
Nations Human Development Index for
the past 25 years. This land-locked West
African country is almost twice the size
of Texas, and two-thirds of the country’s
land mass is the Sahara Desert, making
it one of the hottest and driest countries
in the world. Niger has made notable
improvements over the past few years,
but over 40 percent of the population
still lives below the global poverty line
of $1.25 per day. Despite these
challenges, the Nigeriens have
demonstrated a strong commitment to
governance reforms, economic growth,
and investing in their people. The MCC
Board of Directors (the ‘‘Board’’)
selected Niger as eligible to develop a
Millennium Challenge Compact in
December 2012. Niger has consistently
passed the MCC scorecard after doing so
for the first time in 2012.
Roughly 80 percent of Niger’s
population lives in rural areas and relies
on agriculture for its livelihood.
Moreover, over 90 percent of the
population relies on a single, threemonth, highly capricious rainy season
to support agriculture and livestock
production. Frequent droughts and
floods decimate crops and productive
assets, undermining the population’s
ability to build its resilience and
economic security. In addition,
sustainable natural resource
management is lacking in this fragile
environment, and water and pasture
resources are frequently over-utilized,
causing severe erosion of once
productive areas. Agricultural
productivity has stagnated due to a lack
of access to critical productive inputs
such as improved seed, fertilizer,
irrigation, and technical assistance.
Water resource management,
community-based livestock and climateresilient agriculture systems are critical
to ensure adaptability, improve
agricultural productivity, and sustain
water and land resources in Niger. The
Compact will seek to raise rural incomes
by increasing agricultural and livestock
production by boosting production
through increases in areas under
cultivation and improvements in yields.
Through the Compact, MCC will finance
critical access to water for crop and
livestock productivity, market
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
platforms, and transport infrastructure,
while also building the technical
capacity necessary to realize projected
benefits and to sustainably utilize and
maintain the infrastructure and natural
resource investments.
52465
The budget for the Compact is
$437,024,000, allocated as follows:
COMPACT BUDGET SUMMARY
Total
(in US$)
Component
1. Irrigation and Market Access Project:
1.1 Irrigation Perimeter Development ........................................................................................................................................
1.2 Management Services and Market Facilitation ...................................................................................................................
1.3 Roads for Market Access ....................................................................................................................................................
1.4 Policy Reform .......................................................................................................................................................................
113,250,000
9,142,000
113,422,000
18,750,000
254,564,000
Subtotal .................................................................................................................................................................................
3. Monitoring and Evaluation:
3.1 Monitoring and Evaluation ...................................................................................................................................................
96,500,000
Subtotal .................................................................................................................................................................................
4. Program Administration and Oversight:
4.1 MCA-Niger Administration, Program Management Support, Fiscal Agent, Procurement Agent and Financial Audits ......
12,000,000
Subtotal .................................................................................................................................................................................
73,960,000
Total Program Budget ....................................................................................................................................................
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
Subtotal .................................................................................................................................................................................
2. Climate-Resilient Communities Project:
2.1 Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support ...................................................................................................................................
2.2 Climate-Resilient Agriculture ................................................................................................................................................
437,024,000
Irrigation and Market Access Project
($254.6 Million)
The Irrigation and Market Access
Project (‘‘Irrigation Project’’) aims to
increase rural incomes through
improvements in agricultural
productivity and sales resulting from
modernized irrigated agriculture and
flood management systems with
sufficient trade and market access. The
project will focus its interventions in
the Dosso and Tahoua regions.
Specifically, the Irrigation Project will
support the following activities:
1. Irrigation Perimeter Development
Activity. This activity is designed to
rehabilitate the Konni irrigation system
and develop new irrigated perimeters in
the Dosso-Gaya area. The Konni
rehabilitation will restore and secure
reliable production capacity on
approximately 6,060 acres (2,452
hectares) of an existing large-scale
irrigation infrastructure. New perimeters
will be developed in Ouna-Kouanza and
Sia. The rehabilitation component
represents improvement on 19 percent
of existing irrigation infrastructure in
the country. The new perimeters will
increase the area under irrigation in
Niger by 20 percent.
2. Management Services and Market
Facilitation Activity. This activity
complements the Irrigation Perimeter
Development Activity by increasing the
productive assets for beneficiaries of the
Irrigation Perimeter Development
Activity through the following:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
i. Establishing and implementing a
framework for land allocation, based on,
among other things, (i) development of
local land tenure profiles, (ii)
participatory development of core local
land allocation standards and of a
transparent process for undertaking the
land allocation, and (iii) completing the
land allocation and formalizing land
property rights, and building capacity
for local land governance to address
land conflict management and
integrated local land use planning;
ii. Establishing and empowering
single-purpose, self-governing, selffinancing nonprofit irrigation water user
associations (IWUAs) to undertake
irrigation management functions in the
project intervention areas, including
preparatory studies, technical support
and capacity building for the newly
formed IWUAs; and
iii. Strengthening the capacity of
beneficiaries through new or existing
savings groups and existing producer
and women’s and youth groups to (i)
grow commodities according to market
demand and pricing signals, (ii)
participate in savings groups to improve
business skills and save capital to
operationalize their cropping calendars,
(iii) increase use of appropriate
fertilizers and improved seeds, (iv)
monitor and adapt to changing
conditions in the environment, (v)
participate in producer organizations to
improve their negotiation position at the
farm gate and in the marketplace, (vi)
PO 00000
Frm 00069
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
45,000,000
51,500,000
12,000,000
73,960,000
invest in infrastructure to store and add
value to their production, and (vii)
increase sales of commodities and
processed products.
3. Roads for Market Access Activity.
MCC funding is intended to support
improvements to physical market access
through targeted road network
improvements serving the Dosso-Gaya
perimeters and linking irrigation
beneficiaries to important consumer
markets and regional trade hubs. This
activity will support the rehabilitation
and gravel upgrade of approximately
116 miles (187 kilometers (km)) of the
RN35 road directly serving the DossoGaya perimeters; rehabilitation, upgrade
and paving of approximately 51 miles
(83 km) of the RN7, the main northsouth international trunk road linking
the southern region of Niger to the rest
of the country; and rehabilitation and
gravel upgrade of approximately 23
miles (37 km) of the Sambera rural road
that links the Ouna-Kouanza and Sia
irrigation perimeters with the RN7.
4. Policy Reform Activity. This
activity aims to promote several major
policy reforms directly linked to the
success and sustainability of the
Compact through support (i) to develop
and build the capacity of the Ministry
of Hydraulics and Sanitation and other
relevant government entities to
implement a new master plan to manage
national water resources, (ii) to develop
and implement natural resource and
community land use management plans
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
52466
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 152 / Monday, August 8, 2016 / Notices
mstockstill on DSK3G9T082PROD with NOTICES
for the protected areas and nearby
communities affected by the Irrigation
Project in the Dosso Region, (iii) to
reform the Ministry of Agriculture and
Livestock’s fertilizer distribution system
to allow greater competition and private
sector participation to improve
availability and affordability of
fertilizers, especially to small farmers,
and (iv) to develop the statistical
capacities of the National Institute of
Statistics and development of the
Government of Niger’s monitoring and
evaluation capacities.
Climate-Resilient Communities Project
($96.5 Million)
The Climate-Resilient Communities
Project (‘‘CRC Project’’) aims to increase
incomes for small-scale agriculturedependent and livestock-dependent
families in eligible municipalities in
rural Niger by improving crop and
livestock productivity, sustaining
natural resources critical to long-term
productivity, and increasing market
sales of targeted commodities. The
project will be implemented in
partnership with the World Bank
through existing project implementation
units (‘‘PIUs’’) located in the Ministry of
Agriculture and Livestock. MCC funding
will not be combined with World Bank
funds, though the PIUs will oversee
both MCC and World Bank-funded
activities. The PIUs will use jointly
agreed upon operation manuals that will
incorporate investment criteria, legal,
fiscal, procurement, environmental,
social, gender and monitoring and
evaluation requirements that comply
with MCC standards. To ensure
adequate oversight, the accountable
entity for the Compact, the Millennium
Challenge Account—Niger (‘‘MCANiger’’), will embed staff within these
PIUs. Regions of intervention for this
project are Tillaberi, Dosso, Tahoua and
Maradi.
1. Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support
Activity (‘‘PRAPS Activity’’). The PRAPS
Activity aims to improve livestock value
and sales by conducting a livestock
health and vaccination campaign;
identifying and undertaking critical
upgrades in major transhumance
livestock corridors, including water
points and pasture improvements; and
modernizing local market infrastructure
and organization.
2. Climate-Resilient Agriculture
Activity (‘‘CRA Activity’’). The CRA
Activity aims to support the
development and implementation of
municipality-level investment plans to
increase the use of agricultural practices
that minimize climate risks, improve the
utilization rate of fertilizer and
improved/drought-tolerant seeds,
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:23 Aug 05, 2016
Jkt 238001
increase access to small-scale irrigation,
promote land reclamation, protect
watersheds from erosion, and establish
market platforms to competitively
position farmer groups in the
marketplace. MCC funds will focus on
climate-resilient investment needs,
especially small-scale irrigation, in 16
municipalities in four regions.
The activity will include a grant
facility that will competitively award
grants to women’s and youth groups,
cooperative and producers’ groups, and
micro-, small-, and medium-sized
enterprises. The portfolio of grants
managed by the grant facility must meet
MCC’s economic rate of return (‘‘ERR’’)
hurdle rate. Similarly, the municipalitylevel investment plans will be
developed in the first year of Compact
implementation, and must also meet
MCC’s ERR hurdle rate in order to be
funded.
Economic Analysis
The Compact will aim to address
Niger’s two major constraints to
economic growth through a combination
of policy reforms, infrastructure
investments, access to training, finance
and management services, facilitation of
partnerships, and improvements to
agricultural and livestock production
and market platforms. These activities
will enable farming, fishing and pastoral
households in the intervention areas to
increase their agricultural and livestock
production and in turn, raise their
incomes.
An ERR was calculated for each of the
Compact’s projects. The ERR for the
Irrigation Project is estimated at 17
percent. The CRC Project consists of
activities to be developed in
consultation with local communities
and of activities funded through a
competitive grant facility. This project
(not including the $12.5 million
matching grant facility subactivity) has
an estimated ERR of 14 percent. Because
the nature of specific grant proposals
cannot be known until they are
submitted for review, ERRs will be
calculated during grant selection.
On a limited basis, small-scale grants
without a full ERR may be awarded if
determining a full ERR is deemed to be
cost prohibitive. In those cases, each
proposal will still undergo a
consideration of costs versus benefits to
verify its viability. Economists can, for
instance, determine the likelihood of a
satisfactory rate of return based on
looking at similar project profiles. The
grant portfolio will have an ERR above
MCC’s hurdle rate of 10 percent.
The Compact is expected to reach
489,359 households totaling more than
PO 00000
Frm 00070
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
3.9 million beneficiaries over a twentyyear period.
[FR Doc. 2016–18756 Filed 8–5–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9211–03–P
NATIONAL CREDIT UNION
ADMINISTRATION
Written Reimbursement Policy
National Credit Union
Administration (NCUA).
ACTION: Request for comment.
AGENCY:
The NCUA intends to submit
the following information collection to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) for review and clearance under
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(Pub. L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
The purpose of this notice is to allow for
60 days of public comment.
Each FCU must draft a written
reimbursement policy to ensure that the
FCU makes payments to its director
within the guidelines that the FCU has
established in advance and to enable
examiners to easily verify compliance
by comparing the policy to the actual
reimbursements.
SUMMARY:
Comments will be accepted until
October 7, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit written comments on
the information collection to Troy
Hillier, National Credit Union
Administration, 1775 Duke Street,
Alexandria, Virginia 22314–3428; Fax
No. 703–519–8595; or Email at
PRAComments@NCUA.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information
should be directed to the address above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
OMB Number: 3133–0130.
Title: Written Reimbursement Policy.
Abstract: Federal Credit Unions
(‘‘FCU’’) may reimburse its board
members for reasonable and proper
costs incurred in conducting their
official responsibilities only if the
reimbursement is in accordance with
the written reimbursement policies and
procedures established by the FCU’s
board of directors. Access to this plan,
and documentation related to its
implementation is necessary for NCUA
examiners to verify compliance with
this requirement.
Type of Review: Extension of a
previously approved collection.
Affected Public: Private sector: Notfor-profit institutions.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
3,768.
Frequency of Response: 1 responses
per year per respondent.
DATES:
E:\FR\FM\08AUN1.SGM
08AUN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 152 (Monday, August 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52464-52466]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18756]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION
[MCC FR 16-02]
Notice of Entering Into a Compact With the Republic of Niger
AGENCY: Millennium Challenge Corporation.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 610(b)(2) of the Millennium
Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701-7718) as amended (the Act), and
the heading ``Millennium Challenge Corporation'' of the Department of
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act,
2015, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is publishing a
summary of the Millennium Challenge Compact between the United States
of America, acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and
the Republic of Niger. Representatives of the United States Government
and Niger executed the Compact documents on July 29, 2016. The complete
text of the Compact has been posted at https://assets.mcc.gov/documents/niger-compact-signed.pdf.
Dated: August 3, 2016.
Sarah Fandell,
Vice President and General Counsel, Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Summary of Millennium Challenge Compact With the Republic of Niger
Overview
Niger, one of the poorest and least developed countries in the
world, has consistently ranked last on the United Nations Human
Development Index for the past 25 years. This land-locked West African
country is almost twice the size of Texas, and two-thirds of the
country's land mass is the Sahara Desert, making it one of the hottest
and driest countries in the world. Niger has made notable improvements
over the past few years, but over 40 percent of the population still
lives below the global poverty line of $1.25 per day. Despite these
challenges, the Nigeriens have demonstrated a strong commitment to
governance reforms, economic growth, and investing in their people. The
MCC Board of Directors (the ``Board'') selected Niger as eligible to
develop a Millennium Challenge Compact in December 2012. Niger has
consistently passed the MCC scorecard after doing so for the first time
in 2012.
Roughly 80 percent of Niger's population lives in rural areas and
relies on agriculture for its livelihood. Moreover, over 90 percent of
the population relies on a single, three-month, highly capricious rainy
season to support agriculture and livestock production. Frequent
droughts and floods decimate crops and productive assets, undermining
the population's ability to build its resilience and economic security.
In addition, sustainable natural resource management is lacking in this
fragile environment, and water and pasture resources are frequently
over-utilized, causing severe erosion of once productive areas.
Agricultural productivity has stagnated due to a lack of access to
critical productive inputs such as improved seed, fertilizer,
irrigation, and technical assistance.
Water resource management, community-based livestock and climate-
resilient agriculture systems are critical to ensure adaptability,
improve agricultural productivity, and sustain water and land resources
in Niger. The Compact will seek to raise rural incomes by increasing
agricultural and livestock production by boosting production through
increases in areas under cultivation and improvements in yields.
Through the Compact, MCC will finance critical access to water for crop
and livestock productivity, market
[[Page 52465]]
platforms, and transport infrastructure, while also building the
technical capacity necessary to realize projected benefits and to
sustainably utilize and maintain the infrastructure and natural
resource investments.
The budget for the Compact is $437,024,000, allocated as follows:
Compact Budget Summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total (in
Component US$)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Irrigation and Market Access Project:
1.1 Irrigation Perimeter Development................ 113,250,000
1.2 Management Services and Market Facilitation..... 9,142,000
1.3 Roads for Market Access......................... 113,422,000
1.4 Policy Reform................................... 18,750,000
---------------
Subtotal........................................ 254,564,000
2. Climate-Resilient Communities Project:
2.1 Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support.............. 45,000,000
2.2 Climate-Resilient Agriculture................... 51,500,000
---------------
Subtotal........................................ 96,500,000
3. Monitoring and Evaluation:
3.1 Monitoring and Evaluation....................... 12,000,000
---------------
Subtotal........................................ 12,000,000
4. Program Administration and Oversight:
4.1 MCA-Niger Administration, Program Management 73,960,000
Support, Fiscal Agent, Procurement Agent and
Financial Audits...................................
---------------
Subtotal........................................ 73,960,000
---------------
Total Program Budget........................ 437,024,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Irrigation and Market Access Project ($254.6 Million)
The Irrigation and Market Access Project (``Irrigation Project'')
aims to increase rural incomes through improvements in agricultural
productivity and sales resulting from modernized irrigated agriculture
and flood management systems with sufficient trade and market access.
The project will focus its interventions in the Dosso and Tahoua
regions. Specifically, the Irrigation Project will support the
following activities:
1. Irrigation Perimeter Development Activity. This activity is
designed to rehabilitate the Konni irrigation system and develop new
irrigated perimeters in the Dosso-Gaya area. The Konni rehabilitation
will restore and secure reliable production capacity on approximately
6,060 acres (2,452 hectares) of an existing large-scale irrigation
infrastructure. New perimeters will be developed in Ouna-Kouanza and
Sia. The rehabilitation component represents improvement on 19 percent
of existing irrigation infrastructure in the country. The new
perimeters will increase the area under irrigation in Niger by 20
percent.
2. Management Services and Market Facilitation Activity. This
activity complements the Irrigation Perimeter Development Activity by
increasing the productive assets for beneficiaries of the Irrigation
Perimeter Development Activity through the following:
i. Establishing and implementing a framework for land allocation,
based on, among other things, (i) development of local land tenure
profiles, (ii) participatory development of core local land allocation
standards and of a transparent process for undertaking the land
allocation, and (iii) completing the land allocation and formalizing
land property rights, and building capacity for local land governance
to address land conflict management and integrated local land use
planning;
ii. Establishing and empowering single-purpose, self-governing,
self-financing nonprofit irrigation water user associations (IWUAs) to
undertake irrigation management functions in the project intervention
areas, including preparatory studies, technical support and capacity
building for the newly formed IWUAs; and
iii. Strengthening the capacity of beneficiaries through new or
existing savings groups and existing producer and women's and youth
groups to (i) grow commodities according to market demand and pricing
signals, (ii) participate in savings groups to improve business skills
and save capital to operationalize their cropping calendars, (iii)
increase use of appropriate fertilizers and improved seeds, (iv)
monitor and adapt to changing conditions in the environment, (v)
participate in producer organizations to improve their negotiation
position at the farm gate and in the marketplace, (vi) invest in
infrastructure to store and add value to their production, and (vii)
increase sales of commodities and processed products.
3. Roads for Market Access Activity. MCC funding is intended to
support improvements to physical market access through targeted road
network improvements serving the Dosso-Gaya perimeters and linking
irrigation beneficiaries to important consumer markets and regional
trade hubs. This activity will support the rehabilitation and gravel
upgrade of approximately 116 miles (187 kilometers (km)) of the RN35
road directly serving the Dosso-Gaya perimeters; rehabilitation,
upgrade and paving of approximately 51 miles (83 km) of the RN7, the
main north-south international trunk road linking the southern region
of Niger to the rest of the country; and rehabilitation and gravel
upgrade of approximately 23 miles (37 km) of the Sambera rural road
that links the Ouna-Kouanza and Sia irrigation perimeters with the RN7.
4. Policy Reform Activity. This activity aims to promote several
major policy reforms directly linked to the success and sustainability
of the Compact through support (i) to develop and build the capacity of
the Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation and other relevant government
entities to implement a new master plan to manage national water
resources, (ii) to develop and implement natural resource and community
land use management plans
[[Page 52466]]
for the protected areas and nearby communities affected by the
Irrigation Project in the Dosso Region, (iii) to reform the Ministry of
Agriculture and Livestock's fertilizer distribution system to allow
greater competition and private sector participation to improve
availability and affordability of fertilizers, especially to small
farmers, and (iv) to develop the statistical capacities of the National
Institute of Statistics and development of the Government of Niger's
monitoring and evaluation capacities.
Climate-Resilient Communities Project ($96.5 Million)
The Climate-Resilient Communities Project (``CRC Project'') aims to
increase incomes for small-scale agriculture-dependent and livestock-
dependent families in eligible municipalities in rural Niger by
improving crop and livestock productivity, sustaining natural resources
critical to long-term productivity, and increasing market sales of
targeted commodities. The project will be implemented in partnership
with the World Bank through existing project implementation units
(``PIUs'') located in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. MCC
funding will not be combined with World Bank funds, though the PIUs
will oversee both MCC and World Bank-funded activities. The PIUs will
use jointly agreed upon operation manuals that will incorporate
investment criteria, legal, fiscal, procurement, environmental, social,
gender and monitoring and evaluation requirements that comply with MCC
standards. To ensure adequate oversight, the accountable entity for the
Compact, the Millennium Challenge Account--Niger (``MCA-Niger''), will
embed staff within these PIUs. Regions of intervention for this project
are Tillaberi, Dosso, Tahoua and Maradi.
1. Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support Activity (``PRAPS
Activity''). The PRAPS Activity aims to improve livestock value and
sales by conducting a livestock health and vaccination campaign;
identifying and undertaking critical upgrades in major transhumance
livestock corridors, including water points and pasture improvements;
and modernizing local market infrastructure and organization.
2. Climate-Resilient Agriculture Activity (``CRA Activity''). The
CRA Activity aims to support the development and implementation of
municipality-level investment plans to increase the use of agricultural
practices that minimize climate risks, improve the utilization rate of
fertilizer and improved/drought-tolerant seeds, increase access to
small-scale irrigation, promote land reclamation, protect watersheds
from erosion, and establish market platforms to competitively position
farmer groups in the marketplace. MCC funds will focus on climate-
resilient investment needs, especially small-scale irrigation, in 16
municipalities in four regions.
The activity will include a grant facility that will competitively
award grants to women's and youth groups, cooperative and producers'
groups, and micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. The portfolio
of grants managed by the grant facility must meet MCC's economic rate
of return (``ERR'') hurdle rate. Similarly, the municipality-level
investment plans will be developed in the first year of Compact
implementation, and must also meet MCC's ERR hurdle rate in order to be
funded.
Economic Analysis
The Compact will aim to address Niger's two major constraints to
economic growth through a combination of policy reforms, infrastructure
investments, access to training, finance and management services,
facilitation of partnerships, and improvements to agricultural and
livestock production and market platforms. These activities will enable
farming, fishing and pastoral households in the intervention areas to
increase their agricultural and livestock production and in turn, raise
their incomes.
An ERR was calculated for each of the Compact's projects. The ERR
for the Irrigation Project is estimated at 17 percent. The CRC Project
consists of activities to be developed in consultation with local
communities and of activities funded through a competitive grant
facility. This project (not including the $12.5 million matching grant
facility subactivity) has an estimated ERR of 14 percent. Because the
nature of specific grant proposals cannot be known until they are
submitted for review, ERRs will be calculated during grant selection.
On a limited basis, small-scale grants without a full ERR may be
awarded if determining a full ERR is deemed to be cost prohibitive. In
those cases, each proposal will still undergo a consideration of costs
versus benefits to verify its viability. Economists can, for instance,
determine the likelihood of a satisfactory rate of return based on
looking at similar project profiles. The grant portfolio will have an
ERR above MCC's hurdle rate of 10 percent.
The Compact is expected to reach 489,359 households totaling more
than 3.9 million beneficiaries over a twenty-year period.
[FR Doc. 2016-18756 Filed 8-5-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9211-03-P
