Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project in the Niger Delta
The objective of LIFE-ND is to enhance income, food security, and job creation for rural youth and women through agri-enterprise development on a sustainable basis in the Niger Delta region.
The project is implemented across the Niger Delta, with IFAD financing covering Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, and Ondo, while the Niger Delta Development Commission’s (NDDC) financing covers Akwa Ibom, Imo, and Rivers states. The project aims to target a total of 38,250 women and youth, of which IFAD will reach 25,500 and NDDC will reach 12,750 of the total target groups.
In the six states covered by IFAD, LIFE-ND will primarily target 25,500 youth and women beneficiaries as apprentices that will come out of the incubation system with their own profitable enterprises and decent jobs and eventually serve as incubators themselves. It will also target about 600 established and potential enterprise incubators as a pathway for job creation and economic empowerment of the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries will be youth aged 18 to 35 years and women-headed households with children under the age of 15. Overall, the project will target 50 percent male and 50 percent female participation. The beneficiaries will be selected at the village level, while incubators will be identified on the basis of their involvement in market linkage activities, adoption of the outgrower model, experience in the incubation of new enterprises, and technical, financial, managerial, and infrastructure capacity to provide enterprise incubation services to apprentices.
The project is structured around two main components:
Component 1: Enhancement of economic opportunities for rural youth and poor women.
Component 2: Programme management and coordination.
More details about the LIFE-ND project is available on IFAD’s website
You can also visit LIFE-ND’s official website for details on implementation progress and other project’s documents.